Project Description:
Project TEAM prepares teens with disabilities to:
Systematically identify supports and barriers in their physical & social environment, Generate modification strategies, and request reasonable accommodations.
The goal of Project TEAM is to reduce the impact of environmental barriers on teens participation in activities, and enable teens to achieve a personal activity goal in the areas of education, employment, or community life.
Project TEAM was designed through a collaboration between an occupational therapist and a panel of teens with disabilities. Project TEAM is based on a disability rights perspective that focuses on removing barriers in the environmental instead of changing personal
impairments. Teens learn how to identify and remove environmental
barriers using a Game Plan based on cognitive-behavioral techniques. Teens practice using training concepts in real-life situations with peer support during experiential learning opportunities.
Project TEAM is universally designed to be accessible to teens and young adults ages 14-21 with a range of abilities and needs. Teens who may benefit from the program include teens with developmental disabilities, mild intellectual disabilities, autism, mental health challenges, physical disabilities, visual impairments, and those who identify as Deaf/ hard of hearing. Teens should be able to follow two-step directions, understand how to categorize objects and ideas, and have some awareness of their personal strengths and challenges.
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN
