Special Education

Emily Perton, Holland

Recently I was taking a walk through Hope College’s campus. As I walked, I came across a mentor from the Ready for Life program. We talked about how she had been listening to the Hope College radio station and heard one of the Ready for Life students broadcasting his weekly radio show. She asked me about a graduate from last year, and I had the pleasure of sharing how she was employed and living with some other graduates of Ready for Life. We parted ways, and I kept walking. I soon encountered one of the Ready for Life students hurrying to get to her dance class. I walked on and came across a Hope College professor who shared he was eager for basketball season to get started and how thankful he was to have one of the Ready for Life guys help out with the team. I ended my walk at the Ready for Life classroom where ten Ready for Life students and five mentors were playing board games on a Friday afternoon. In my ten-minute walk across campus, I was able to see the effect of the Ready or Life program!

Ready for Life Academy provides an inclusive college experience for adults with intellectual disabilities at both Hope and Calvin College. The program was established to provide an inclusive transition option for students ages 18-26. This Spring we have 12 students at Hope College and 5 students at Calvin College. The students audit two college classes each semester. They also take life-skill/transition classes taught by a certified special education teacher. They volunteer on campus or out in the community starting their sophomore year in the 4-year program. On top of the educational experience, the students also gain social skills through relationships with mentors on campus. Each semester between the two campuses we have 30-40 college students who mentor the Ready for Life students. The students engage in many different clubs and activities on the campus. The program gives individuals the opportunity to receive a full college experience that they may otherwise have missed out on.

At Ready for Life we desire to give students a place where they belong. We want them to know that they make a difference and that when they are absent, we miss them. Once the students feel connected to the college community, they believe in themselves and learn how to become independent adults. Throughout their four years in the program they gain the skills necessary to achieve the two goals of the Ready for Life: independent living and paid employment.

As a mother of two young boys with Down syndrome and the Executive Director of Ready for Life, I desire for my sons to have an enriched life with every opportunity available to them. I must admit when we adopted our oldest son with Down syndrome we didn’t think about him attending college. I am not sure if we thought much past kindergarten when he was twenty-one months. But now as he, nine years old, and his brother, six years old, are attending school with their peers and experiencing inclusion, I envision them experiencing college life following high school. The requirements needed to get into the Ready for Life program are now the long-term goals we share at their IEP meetings. Our boys see themselves on a college track. Nico is determined to go to Calvin and Gus is determined to go to Hope – apparently, we will be a house divided.

If you are interested in learning more about your child’s future as a college student, check out the Ready for Life program at rflnetwork.org or come to our Visit Day at Calvin College on Friday, March 9, 2018.

Your help is urgently needed to protect Michigan students. Please support the bipartisan effort to push HB 5409-5418 through Michigan’s senate. These reforms make Michigan’s voluntary guidelines on seclusion and restraint into law, making them mandatory for public and private schools. These bills, for the most part, eliminate the use of restraint and inclusion. The exception being that emergency seclusion and restraint would still be allowed only in emergency situations to protect the safety of others – for example, restraining a student to break up a fight or remove a weapon or seclusion may occur in some situations such as in school suspension taking place inside a classroom. Additionally, spaces specific to seclusion are not allowed, but seclusion – when necessary – can take places in other school spaces, like classrooms. The bills promote the use of evidence-based and research-based practices, such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports used proactively to prevent situations that would lead to emergency seclusion or restraint. The goal is to eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint completely by addressing behavior problems long before they escalate to emergency situations.

The effort has been lead by Lt. Governor Brian Calley – an advocate for disability rights and father of three – including a daughter with Autism. “The practice of using restraints and seclusion or sensory deprivation on any kids, but I’ll say especially our most vulnerable populations, is cruel and inhumane,” the Lt. Governor told The Detroit News. “We need to give children the support they need and stop using archaic methods to control behavior,” said Calley.

These bills reflect a lot of hard work and consensus among legislators, educators, and disability rights service providers and advocates. With the support of the Lieutenant Governor, educators, and advocates the bills have been passed by the House of Representatives. But there are a limited number of session days left for the bill to clear the senate and be signed into law by Governor Snyder. The future of this legislation is uncertain and your voice needs to be heard.

Please act now to protect our children. Click here to contact your state senator and tell them that it is important to you that HB 5409-5418. You can phone or email, but phone calls tend to be most effective.

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