Transitioning Youth

It is important to know where you are in the “Adult Services” process and what you need with respect to your transition or the transition of a specific individual.

 Transitioning students are those individuals who have reached their final year of high school education and have been identified by DDA as requiring adult services to gain and maintain employment or otherwise require day support in the community after graduation. These students typically receive Special Education while in high school with support services identified in IEP’s (Individual Education Plan). Typically individuals are identified their freshmen year and receive numerous interventions from school staff and other adult services agencies. The second semester of the individuals junior year in high school is the time that paperwork and other essential processes are encouraged to begin with DORS. This is the first agency[DORS] individuals are encouraged to contact because many essential services and preliminary funding opportunities are provided by DORS. The application for DDA services, if applicable, is also provided to the individual and caregiver to complete and submit. DDA receives applications from many other sources and often has a backlog due to request. Therefore, parents are encouraged to submit this paperwork as soon as possible.

Once all necessary applications and other paperwork are submitted individuals and their caregivers are encouraged to begin exploring possible Community Service Providers (CRP). The IEP facilitator or Special Education Teacher at each of the high school has literature on many of these providers and can provide interested individuals with contact information if not readily available. The process of selecting a service provider can be time consuming and confusing. Therefore, individuals and their caregivers should start this process early.

Once the individual has chosen New Horizons Supported Services as their desired CRP/Day Program they must then submit an application to New Horizons Supported Services for consideration. This again is a time consuming process and should be done with the individuals separation date in mind. Once the application is submitted and has representation from Service Coordination then New Horizons Supported Services will begin an assessment process to determine if we can accommodate the applying individual in our program. Part of this process is information sharing. New Horizons Supported Services request information from any other pertinent services/sources that may have information regarding the individuals specific needs and/or impairments. Based on this information and other assessment techniques and tools an informed decision can be made regarding services. If the decision is made that the individual is appropriate the individual is notified that New Horizons Supported Services has the intent to serve the individual. Once this notification is made New Horizons Supported Services must submit a budget to DDA. As stated earlier this process is extremely time sensitive and once the process has reached this step it often becomes held up by backlog. This is why it is important to ensure that the process is begun early enough. The approval of the budget from DDA can take anywhere from 3 months or greater in extreme cases. Therefore, if an individual and their caregiver start the process too late a large delay could be incurred while waiting for approval and subsequent start date. Also keep in mind that even though DORS provides some short-term funding options these funds many times cannot be secured until a start date has been given by DDA.