School's Not Over After You Turn 21

by Kristina Chew

Published February 16, 2009 @ 03:03PM PT

Dora posted yesterday about transitioning to college for students on the spectrum; a February 13th article in US News & World Report offers more information about new support programs and federal funding for college students with intellectual disabilities. ThinkCollege.net has a database of postsecondary programs that support students with intellectual disabilities; more programs will be added, thanks to the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA; the bill was reauthorized by Congress last summer) and two multimillion-dollar federal grants awarded in December 2008. According to US News & World Report,

Not only does the HEOA allow students with intellectual disabilities to qualify for Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and the Federal Work Study Program for the first time, it also establishes a new grant program that will fund the development of programs tailored specifically to college students with intellectual disabilities across the country.

It's emphasized that inclusion is a vital aspect of education for students with intellectual disabilities, at every level, including postsecondary education. With nearly $5 million from two federal grants, the University of Massachusetts Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) hopes to help create the first national center and the first research consortium for the postsecondary education of students with intellectual disabilities. Says ICI researcher Debra Hart, who began researching such postsecondary programs a decade ago:

"In just the last week, we found 54 new programs, and we expect to discover about two to three times that many more programs we have not heard of already"............ Since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides federal funding for intellectually disabled students to attend elementary, middle, and high school with ordinary students, why could there not also be a way to help these students experience college? Hart says she asked herself back then. "Everyone deserves to go to college," she says, "students with intellectual disabilities included."

The ICI itself provides training, clinical, and employment services and also assistance to organizations to "promote inclusion of people with disabilities in school, work, and community activities." On its website you can find a publication entitled StateData: The National Report on Employment Services and Outcomes, which concludes that :

Vastly more individuals [with intellectual and developmental disabilities] continue to be supported in facility-based employment, earning sub-minimum wage, than in integrated employment earning a living wage. A disproportionate number of individuals with disabilities work in low-wage settings as compared to the general population. In the Vocational Rehabilitation system, the gap between earnings of adults with disabilities at closure and personal income in the general population is large and widening over time. Overall the findings suggest the need for a renewed and shared focus across several systems....
......
.......there continues to be an urgent need for a re-investment of attention, priority, and resources dedicated towards expanding both economic and employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Just a few more reasons why we need to think now about postsecondary education and options for students. Turning 21----after which a student is not covered by IDEA---should not be some cut-off date for students who are ready and willing to keep learning.

Image by Photo by stu_spivack.