Intergenerational Skills Training: Teaching Young People to Make Life
Choices
2002
by Steve Brown
The Problem
About five years ago, a seventeen year-old who happened to have a genetic
disability entered executive director Shelley Gottsagen’s office
at the Coalition for Independent Living Options (CILO) in West Palm Beach,
Florida. This teenager was thirty-eight weeks pregnant, but neither she
nor her family had recognized her pregnancy. The teenager not only did
not know who the father was, she had absolutely no clue as to how she
had gotten pregnant. Shelley realized that many young people with disabilities
still did not receive basic sex education. Students who were in more segregated
classrooms were especially unlikely to obtain any kind of sex education.
In the situation of this seventeen year-old, her family did notice their
daughter gaining weight but simply did not consider the possibility of
pregnancy. Without honest and understandable information about sex education
and parental responsibilities, she was denied not only the choice of whether
or when to conceive, but she also missed any time to prepare for any specialized
care that might be needed if she passed on her genetic disability.
Around the same time, several other kids with disabilities came to CILO
needing conflict resolution skills. They were being suspended or threatened
with expulsion from school for being involved in activities they thought
would make their peers accept them, such as shoplifting, smoking or sexual
activities. They did not particularly want to participate in these activities,
but they did want acceptance. They lacked the skills to resist social
pressure. The teens needed to learn postponement or refusal skills. They
needed to know how to say “no” and still be “cool.”
THE PLAN
Shelley discussed these situations with CILO staff. Many recalled having
similar experiences during their student days. CILO concluded that the
best time to reach adolescents to teach them these skills, as well as
other independent living skills, would be during after school hours. This
was also the time when they got in the most trouble.
Shelley did some research and contacted a New York-based institute that
focused on HIV, STD and pregnancy prevention and possessed a multiple
library database. The institute conducted an international search to find
out who was teaching teens with disabilities about these issues. They
could not find anyone doing it. So CILO decided they would.
Shelley continued her research, looking at programs that successfully
attracted teens. She discovered the best ones were multi-faceted, so that
different aspects would attract teens with diverse interests. The most
successful programs had multiple activities, such as visual and performing
arts, sports, computer training and discussions. CILO needed to adapt
these programs to youngsters with disabilities. They targeted middle and
high school students. ALERT began in 1998, using teens with and without
disabilities as peers.
The after-school program meets for three hours five days a week during
the school year. As the program grew in popularity, a summer program also
began, which runs ten hours per day for eight weeks during the summer.
Teens with and without disabilities participate together.
While implementing ALERT, CILO learned that senior citizens were the
fastest growing population in Palm Beach County with HIV. Funding to educate
seniors about sexually-transmitted diseases became available. CILO chose
to integrate seniors into ALERT to provide an intergenerational program
using senior citizens as mentors. Seniors provide skills training in areas
such as cooking or accessing public transportation. Seniors as well as
teens receive the HIV prevention education they need. Teens with and without
disabilities and senior citizens teach, learn and develop skills together.
The name of the program evolved into ALERT-US.
Each teen sets goals and has an independent living plan. The program
helps participants develop the skills teens need to learn. For example,
homework assistance and tutorials are provided if needed. The program
also offers job-training, conflict resolution, decision making, driver’s
education and, of course, sex education.
The senior citizens who participate in this program share their life
and career experiences—their first-hand historical knowledge. They
also share cooking recipes and help with tutoring and educational goals.
Finally, they are understanding listeners.
The last Friday of each month teens in the program make a full dinner
for their families and friends. This teaches not only cooking skills but
introducing techniques, serving and cleaning-up skills. Groups also take
field trips using public transportation to teach people how to use the
transportation system and access community resources.
ALERT-US currently has three different funders: the local county commission,
United Way of Palm Beach and the Community Foundation of Palm Beach &
Martin Counties. East Coast Electrical Apprenticeship program provides
10 acres of land for CILO to use for the summer camp and provides platforms
in classrooms for performing plays.
THE SUCCESS
There are many examples of the success of ALERT-US. Everyone involved
benefits from social skills and interacting with one another. A group
of teens is currently seeking formal permission from Maria Shriver to
perform a play of her book, “What’s Wrong with Timmy?”
There is already an auditorium ready to book the play.
A group has also performed Peter Yarrow’s “Don’t Laugh
at Me,” which includes a curriculum for after-school and summer
camp programs using music, video and materials based on curricula developed
by the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) of Educators for Social
Responsibility (ESR). “Don’t
Laugh at Me” is designed to provide teachers, school counselors,
social workers, administrators and other professionals an entry point
for year-round social and emotional learning (SEL) and character education
programs. (Editor’s Note: For more information, see http://www.dontlaugh.org/)
One year participants created a detailed planetarium using papier mache.
Another time, twenty-five participants went to the County Commission to
advocate for public transportation. Kids began taking active roles in
self-advocacy at their education and career planning meetings after that
experience.
One teen who has autism became excellent at tying down wheelchairs on
buses used for field trips. He graduated from high school, and the CIL
hired him as a mentor to younger teens with autism and other disabilities.
He became motivated to attend college. Harvard and MIT interviewed him,
but he chose to attend Duke University. He’s now completing his
first year and returning to CILO to work this summer. The ultimate goal
of ALERT-US is to enable middle and high school students to make positive
life choices and achieve their goals.
Contact Information
Shelley Gottsagen
Executive Director
CILO
6800 Forest Hill Boulevard
West Palm Beach, FL 33413-3310
561-966-4288 (Voice)
561-641-6538 (TTY)
561-641-6619 (Fax)
EMAIL: EXD2000@bellsouth.net
http://www.cilo.org/
Steven Brown
Institute on Disability Culture
Center on Disability Studies
University of Hawai'i
1776 University Ave., UA4-6
Honolulu, HI 96822
SBrown8912@aol.com
http://hometown.aol.com/sbrown8912/
About the Author
Steven E. Brown is currently a Resident Scholar
at the Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Brown,
founder, Institute on Disability Culture (IDC), earned a doctorate in
history from the University of Oklahoma. He directed an independent living
center in Oklahoma, organized numerous community coalitions, and served
as training director at the World Institute on Disability Research and
Training Center on Public Policy in Independent Living. He founded the
not-for-profit Institute on Disability Culture with his wife, Lillian
Gonzales Brown, in 1994. Since then he has become an internationally sought
speaker, trainer, and writer.
Brown's publications include dozens of articles and the books Independent
Living: Theory and Practice, which has been translated into several
languages; Investigating a Culture of Disability: Final
Report, the result of a prestigious Switzer Fellowship from the
National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation and Research of the Department
of Education, the first funding of its type for research into the field
of Disability Culture; A Celebration of Diversity:
an Annotated Bibliography about Disability Culture, Second Edition;
and Celebrating Passion, Relentlessness, and Vision:
the Manifesto Editorials. An award-winning poet, Brown has published
five books of poetry, Dragonflies in Paradise: An Activist's
Partial Poetic Autobiography; The Goddess Approaches
Fifty: Poems; Love into Forever: a Tribute to
Martyrs, Heroes, Friends, and Colleagues; Pain,
Plain--and Fancy Rappings: Poetry from the Disability Culture;
and Voyages: Life Journeys.
In recent years, Brown has conducted writing workshops and residencies
with groups of all ages, especially with middle and elementary school
students. He has written a children's biography about disability rights
pioneer Ed Roberts, distributed a monthly online newsletter and continued
to publish articles about disability culture and disability rights in
a variety of publications. He has conducted trainings throughout the United
States and Europe on a variety of disability related subjects.
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