Access All is a whole life program for teens and young adults with special needs. The program began six years ago as part of Kids Are People School’s vision plan. Kids Are People is a non profit, multicultural, multiethnic, inclusive school for children one month through eighth grade. It is one of the only all-inclusive programs of its kind for young adults with special needs in the mainstream.
The Access All program meets the growing needs of students who are coming of age that have only known inclusion to this point in his/her life. Many students in an inclusive setting are now facing being placed in segregative settings in workshops across the state. These environments have limited access to the general population and are often warehousing the clientele in large rooms with an all special needs population. There is often little meaningful work and almost no interaction with typical people in typical settings, the purpose of why these students were in inclusive environments for all these years in not being realized. We are back to square one.
Teens and young adults with the most significant special needs have even less of an opportunity to be included or have meaningful activities to participate in. These students have spent most of their educational experiences in an inclusive setting and the Access All program continues to provide an inclusive community for the young adults to be a part of.
TEEN ACCESS
Teen Access grew out of the belief that children with significant special needs who are turning 14 need to start learning functional living skills long before age 22. Still remaining in their inclusive, educational setting for core subjects, and therapies, the students participate with their typical peers for academics, drama, art, music, recess and all large group activities including outings, field trips, and school productions / performances.
Because of the length of our day (7:30am to 5:30pm) and being open 50 weeks per year, we have the ability to get a lot done. The participants learn self care, community travel, recreation and leisure, and functional living skills. They also learn skills through various volunteer opportunities within the school and local community.
ADULT ACCESS
Adult Access is a whole life program for 24 young adults with severe special needs. The program is designed as an all-inclusive program, which includes the following components:
1. Self Care Skills
2. Community Travel Skills
3. Recreation and Leisure
4. Functional Living Skills
5. Therapeutic Services
SELF CARE SKILLS
Self-care skills are practiced numerous times throughout the daily routine. There is an emphasis on dressing, grooming and hygiene skills to help increase each individual’s success in achieving a greater level of independence. When the young adult masters the small steps of taking care of him/herself, a sense of confidence and dignity grows.
COMMUNITY TRAVEL SKILLS
Access All participants are given the learning opportunities to navigate public transportation, sidewalks, and crosswalks safely in their community. Each young adult uses public transportation to get to volunteer experiences as well as recreation and leisure activities.
RECREATION AND LEISURE
Recreation and leisure activities improve the overall physical health and well being of the young adults. Health problems easily arise as secondary conditions to individuals with special needs; therefore, Access All emphasizes the importance of recreation and leisure participation. The participants are involved at least a half day per week. The young adults participate in such programs as: Adaptive boating with AccesSport America and Soccer with Viking Sports Camp. At both programs, the young adults enjoy participating with their typical peers who assist them in learning new skills and sports.
FUNCTIONAL LIVING SKILLS
Access All provides young adults with a sense of productivity and accomplishment through activities related to Functional Living Skills. Just as we as adults continue our education all through our life, young adults with special needs deserve the same opportunity. The functional educational program has several components:
1. Social Communication
2. Money Management and Time Telling
3. Functional Literacy
4. Fine Motor and Visual Motor Tasks
5. Meaningful Productivity
Specific tasks are designed with assistive technology and augmentative communication, to provide each young adult an opportunity to be productive. The young adults are always working with a job coach for cuing, redirection, and safety. Currently, the young adults are running an online Gift Shop.
• The participants work creating and designing items for sale including jewelry, t-shirts, bookmarks, cards, herbal teas, art, and cookie jars. This work is done under supervision with job coaches, typical peers, and local area artists.
• The created items are sold on line with a variety of other items created by local designers. Parents and staff can also participate in the sale of items they create with a portion of the proceeds going to Adult Access. Part of the employment for the participants is doing inventory, filling orders to pack and ship, web management, and web design.
• In conjunction with Balloons over Boston the young adults are creating balloon weights for balloon bouquets, packaging balloon bouquets for shipping, designing, and packaging bows as part of a retail business also to be sold on line.
• We are currently in the process of setting up a storefront as a gallery to sell our art items in.
6. Volunteerism
• As part of the program participants give at least two hours per week of service to the community. The placements for volunteerism include Community Servings, reVision Urban Farm, and Kids Are People School. We feel it is important for the participants to give back to the community, which has supported them, and to understand the need for us all to volunteer our time. Some skills learned through volunteering include assembly, packaging and shipping, clerical skills, ordering, stocking, and sales.
THERAPEUTIC SERVICES
Therapeutic services are available to participants who need them and are given by our qualified, licensed team of specialists. Services can include the following:
-ABA/Behavior/Counseling*
-Assistive Technology*
-Augmentative Communication*
-Occupational/Physical Therapy*
-Speech and Language Therapy*
-Social Skills Training/Counseling*
-Developmental Specialists*
*Additional Services Available: These services are in addition to the basic program and are at an additional cost per participant. Kids Are People School offers a full special needs service team. Services are delivered either directly to the student or indirectly through therapist/teacher consultation. Carry-over from therapy sessions to the classroom is encouraged. The school has a reading specialist, speech pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychotherapist and a behavior consultant. Some of the programs used by the therapists and a description of what they do are listed below.
*The reading specialist evaluates and helps children with reading difficulties. Using Orton-Gillingham, which is structured, multi-sensory phonetic approach to learning language, children learn to read, spell and write. The therapist also uses other controlled text programs such as Primary Phonics and Alphabet Stories. The children are seen individually or in pairs during a session. Classroom teachers implement other specific reading programs, for example: Edmark, and the Telian Lively Letter Program.
*The speech and language pathologist diagnoses and treats children who have speech and language delays and uses treatment techniques, articulation, fluency, language comprehension, and expressive language skills in-group and individual sessions.
*The physical therapist assesses and treats children with gross motor and sensory integration difficulties. Children may work with the therapist in groups or individual treatment sessions. Treatment approaches address motor control, range of motion, strength, balance, and coordination. The therapist also evaluates and makes recommendations concerning adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs, ambulatory devices and orthotics. Brain gym is a series of exercises children participate in that challenge their thinking skills as well as physical capabilities. This program is used throughout the school with all children as well.
*The behavior specialist designs and monitors teaching programs based on theories of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). These programs utilize discrete trial methodology and are implemented by a teacher who is trained in ABA. The behavior specialist also observes children in the classroom and makes recommendations for environmental modifications in an effort to maximize a child’s learning and behavior.
*The occupational therapist aims to improve the student’s ability to function in the classroom. Areas assessed include fine motor coordination, handwriting skills, visual perceptual motor skills, sensory integration and sensory processing. Engaging therapeutic activities are then presented to the student to develop and identified problem areas. The occupational therapist also consults with teachers and parents to assist the child in attaining and applying adaptive skills in the classroom and at home.
* The psychologist sees children who are experiencing significant emotional, behavioral, or social difficulties. Therapy is conducted in individual or small group sessions. When appropriate, the therapist interfaces with the team and family in an effort to better understand the student and to suggest carry-over of successful therapeutic interventions. The psychologist leads the weekly socialization groups at the school. The Skillstreaming Social Skills Program is used with all children throughout the school.
* The pre-vocational counselor assists children with basic organizational and beginning self-help skills such as banking, using an ATM, and counting change. The skills taught by the vocational training later on in their school career.
* The vocational training component of the school addresses the life skills needed for employment and community involvement. The program involves an Access Program center for hands-on assembly and clerical work training, as well as community training both in the classroom, in the school and on outings.
In addition to the therapies summarized above, the school also has several computers in each classroom. These computers are equipped with educational software that complements each of the major subject areas (science, reading, writing, history etc). The computers are also set up with augmentative communication devices to help children w ho have motor or communication problems. There are nine subject areas set up around the school. Each of these areas has the materials necessary to facilitate learning through a multi-sensory teaching approach.
The school has several computers that are set up to run the Fast For Word learning program. Fast For Word is a technology based computer program that is designed to help students who experience learning, reading, or language processing problems. Students participate in this program for forty minutes a day for six weeks. In a student is not yet about to use a computer a preliminary program is used. The preliminary program teaches computer skills such as looking at the screen, scanning choices, and manipulation of the mouse.
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