Access through Adaptive Computer Technology and Website Design

August 11, 2004 - Illinois State Board of Education 2004 Special Education Directors' Conference

Transitional Issues and Associated Best Practices in Higher Education for Disabilities

August 11, 2004 - Crown Plaza Hotel - Springfield, Illinois

Your presenters for this event are:

Brad Hedrick, Director

Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Kathleen Plesko, Director

Disability Support Services
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Tom Thompson, Director

Disability Services and ADA Coordinator
William Rainey Harper College

Al Vest, Director

Program for the Hearing Impaired
Northern Illinois University

Michael Whitney, Coordinator

Adapted Technology and Website Design
Disability Support Services/Information Technology
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

Expected Topics of Discussion

The objective of this presentation is to provide the audience with a general awareness of the transitional issues facing disabled students as they matriculate from high school into higher education and to overview some best practices that demonstrate how the higher education community has responded to a need for better transitional services. The five panelists will begin with a discussion of transitional issues and concerns that they, as postsecondary disability service professionals, perceive as undermining the effective matriculation of students with disabilities to postsecondary educational institutions in Illinois.

During the first hour of the presentation, the panelists will discuss transitional issues and concerns that they, as postsecondary disability service professionals, perceive as undermining the effective matriculation of students with disabilities to postsecondary educational institutions in Illinois.

During the next hour and a half, the panelists will describe select best practice responses that have been developed by their respective campuses to address one or more of the aforementioned issues/concerns.

Pre-enrollment Summer Transition Programming

Kathleen Plesko, Director of Disability Support Services (DSS) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), will describe the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) funded Summer Transition Camp for Students with Disabilities. The camp serves twenty (20) individuals, primarily high school juniors and seniors, who plan to attend post-secondary education and who have significant disabilities. In order to prepare students for college/university enrollment, the program offers a broad range of introductory experiences and a more intensive and daily focus on adapted computer technology and its importance for post-secondary inclusion. Other camp activities include using a college/university library, career exploration, introduction to disability services in post-secondary settings, exceptional socialization and recreation opportunities, and more. Plesko will also present data on the effectiveness of the camp to date, and instruction on replication of the camp in other settings.

Brad Hedrick, Director of the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) will describe two Illinois transitional programs. The first is Illinois Students Taking Effective Preparation (ISTEP), and the second is the Beckwith Hall Transitional Support Program for Students Requiring Personal Assistant Services. ISTEP is a pilot program developed under a grant from the Proctor & Gamble Foundation to offer 35 incoming freshmen with disabilities a one-week intensive college credit curriculum that includes:

• Orientation to disability services and resources
• Consultation to improve personal understanding of disability and related accommodation needs
• Instruction on the differences between educational entitlement under IDEA and nondiscrimination under 504 and the ADA
• Self-advocacy training, role-playing and scripting
• Training in time management and study skills strategies
• AT/IT needs and skill assessment and training
• Health and wellness promotion

The Beckwith Hall transitional program is a comprehensive, collaboratively managed personal assistant program for students with severe physical disabilities wherein the professional staff and the residents with disabilities co-manage the recruitment, interviewing, training, scheduling, and evaluation of personal assistant services (PAS) personnel within a context in which back-up PAS support can be assured. Additionally, the program offers residents the opportunity to participate in an individualized disability management curriculum that includes content similar to that described in the ISTEP program, plus PAS management training and experience, health and wellness education and experiential support, career counseling, internship planning and social immersion with a disability cohort.

Tom Thompson, Director of Disability Services and ADA Coordinator of Harper College in Palatine, Illinois will discuss the College Awareness Project at Harper College. The CAP is a transition program for high school juniors and seniors that is funded by the College. CAP has three components. First, each area high school in the College's district is invited to bring to campus prospective students who are considering post secondary education. Each year, 150 - 200 students attend and are involved in campus visits with 60% actually enrolling subsequently. During their visit they learn about the College, how to enroll, available services/programs and about Disability specific accommodations and programs on campus. They also take a tour of the campus with Admissions Outreach staff. Second, once or twice a year CAP organizes a Parent/Student program in the evening which reviews procedures such as documentation and accommodations, how to get started and there is an open Q and A time. Third, each summer just prior to the beginning of the Fall semester, groups of students who are deaf/hh and students who are LD or ADHD participate in an Orientation to College course which is tailored to meet their specific, disability-related needs.

Adapted Technology and Information Technology Access

Michael Whitney, Coordinator of Adapted Technology and Website Design at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, will discuss the IBHE funded program Adapted Computer Technology and Accessible Website Design. Whitney will offer a brief demonstration of brain-actuated technology. His remarks will include a description of adapted computer options for postsecondary students, including JAWS, Dragon, electronic texts, and reading systems. He will focus on the importance of preparatory training in these computers and software at the elementary and secondary level in order to enhance the likelihood of academic success in colleges/universities. Whitney will describe his statewide development and training activities in accessible web design, and he will also offer resources for individuals who want to ensure that their websites are accessible to the computers and software used by individuals with disabilities.

Population Specific Transitional Supports

Al Best, of Northern Illinois University (NIU), will summarize the Program for the Hearing Impaired (PHI), where he serves as director. PHI, designed to address deficits that affect students' ability to succeed academically, socially, vocationally, and interpersonally, is based on indicators in the literature and experience. PHI is targeted at students who are deaf or hard of hearing who are making the transition from high school to post-secondary settings. Involving a six-week intensive diagnostic phase (summer) and a nine-month comprehensive transitional program (academic year), PHI ranges from evaluation in multiple areas, classroom instruction, and career and post-secondary options exploration. The nine-month program option includes direct entry to the job market and enrolling in vocational/college/university settings. Best will also discuss the documented and demonstrable positive outcomes for students who have participated in PHI.

Brad Hedrick will describe a UIUC pilot program developed collaboratively by the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services, the Counseling Center and McKinley Student Health Center to proactively screen and, when warranted, to test students at risk of being dropped by the institution as the result of academic difficulties associated with undiagnosed and, therefore, unaccommodated cognitive and/or psychological disabilities.