Tom Morehouse,
TMorehouse@ShastaCollege.edu
Target Population:
Students with developmental disabilities. These students are also
categorized as Developmentally Delayed Learners.
Goals:
To provide services on the campus and in the community that prepare
and maintain individuals for as high a level of independence as
possible.
Description:
The Transition Services Program offers course work that includes:
career development, adapted computer skills, reading and math, human
awareness, and life skills. Shasta College offers an environment for
social skills training and for encouraging interpersonal maturity in
an age appropriate environment. Transition Services are based upon
the concept that disability is natural and it is beneficial for all
students to learn how to relate within the rich diversity that is
representative of the community.
Staffing:
The program is coordinated by a full-time faculty member. The
instructor is assisted on a part time basis by a paraprofessional
and by student assistants who also work individually with the
students.
Facilities, equipment, materials:
Similar to other campus programs,
the Transition Services instructor orders appropriate textbooks and
workbooks for purchase by students through the college bookstore.
The program works closely with other staff in securing appropriate
classrooms each semester. There are no devoted classrooms for this
program.
Costs, funding source:
Funding for this program is provided by Shasta College and is based
on the full time equivalent student funding mechanism available to
all through the Chancellors Office. On occasion additional funding
makes it possible to purchase additional supplies and materials.
Outreach and marketing:
The instructor is a member of the Shasta County Coordinating Council
that is an integral member of the State system for people with
developmental disabilities. Much needed support for the program has
been garnered from the community. Professionals representing
referral agencies such as Far Northern Regional Center, the
Department of Rehabilitation and the Coordinating Council serve on
the Disabled Students Programs and Services Advisory Committee, and
provide input to the program. The full time faculty member also
serves as the Northern California Chair of the Developmentally
Delayed Learner Interest Group of the state association. He often
presents topics related to working with this population at statewide
conferences.
Evidence of effectiveness:
Informal measures of effectiveness are derived from various sources
including: the number of students leaving for employment or other
community based programs, who improve their residential status, who
satisfy certificate requirements, and anecdotal information obtained
from students, parents or care-providers.
Suggestions for replication:
It is often difficult and sometimes controversial to serve large
populations of students with developmental disabilities on community
college campuses. It is rare that students with this disability are
able to successfully participate in college level courses. The
college encourages some students in this population to make this
attempt, but most are unable to. Shasta College has placed high
value on being responsive to the needs of all students and strives
to maintain the program with appropriate level courses. By doing so
they are responsive to the needs of the community and in a better
position to accommodate the students.