Woodmore helps special needs students transition to adult world
ELMORE - In four months, Aidan Treat will turn 22 and be officially ready for the adult world. Thanks to Woodmore Schools and other local resources available to students with special needs, he is ready.
Aidan is a Woodmore transitional student. He has autism, and when he graduated from Woodmore High School in 2020, he wasn’t quite ready to jump fully into the workforce. Although he had met state requirements for graduation, he still needed to learn independent living and employability skills to prepare him for life. Thanks to a federal law that protects students with special needs, further educational opportunities were available.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that entitles students with disabilities ages 3 to 21 to special educational services through their local public school district. The time period between high school graduation and the student’s 22nd birthday are spent gaining skills to transition into independent, adult living. Students can continue their education at the high school, but that’s not always the best option.
“They typically go off somewhere else. We don’t like them to hang out at the high school because they are ready to learn skills beyond the high school setting,” said Carla Smith, Woodmore Local Schools' director of student services. “We want them in a more adult setting.”
Transitional students have three local options for aid
Smith said transitional students have three local options: Bittersweet Pemberville, the Transition-to-Work (TTW) program at Penta Career Center, and the Living Classroom in Bowling Green, where Aidan attends classes five days a week. The Living Classroom is housed in an apartment, giving Aidan and the other students hands-on learning experiences to develop independent living, employability and social skills.
“It’s a three-story apartment, which is really neat,” said Aidan’s mother, Joy Treat. “One floor has bedrooms, one floor has a living room and a kitchen, and one floor has a workout room.”
Within those walls, Aidan learns daily living and employment skills. He cleans, cooks, exercises and interacts with the instructors and other students.
Besides learning job skills, students learn home skills too
“I learned to cook pasta and gelatin,” Aidan said.
He sweeps, dusts, scrubs the bathroom and folds linens.
“He’s learning to fold to industry standards, in case he gets a job at a hotel,” Joy said. “It’s like a classroom, but it’s an apartment. It helps him understand how to live in a group setting.”
Aidan doesn’t spend all of his time inside the Living Classroom. His education takes him out into the real world for employment experiences. He works at Bowling Green State University’s recreation center, where he cleans the athletic equipment and mops the basketball courts. He dusts, sweeps, organizes clothes and breaks down boxes at Goodwill, and he processes recyclable materials in the Wood County offices. That job, Aidan said, is his favorite.
“I love it when I collect recycling stuff all over the complex,” he said.
The work experiences help Aidan, who has a passion for electronics, decide what he wants to do when he ages out of the Living Classroom on his 22nd birthday.
“I’d like to get a job at Rural King, Lowe’s or Big Lots,” he said.
Joy and her husband, Bill Treat, are thankful Aidan had years of support and guidance that prepared him for independence.
“I can’t say enough about Woodmore,” Joy said. “People would ask us why we didn’t move to a bigger school district, but Woodmore has been amazing every step of the way, including (teacher) Mrs. (Edmida) Hintz. And I’ll miss the Living Classroom as much as Aidan.”
Bill said every Woodmore staff member has been “fantastic.”
“They know their job, and they’re good at,” Bill said. “But it’s not just the staff, it’s the students, too. Aidan never got bullied. He never had a bad day there.”
Although Aidan’s positive experience is typical for Woodmore’s special needs students, his educational journey is his own.
“This is one picture of one child,” Smith said. “Because it’s Aidan’s path doesn’t mean it’s everyone’s path. It’s not typical for everyone who graduates with a disability, but it is for some of them.”
Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Program helps special-needs students between high school and age 22
