UCF Inclusive Education Services is making a difference with the new coaching components of its IES program.
Each year, IES joins the annual Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk to promote its program and support the Down Syndrome community. IES was present at Lake Eola for the 24th Annual Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk Saturday, Oct. 22.
This year, the IES program is under new leadership. Mathew Marino, Ph.D., is a UCF professor and interim director of the Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute and is the project’s new principal investigator.
Marino has added new components to the program for this year, such as executive functioning coaching, job coaching for their students in internships and residential mentors who stay in the dorm space to ensure a successful transition and process for students with disabilities.
“The program provides the opportunity for students to go to class with their peers, live in campus housing, participate in intramural sports, and have the chance to access college like any other student,” IES Program Director Jaime Best, Ph.D., said.
The Executive Functioning Coaching program comprises coaches working one-on-one with their students for anywhere from three to five hours per week. They work on skills such as attention organization and time management. It helps students get started with different tasks, from going to the grocery store and completing a shopping list to starting a new schedule or a plan at the beginning of the school year.
“We also have the coaches work on managing emotions with the students,” Best said.
The residential mentor position is for UCF students who reside in the dorms with the program’s first-year students with intellectual disabilities.
“The residential mentors work on skills such as supporting independent living with their peers, roommate, dynamics and community engagement, also conflict management,” Best said.
The job coaching position is for job coaches and peers who support students in their off-campus internship placements.
The goal is that once students finish college, they obtain a job and are equipped with the skills to be an independent young adult. The program is a post-secondary transition program for college students with intellectual disabilities who cannot access a traditional college experience.
“Sometimes we have families that that’s their dream, but we just want to make sure that is actually the students dream to attend college and then get a job,” Best said.
Best said the new components developed for this year help students with disabilities have a smoother transition.
The program opened its application process on Oct. 7, and it closes on Dec. 9. It is only for interested students who have documented intellectual disabilities and have finished the K-12 system with a standard diploma, special diploma or certificate of completion.
“This program really strives to support community members that you know have the same goals as we do,” Best said.
Kiera Anderson, Best’s assistant and occupational therapist at UCF, was at the event on Oct. 22. She informed interested students with Down Syndrome at the event in Lake Eola about the new components added to the IES for all individuals who met these criteria.
She said that their current and new components help the students develop independence in that young adult life.
“Our Inclusive Education Services program is a two-year certification program for students with intellectual disabilities,” Anderson said. “They stay on campus in the dorms, and what they learn are valuable life skills, critical thinking skills, social skills — all to prepare them for young adulthood and for jobs.”
Kammar Andries, who holds a doctorate in physical therapy and a master’s in business administration, is a physical therapist who works at the Nemours Children’s Hospital and Brooks Rehabilitation and is a UCF School of Business graduate. He has treated many patients of varying ages, as well as those with Down Syndrome. He said that he enjoys working with Down Syndrome patients, but they need more resources as they grow and age, and he is happy that UCF IES has a program for them.
“I think the biggest thing that health care really lacks is that once you kind of age out, there is no resources that they can go into,” Andries said. “So, just to have more resources for those students to continue and to integrate to society, I think it will help them to be more independent.”
Andries said he will share the IES with his patients and their parents because many of his patients have shown interest in attending college. Some interested patients question whether they are capable or what kind of resources are available for them.
“Always the question is ‘How can I do it? Do you think I am physically able to do it?’ You know what I mean?” Andries said. “They need resources to do it.”
Andries said the UCF IES program is an excellent way for students to experience the whole college life and said its existence by itself is the best part of the program.
Carley Hopton is an Orlando resident and her brother, an individual with disabilities currently living in New Jersey, and her family are interested in the UCF IES program for her brother. Her brother is approaching the end of his schooling and is considering attending UCF.
Hopton said she stopped at the 24th Annual Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk to get resources and programs for her brother and stopped at the UCF IES to get more information for him because he wants to go to college and get a job.
Hopton thinks staying in the dorms is integral to the college experience and creating that community for individuals with disabilities is important for their overall experience.
“I think, you know, that’s why they are going to college; they’re going for that authentic experience,” Hopton said.
Sahara Davis is an individual with Down Syndrome and a UCF graduate of the IES program.
“We went to classes together, had interviews and questions, we hang out with each other on weekends, and on Friday, we have internship class together,” Davis said.
Davis said she moved from Florida and misses her friends from the program. She also interned at the United Cerebral Palsy preschool for her Early Childhood Education program.
Davis wanted to share a piece of advice for future students with disabilities and ask them not to be scared.
“I know they may be nervous; there is nothing to worry about. Just work on what you have to do and focus on your studies, and everything will be all good,” Davis said. “We have so many good advisers; they are so sweet and kind.”