Proposal

__Project__ For my project I plan on working with a high school Special Education student. I will be working on helping her integrate with her community by introducing her to different aspects of teen life. I plan on taking her to places where she can work on money skills, fine motor skills,gross motor skills, socialization strategies and personal grooming and dress concepts. Some of these places may include the mall, bowling, clay modeling stores, movie theatres and bowling. I am hoping to gain insight into the reactions of others in the community as we visit different places. I am also hoping to see progress from my student in the areas of socialization and self assurance. Combined with my research I want to show that there is importance and benefit for all involved in mainstreaming and introducing special needs young adults to their community and vice versa. I am planning on doing most of my project on the weekends which is when this specific student has availability. By varying the times of day that I work with her I will be able to explore different types of activities. On certain days I will take her places at night allowing for a different component than in the daytime. Possibly a high school football game where she could be around others her age in a comfortable environment or out to dinner with a classmate. I hope to make some activities more group oriented and others more of a 1:1 basis. There are not really any specific materials that I need to complete this project other than my car and a small amount of cash. I will be working through a teacher and with her mother to determine appropriate days, times, and activities. __Research__ The topic of my research is to analyze why it is important for special needs students to be integrated into their community. I chose this topic because my mother works as a transition specialist in a school district and I wanted to explore the options to students outside of the classroom or job site. I often hear my mother talk about her students that have no activities outside of school and I wonder why that is. I want to see what the reaction is, on the part of the student and the community, to activity within the community. I plan to research what findings are available to either support or reject the thought that this is important. I have grown up around special needs students as my mother has always worked in the field. I have spent numerous days at Special Olympics and in Special Education classrooms from early intervention to high school level. I have had special needs students at my house so their parents could have a break and my brother and I have always been encouraged to give of ourselves during these times. On some occasions I would spend time in community places with these children and see the reactions of others not as used to them as I. I hope that my peers who are not as aware of the needs of special individuals can benefit from my experiences and research. Possibly they will be able to see a diffferent side of these young people and remeber that side when encountering them in public places. I also think that I will benefit from the research as it will add a different perspective to my thoughts as my experience has always been school related. Some sources that I plan on calling and getting information from are Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to learn about individuals working in the community, Best Buddies for activities provided for high school students, ARC for trips for individuals and several colleges who now have residential post secondary education programs for special needs students. I am also going to speak with some of my mother's colleagues to help gain more knowledge about community activities that are available and to direct me to additional resources.