Page 1037 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2012
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service hub, which co-locates local area coordination, futures planning and housing options, along with a range of community development activities. I am sure the directorate has noted your words of encouragement there, Ms Hunter, on the development of DISH. The co-location assists families to work through a range of information and support services available to them and to choose the one that is going to suit their unique needs.
Additionally, Disability ACT actively engages with the education system through attending the schools, providing information on how to access supports, attending students’ individual learning plan meetings at schools with their teacher and family, and helping to assess the pathway the students will be taking upon their graduation. These meetings are an opportunity to hear about the goals each student has been working towards while they have been at school and the goals and aspirations that they have for after school.
The process of engagement is starting earlier each year. Disability ACT is now engaging with the schools up to two years before graduation. Also a cross-sector Post School Options Expo is held in June each year, providing an opportunity for high school students to meet a range of potential service providers to consider their options for life after school. These expos have been well attended in the past. They have also provided an opportunity for families of students not yet in years 11 or 12 to start to think about the future.
Students may access a range of options to enhance their future economic and social participation through a variety of ways. This can be experienced through the transition service, which seeks to build on vocational, interpersonal and living skills for young people looking to find work who are not yet ready to participate in either the workforce or further education. For graduates with higher support needs the community access pathway enables young people to develop skills and participate within the community. This is an ongoing service that can link people to existing services or alternatively create new options.
The transition service is provided by the community organisation House with No Steps and delivers individually targeted information and support for young people and their families for up to three years after the young person has left school. However, planning and support begin while the young person is still at school. The transition service team assists the young people to look at their vocational goals for after they finish school, helps them to plan and work towards those own goals, and works with young people and their families to put the plans into action and to make sure that appropriate links are made.
Thirty-four students with disability who graduated in 2011 accessed either the transition service or the community access pathway. During last year Disability ACT and the transition service met with the 2012 graduates. Each graduate will be sent a letter in semester 1 of this year confirming the level of resources that are likely to be available to meet their needs. Staff from Disability ACT and the transition service will continue to meet with the individuals, their families and their teachers to confirm and build on the forms of support that best meet the students’ needs.
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