Next Steps Summer Institute at the TN Vanderbilt UCEDD/LENDOffers a Sneak Peak Into What It's Like to Go To College
December 13, 2012
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Postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disabilities continue to be developed across the country. This rise in opportunities means more and more students are realizing that a college experience may be a viable option for them. However, many students and families may have questions about whether a postsecondary education program would be a good fit. Next Steps at Vanderbilt, a college-certificate program in Nashville, Tennessee, now offers the Next Steps Summer Institute as a unique way for students to explore these questions of compatibility.
The Next Steps Summer Institute began in 2010 as an orientation for incoming Next Steps at Vanderbilt students. It now thrives as a week-long residential college transition program for any young adult with a developmental disability, up to the age of 24, who wants to know what it is like to go to college.
"Expanding the function of the Summer Institute has been incredibly successful and important for so many students who have college aspirations," said Next Steps program coordinator Kelly Wendel. "We are giving rising juniors and seniors an opportunity to get a taste of college. They are checking out what it is like to be on a college campus to help them decide whether it is something they really want for themselves. "
The Institute's programming is focused in four areas:
1. Social skills. Much of this learning happens through planned team building activities and through social activities that take place around campus and beyond.
2. Independent living skills. This learning occurs as an outcome of living in the dorm. Cooking, cleaning, getting up in the morning by themselves, and getting places on time and with the appropriate materials are a few of the ways these skills are expanded. They also take classes on how to use social networking and how to text.
3. Self-advocacy. The students learn to talk about their disability and are led through activities that help them to identify their strengths and challenges.
4. Vocational training and career assessment. Students explore what they want to do with their lives. They identify their interests and see how those interests translate in the job market. They are taught how to use ThinkCollege.net and given an opportunity to learn about postsecondary options to improve their employment outcomes.
"It's also really fun," says Wendell. "While college is certainly about developing skills that put a person on a path toward a job, it also is about meeting different kinds of people and having a good time. We strike a good balance."
To learn more about the Next Steps Summer Institute and to see more detailed information on eligibility criteria and fees, see http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/site/services/disabilityservices/page.aspx?id=2171
