If you had asked me at the beginning of our transition planning where L would be at 22, I have to admit that the vision changed numerous times over the course of those 8 years. At one point, L expressed that he wanted to go to college, then that pivoted to wanting to work on his vocational skills to get a job. When he entered the Next Steps transition program at our high school, he focused on his vocational skills, ADL’s (activities of daily living) and functional academic skills. During that time, he was also observing what his friends were doing post 22, and all of them were headed to or already in an adult service program. So when the time got closer to leave public education and L was asked what he wanted to do, he wanted to go where his friends were going into a Community Based Day Support program.
But then enter 2020…….when programs either shut down or went virtual. We watched from the sidelines as L’s friends had virtual get togethers and lessons from their programs for a period of time. Then we watched as those programs slowly opened up, but many with reduced staffing.
Fast forward to September 2022…..1 year before L “aged out”. We got “the list” from our DDS Transition Coordinator and started reaching out to the programs in our catchment area and to our surprise, most were not taking names for the wait lists because the wait lists that they currently had were too long. We started looking outside of our catchment area and we were able to go on a couple of tours, but we were met with the same news…..there were wait lists and they were long.
So around January 2023, we started really exploring the self directed programming model offered through DDS. I had previously attended webinars and sessions related to this topic, so I was a familiar with the program, but hadn’t really done a deep dive into the entire process. So starting in January 2023 we jumped in, attending every webinar I could on self direction, meeting with our DDS Transition Coordinator about what this would look like, and reaching out to fellow parents that were already doing some sort of self-direction as part of their programming due to the lack of availability in CBDS programs.
As summer approached, we had a draft plan in place to go for self direction. Using person centered planning, L charted out what his “best life” would look like, and from there we were able to map out what that would look like for him as far as vocational activities, continued education, life skills and community/social involvement. The more we started planning his program, the more excited we became.
By July, 2023 we had no prospects for openings in September for L to go into a program and his anxiety was mounting because he was leaving school and didn’t know what came next. We felt like all of the pieces were lining up for self direction so we decided to take the leap and do it for the upcoming year.
It is now May 2024 as I am writing this, and I have to honestly say that so far as a family we are so glad that we took this path. In this series I will share the steps that we took to get to where we are. Has this journey been easy? Not always. Have there been stressors and bumps in the road? Absolutely! Does it require a ton of patience and dedication that impacts all areas of our lives? Yes. This is not for the faint of heart, and for some individuals, this path may not be work for the adult and the family. In this series, I will highlight the steps that we took and the resources that we found helpful as we planned this program with L.
-Cheryl
#Life Without a Filter 