By Liz Couch

From the age of five, our foster son Dustin has been in “the system,” as he calls it. Dustin was a battered child, suffering traumatic brain injury before his fifth birthday. In our family, we deal with his strengths and weaknesses, as well as his mood swings and anger issues, on a daily basis. Dustin is now a 17-year-old in his junior year at St. Ignatius High School, where he’s in resource classes for most of his school day.

As parents, my husband’s and my priorities have evolved into preparing Dustin for his future of independent or semi-independent living and gainful, community-based employment. When he turned 14, Dustin’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings started to include talk of transition planning, but other than a brief mention of his likes and dislikes, abilities and disabilities, there wasn’t much action. At age 16, Dustin’s father and I began to work with him on the Building Skills for Adulthood Program. This service is provided through the Montana Foster Care Independence Program, a federally funded project managed by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and administered by the Child and Family Alliance. We were given workbooks on such topics as Money Management and Social Skills, and we guided Dustin through the books and accompanying activities. We also took care to make sure that these and other transition-related areas were addressed in his school curriculum.

Early in September of 2003, during his sophomore year, Dustin’s resource room teacher referred him for participation in Project WISER (a U.S. Department of Education grant directed by The University of Montana Rural Institute on Disabilities). The St. Ignatius WISER team, which included the principal, a job coach, the school psychologist, and two Rural Institute Transition Coordinators (I was also a member) considered his referral and offered him one of the two available slots in the project. Working with the Transition Coordinators, Dustin’s father and I developed a Vocational Profile to document Dustin’s identification information, residential, and domestic status. Members of the WISER team met with Dustin over the next few months to get to know him and some of these individuals performed targeted assessments to answer specific questions – this Discovery information was also captured in the Vocational Profile. The completed Profile offered a description of Dustin’s life to date, including his history, present daily routines, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, support needs, hopes, and dreams. In reading the document, one gains a good understanding of who Dustin is, what he can do, and what he hopes he will be able to do in the future.

Throughout the Discovery process, we were taking pictures of Dustin at home, school, work, and in the community. We used these photos, along with information about his interests, contributions, skills, and supports needs (taken from the Profile) to develop a Marketing Portfolio. This picture resume, completed in December 2003, was presented at his annual IEP meeting in January 2004. Attendees included required school personnel, social services staff, WISER team members, my husband and I, and of course, Dustin. We addressed transition more directly and actively at this meeting, leaving the meeting with names of individuals who agreed to work with Dustin directly on transition-related activities, and with those who would be contacting agencies to complete applications for Workforce Investment Act Youth Programs (WIA) and other supportive services.

With Dustin’s completed Vocational Profile and Portfolio ready for use, his Employment Planning Meeting was held in February to begin job development for a school-based work experience. Those invited to this meeting were Dustin, his father, and me; Dustin’s social workers, community counselors, teachers, and school psychologist and counselor; representatives from outside agencies; and members of the WISER team. Using all the information previously compiled, discussion centered on what type of employment Dustin desired, what the ideal working conditions for him might be, and what contributions he could make in the workplace. Attendees volunteered to contact specific businesses in the area (for future employment options) and to investigate school-based work experiences that would be good matches for Dustin’s skills, interests, and ideal employment conditions. Since Dustin believed he wanted to work in maintenance and janitorial, his school counselor agreed to contact the St. Ignatius School Maintenance Department Supervisor and market Dustin for a work experience. She also agreed to check his class schedule to determine the best times for him to work during the school day.

The team held a short meeting a week later to discuss the outcome of the job search – the Maintenance Supervisor wanted Dustin to complete a work experience with him! Changes were made to his IEP to accommodate Dustin’s new work schedule, and he started his experience the last week in February (the beginning of the fourth academic quarter). Dustin worked in 90-minute segments every other day. Since I’m employed part-time at this school as a physical therapist, several staff members approached me to comment about Dustin’s good work ethic and the quality of his work.

By the end of the school year, there was noticeable improvement in Dustin’s sense of self-worth and responsibility. He was proud of what he was doing and had received many compliments on his performance. Towards the last part of May, the WISER team (which met weekly throughout the school year) questioned the possibility of Dustin continuing his maintenance job part-time through the summer as paid employment. The school district didn’t have the funds to hire him at that time, but he had previously been determined eligible for WIA so they were contacted and asked whether or not they could fund wages for a job that a student had already lined up. The WIA representative said yes – she was delighted that Dustin’s team had already completed the job development groundwork, and she had program funds available that she could use for Dustin’s June wages.

Dustin began his paid work experience on June 7th, working seven hours a day for $7.00/hr. WIA also provided vouchers for him to purchase a pair of work shoes and pants, and a bicycle helmet since he would be riding back and forth to work. Dustin loved his summer job - he was up every morning on his own, packed his lunch and was off, returning each afternoon to share what he learned to do that day and what new type of machine he had been trained to use. According to Dustin, “I really like this job because I get to do different things and I am learning how to run different machines.” The school staff reported that, “Dustin is a very hard worker and does exactly what he is told to do. He is really the best worker we have had in the school work program.” The next step is to develop customized, paid, community-based employment for Dustin.

As a parent, I am enjoying a more confident Dustin, one who is making the way to his future just like our other kids who don’t have disabilities have done. We see a young man who has started thinking more about setting goals for himself and finally believing he can achieve them. It is reassuring as a parent, and for Dustin also, to know there are many agencies and individuals out there to assist students who have support needs around employment. It takes a team approach, for the task is too great for any one individual.

Note: The Missoula Area Education Cooperative was the Year Four WISER site and has had an Occupational Therapist, a Physical Therapist, and two School Psychologist trained in the customized model to enable them to assist their schools in supporting successful transition.

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