Ken-Crest Centers
Administrative Office
502 West Germantown Pike, Suite 200
Plymouth Meeting, Pa 19462-1307

Phone: (610) 825-9360
Fax: (610) 825-4127
Web: www.kencrest.org
Email: kencrest@kencrest.org

A Roadmap from school to the future for students ages 14 to 21 with developmental delay residing in Pennsylvania and receiving special education services.

This is the best-educated generation of teenagers with special needs to grow up in America. Educated from birth, they have had more inclusive social and educational opportunities, and they have broken down more walls of segregated classrooms than any previous generation of young men and women with developmental disabilities.

They are confident that they will reside, work, and enjoy social lives in their community. And their parents expect that dream to become reality.

But the transition from school to adult life is a winding road that many families who have a child with mental retardation or developmental disabilities find difficult to navigate. "Where Do We Go From Here" is your map to successful transition planning.

(www.whyy.org/tv12/kencrest.html), is a series of WHYY TV public service messages from people with disabilities about their successful lives in the community. Underwritten by KenCrest, the series includes a message from Emily, a young adult who recently transitioned from high school to adult life in the community. Now celebrating the beginning of its second century of service for people with developmental disabilities, KenCrest offers an array of services to youth and adults living in southeastern Pennsylvania and the State of Delaware. For more information about KenCrest, visit www.kencrest.org. KenCrest sponsors www.transitionmap.org, and cosponsors www.transitionmapde.org with the Center for Disabilities Studies, University of Delaware.

While the Americans with Disabilities Act has made significant contributions to the rights of people with disabilities in the United States, data shows that more than a quarter of them live in poverty, and more than 75 percent earn less than $20,000 annually, a recent study from Hofstra University shows. Government policies, notably Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income as well as health insurance practices continue keep the American Dream out of reach for many Americans with disabilities, reports Frank Bowe, author of the study. Also, only 13 percent of adults with disabilities ages 21-64 work year around. Disability in America 2006 contains charts and graphs comparing income, employment, and poverty levels of people with disabilities to those without disabilities. To read a press release, "The American Dream is Unlikely for the Nation's Third Largest Minority Says Hofstra Professor" visit:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=72400. The latest U.S. Census data shows that there are around 50 million people in the U.S. who report some type of disability (See AAMR F.Y.I., Volume 6, No.6 at http://www.aamr.org/FYI/fyi_vol_6_no_6.shtml#more). People with disabilities are not as healthy as those without disabilities, reveals the new 2006 Disability and Health State Chartbook by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The Chartbook contains a 2-page profile on each U.S. state and D.C. showing the estimated number of men and women in the state with a disability, including comparative graphs on the health of adults with and without a disability. To read a press release from CDC on the publication of the Chartbook, visit http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/Media/pressrel/r060912.htm

The following resources will supplement your reading of the two reports mentioned above: Medicaid funding facts on each U.S. state and D.C. by the American Network of Community Options and Resources at http://www.ancor.org/issues/medicaid/MedicaidSTFactSheets.html.
Also, two recent resources from the Institute for Community Inclusion show data on employment for persons with developmental disabilities. See http://www.communityinclusion.org/article.php?article_id=177 and http://www.communityinclusion.org/article.php?article_id=181.

IDEIA 2004 states Transition Planning should become part of the IEP by age 16. But experts say best practice is to begin planning for transition from school to adult life by age 14. These are tips that can help families build an effective Transition Plan.

During the early transition years, discuss:

• What kind of work your teenager wants to do.
• Transportation to and from work.
• Where your adult child wants to live someday.
• Social activities he/she enjoys.
• Any need for specialized medical care.
• Guardianship, power of attorney, and executor of your estate.
• Special needs trust funding for long-term needs.

Click here to read entire article...

NEW Transition IEP Forms Focus on Person-Centered Career Planning

Effective July 1, 2005, the new Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), has mandated important changes to the Transition Planning process. One significant change is the recommendation that transition planning begin by age 16 (rather than at age 14). In Pennsylvania, IEP forms will be revised, with the new forms being used by December 1, 2005. Annotated, revised IEP forms, including the Transition Planning component, (Section IV of the IEP form) can be downloaded from http://www.pattan.k12.pa.us/files/Forms/English/AnnIEP_072205.pdf.
Based on a presentation made by Michael Stoehr, Educational Consultant with PaTTAN, Pittsburgh at the Pennsylvania Statewide Community of Transition Conference this past July, the new IDEIA will affect PA students in these ways: Click here to read entire article...

March 2007 Annotated IEP forms: http://www.pattan.net/files/Forms/English/AnnIEP_030207.pdf