OPTIONS Student/Parent Handbook 2018-2019

 OPTIONS

Our goal is to support people with disabilities in preparing them to find and maintain jobs, access their communities, establish relationships, and develop their competencies and gifts within the community.

OPTIONS Services Offered

OPTIONS Community Living and Learning Program provides hands-on, real-life-experience training in the community.  Participants develop independent living skills by improving their social skills, problem-solving and decision-making techniques, and by learning to make use of available community resources.

Participants receive training, practice and experience in a diverse array of crucial social and self-advocacy skills that are required for independent living.  In this unique community based setting, students develop daily living skills including budgeting, banking, cooking, cleaning, and simple maintenance and decorating.  They learn to access community resources including banks, post offices, retail stores, libraries, and recreational facilities.

Students in the OPTIONS Community-Based program develop increased awareness of and confidence in, community living.  They practice pedestrian safety, awareness of potential dangers, and strategies to use if faced with uncomfortable situations.

OPTIONS Meaningful Day Classroom provides hands-on, real-life experience training in the classroom and in the community.  This class is for life skills students who will need intensive support to access community activities and will work best as part of a group to participate in community services activities.  The program logistics model the existing Community Living and Learning Programs. 

OPTIONS SAILS is a community based program titled Students Acquiring Independent Living Skills is a new full time class located in a community setting. SAILS is designed to increase the independent living and social interactions of young adults with a suggested minimum age of 17 with a variety of disabilities, including autism, who upon graduation could be expected to live semi-independently and/or participate in supported employment. The emphasis is on the acquisition and application of functional and age-appropriate skills in a naturalistic context. Students will receive intensive training in functional daily living skills and community access to develop and/or enhance their present skills.

OPTIONS Travel Instruction Program provides students with intensive, one-on-one instruction in how to travel safely and independently within the community, including the use of public transportation.  This greatly expands job opportunities for students and increases their access to community recreational facilities and programs. 

Students work toward full competency in essential travel skills.  They master specific transit routes, street-crossing skills, and functional travel-related life skills.  They learn to adapt to travel variances like missed buses, route detours and last minute schedule changes.  Instruction is also provided in interacting appropriately with strangers, and identifying community workers if assistance is needed.  Emphasis is placed on problem solving through guided discovery. After a thorough assessment, a specific route and individualized instruction is designed based upon the needs of each student.

OPTIONS Employability Skills Training Program provides non-paid training opportunities for students with disabilities from the fifteen Delaware County School Districts.  The school IEP team, as part of the mandated transition planning, determines the appropriate services.

Students are assessed for their abilities to follow directions, solve problems and work independently for increasingly longer periods of time.  OPTIONS emphasizes appropriate social behavior.  The OPTIONS team works with each student to target the skills and strengths that are helpful in preparing for long-term employment activities.

OPTIONS Enhanced Employment Opportunities Program provides services to assist students to prepare for long-term employment.  Identified students begin with part-time jobs to expand and refine their employability skills. When students are employed, a job coach works with each student at specific sites. Afterwards, the coach visits periodically to assure continued success. The coach is available to address issues and concerns as they arise. Students may work year-round and are available to work weekends and holidays when needed.

Students’ progress through the various OPTIONS Employment Programs is dependent on individual needs. Some go from training to paid employment then back again. Others are involved in both simultaneously. Employers help us assess which skills the students need to develop.

Vocational and Situational Assessment Services – DCIU OPTIONS Vocational and Situational Assessments Programs provide students 15 years old and above with information to assist the IEP team in developing an individual transition plan that merges a student’s interests and abilities. Assessments are part of the multi-disciplinary evaluation. 

In a Vocational Assessment, an aptitude test is divided into sections of timed exercises. Clear instructions are provided before each section.  The administrator remains available to help with instructions necessary. The exercises involve: object identification, abstract shape matching, clerical matching, pattern visualization, computation (basic math), numerical reasoning (work problems), and word meanings.  Manual and finger dexterity, and eye-hand coordination are also tested. 

In a Situational Assessment, the student/client is placed in an actual work setting where, under supervision, he/she performs work tasks with other employees or volunteers at that site. The assessor observes, records and interprets observations. A Situational Assessment can determine a person’s strengths, interests, and amount of support needed to perform a variety of jobs in the community. The assessment is used when determining a student’s participation in the DCIU OPTIONS program where students receive a continuum of services geared at promoting the development of their marketable work skills.The assessment is typically three half days.

College Support Program is a  transition program on a college campus to support students that are academically prepared to seek a degree or certification from a post-secondary institution, but may require intensive supports to handle the social and emotional demands of a college environment. The program will provide support for students age 17-21 and will offer services that are outside the scope of typical student supports.

OPTIONS Adult Programs – Since 1994, under contract with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), OPTIONS has provided assessment, job-development and coaching support for clients who are no longer covered under the umbrella of Special Education Services. Since 1995, DCIU has provided extended supported employment services to the Office of Intellectual Disabilities(OID).  Because OVR services are time-limited, customers who require less than 20% job coaching support and are eligible are referred to OID or other agencies for follow-along services. OPTIONS provides Home and Habilitation services as well. 

DISCIPLINE:

Inappropriate behavior is not tolerated in the community.  Every effort should be made to achieve a solution, which will allow the student to remain in the program.  Behavior which may result in the student being removed from his/her current program should be discussed with the OPTIONS Supervisor, program professional and the home school team.

PROCEDURES FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION

The following actions should be taken in the event of a problem:

• The program professional should discuss the problem with participants
• The home school contact should be made aware of the problem
• Expectations should be discussed clearly with the participants
• If the problem is not resolved, a formal warning should be given before the participant is asked to leave
• A team meeting should be held to develop training strategies to address the concern and to help prevent it from occurring again. A training plan should be agreed on
• Implementation of the training plan and progress should be documented and the participant should display a predetermined amount of improvement before returning to the program

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR BEING ASKED TO LEAVE A SITE

It is very important that your child establish the habit of calling in when he/she cannot come to work due to illness, missing the bus; previous appointment, or any other reason.

This is a procedure that all potential employees and community volunteers will have to follow at any place of employment where volunteering.  When your son/daughter is working or volunteering as an adult, parental phone calls are not the most acceptable form of reporting absences.

Your son/daughter can state the following:  I ____________ will not be coming to work/apartment or travel instruction today because _____________.

• Employability Skills Site  –  # to call out   –  Best time to call
  Boeing –  610-938-9000 x2249  – anytime before 8am 
  DCIU Morton –  610-938-9000 x2001 –  anytime before 8am
  Thrift Shop on the Avenue  – 610-284-4190   –  anytime before 8am
  Giant  – 610-938-9000 x2249  – anytime before 8am
  Haverford College  – 610-938-9000 x2250   –  anytime before 8am
  Marshalls-MacDade Mall and Springfield  –  610-938-9000 x2250  –  anytime before 8am
  Swarthmore College – 610-328-7130  – anytime before 8am  
• Community Living and Learning
  CLL- Media Apartment N. Jackson – 484-442-8682  – anytime before 8am
  CLL- Newtown Towers Apartment  – 610-353-3049 – anytime before 8am                                                                    
• Meaningful Day – MD – Newtown Towers – 610-353-2691 – anytime before 8am      
• SAILS Program  – Media N. Jackson St. – 610-565-8289 – anytime before 8am                                                                                           
• Enhanced Employment – Job Coordinator – the number will be on the training agreement
• Travel Instruction – Travel Instructor – the number will be on the training agreement and call employers