Fountain-Fort Carson High School: Fountain, Colorado 

Program in Brief:

Students with disabilities who receive instruction to develop their self-determination skills are in upper elementary, middle, and high school students diagnosed with learning disabilities, mental retardation, hearing impairment, serious emotional disturbance, and orthopedic impairment. The program is centered on the instruction by a transition specialist of two core courses at the high school level and support by this transition specialist of teachers at lower grades as they prepare students for the transition to high school.

Populations Served:

Fountain-Fort Carson High School’s transition program enrolls students in a Self-Advocacy class during their freshman or sophomore year and a Transition Issues class in their junior or senior year. The Self-Advocacy course is a semester-long class, including units on self-awareness, self-disclosure, recognizing and setting goals, IEP process participation, and developing a plan of action. Lessons are drawn from such sources as ChoiceMaker (Martin et al., 1996), Become Your Own Expert (Carpenter, 2000), and F.A.T.City. The Transition Issues Course is another semester-long course. Much of the instruction is based on a teacher developed life simulation game entitled “Get a Life”, which encourages the development and use of decision-making, self-management, problem-solving, and goal setting and attainment skills to independent living, post-secondary education, and employment planning situations.

Exemplar Approaches to Promoting Self-Determination:

Self-determination skills are embedded in other self-contained and general education classrooms at the high school. English teachers might use newspapers as a springboard to help student identify their own interests. Math teachers may encourage students to problem solve the relationship between skills they learn and skills they will need in the future to be successful at work. Teachers embrace a philosophy of mentoring students, rather than “doing for” them.

Vocational exploration through the School-to-Work-Alliance Program (SWAP) are options for students in high school. SWAP provides vocational assessment and experiential opportunities to students in four area school districts and links students with adult services. This is not a school agency, but reflects a similar philosophy of encouraging self-determined choices and decisions. An interagency transition team meets monthly and represents agencies that serve individuals with disabilities.

Students begin attending their IEP meetings as early as fourth grade and all attend by ninth grade. Students in the upper elementary and middle school grades are provided instruction regarding learning style differences and learning disabilities as they develop self-awareness. By working with teachers to develop an awareness of their strengths, needs, and goals and taking the responsibility for inviting teachers to their IEP meeting and transferring necessary paperwork among their teachers, students begin to engage in the process of educational planning. Students provide input in their IEP goals and objectives by their freshman year and lead their IEP meetings by their senior year in high school. A checklist is maintained with the student’s record to document their level of participation and engagement in each annual IEP meeting so that they can be better prepared for their meeting the following year.

Fountain-Fort Carson demonstrates an exemplar model for developing self-determined students, due to the belief of its staff that students are capable of being successful. Open communication among teachers, students, and parents and administrative support of flexibility within the program are other keys to its success.

Contact Information:

Wanda Hughes, special education teacher & transition specialist
whughes@ffc8.k12.co.us
Fountain-Fort Carson High School
1900 Jimmy Camp Road
Fountain, CO 80817