Surprising idea for special education students: Go to college

Why college matters for people with disabilities Daniel Jarvis-Holland is a sophomore at Benson Polytechnic High School. He has Down syndrome and wants to go to college. Now he finally can. PSU is pioneering a way for young Oregonians with intellectual disabilities to attend college via the Think College Inclusion Oregon (TCIO) project. Watch the video to learn why the college experience matters for people with disabilities.

In Portland and around the country, a generation of children with intellectual disabilities has grown up integrated into their schools and society like never before.

Young people like 20-year-old Grant High graduate Cody Sullivan and 16-year-old Benson High sophomore Daniel Jarvis-Holland, both of whom have Down syndrome, attended all the same classes as other kids their age since kindergarten. And they've done the other things children and young adults do, too: join clubs, ride bikes, use social media, play on sports teams, work summer jobs.

But even their parents, who fought hard to get them included in regular classrooms in elementary and high school, were surprised to learn what their children expect next: They assume they will go to college.

Angela Jarvis-Holland, Daniel's mom, was one of them. "We as moms looked at each other and said, 'Well now what?'"

It turns out that, at least for a small segment of the Portland area's young adults with intellectual disabilities, college will in fact be possible. Some college officials say such programs will prompt society to stop automatically writing off people with intellectual disabilities as "not college material."

College attendance by people with intellectual disabilities has been shown to translate into better jobs with better pay and greater independence.

Last year, Concordia University in Northeast Portland said yes to Cody Sullivan, who had started working part-time as a preschool teacher while still in high school. He takes college courses on teaching methods with the rest of a cohort of undergraduates preparing to become teachers, making him the first person in Oregon with Down syndrome enrolled at a university.

And Portland State University is preparing to open an entire program next year that, starting with about five new undergraduates, will allow students with intellectual disabilities to get the coaching and support they need to go to college. Thirty-five students are expected to take part under the five-year grant.

There is no hard and fast rule for what constitutes an intellectual disability. But under Oregon's guidelines, a child with a disability who qualifies for that category normally scores in the bottom 3 percent or so on a standardized intelligence test.

The Portland State students will take college courses alongside non-disabled students and will also hold part-time jobs on campus. They'll be able to live on campus too.

They may audit the courses or take them for credit, and they will likely do so with plenty of extra supports, such as a peer tutor to go over key concepts and terms before every class session, said Ann Fullerton, professor of special education in PSU's Graduate School of Education. Writing assignments will be modified, as they are for Sullivan at Concordia. Details are still to be worked out before the first students start classes some time next year, Fullerton said.

But, said Susan Bert, a senior instructor in Portland State's College of Education, the bottom line is that the students will "included in the campus community in meaningful ways that align with things they are interested in."

That will be good for them and also good for other PSU students and the faculty, Bert said.

Continuing intellectual growth

College proves too difficult for many young people who try it, mostly because they didn't master the reading, writing and math skills needed for college. A study released this year found that three-fourths of Oregon high school graduates who go on to community college must take non-credit remedial courses when they get there.

Students with intellectual disabilities also are unable to read, write and do math at college levels, and would remain so with remedial classes.

Angela Jarvis-Holland heads a Portland-based Down syndrome advocacy group, so she knows lots of young people with intellectual disabilities. The value of college for those of them who desire to go isn't to learn academics in the same way and at the same level as other students, she said. Rather, she said, it is to continue their own intellectual, social and job-related learning, so that they can fulfill their potential and increase their odds of earning their way in life with meaningful competitive-wage-paying work.

That's a big deal because as it stands, very few people with intellectual disabilities get that opportunity. A national study found that 85 percent of such young adults either didn't work at all or worked in segregated way-below-minimum-wage "sheltered workshops" doing menial work.

The problem has been particularly bad in Oregon. The U.S. Department of Justice helped sue the state for funneling teens and young adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities into menial jobs or adult day care instead of real jobs. The state agreed to spend millions fixing the problem.

College is one proven way for people with intellectual disabilities to learn skills and make connections needed to get good jobs.

A variety of partners, propelled in large part by Jarvis-Holland's group, the Northwest Down Syndrome Association, helped Portland State win a $2.5 million federal grant to develop a pathway through college for students with intellectual disabilities. PSU will also share its approach with other colleges in Oregon.

Want more info?

Contact the Portland State University program at tcio@pdx.edu

Portland State is among a second wave of colleges to receive grants from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education to design a pathway for people with disabilities.

Evidence from the first wave shows that students who go to college, even when they do not earn degrees or industry certification, are much more likely to get hired into a real job - and more likely to work more hours at higher wages.

A study funded by the federal education department found that about 40 percent of young adults who have gone through those programs immediately found jobs paying minimum wage or higher. That is nearly three times the rate for those who don't get any college.

Loving college

Based on a sample size of one - Cody Sullivan - college can also make students with intellectual disabilities very happy.

Even when he doesn't have class until afternoon, he's out the door before 9 a.m. to get to Concordia's verdant campus, where he can study in the library, eat in the cafeteria and work out in the gym, says his mother, Ann Doneca-Sullivan. She works at Concordia, as the lead placement coordinator for the College of Education.

Sullivan takes one education methods course each term and also plays in the school's handbell choir. This term, he's taking a weight training class as well.

He easily rattles off a long list of things he likes about college: "Classes, homework, reading, taking notes." He loves meeting new people and leading cheers for his "Cavs," the Concordia Cavaliers volleyball and basketball teams.

Even with excellent teachers, most students with disabilities who attend college will have limited reading and writing skills and fall far short of being able to digest a college textbook.

But, Bert says, with coaching and practice, they are capable of learning material covered in college courses, particularly on topics of high interest and relevance to them.

"We see them developing career skills that will support them moving into careers and gaining the independence they'll need in adult life."

-- Betsy Hammond

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