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Post-Secondary Education

Every year your student is at West Chicago, their IEP team will be reviewing an important piece of the IEP - the transition plan.  This document helps us plan for your student's future and helps the IEP team put you in touch with the necessary resources in order to assist with that future.  One of the four pieces of this transition plan can be regarding post-secondary education.

Below are a list of resources within our community for post-secondary education.  While this is not an exhaustive list, we wanted to highlight these as a starting point.

Should you have any questions regarding these, please reach out to your student's counselor or our Transition/Vocational Coordinator, Erica Gutesha.

 
College of DuPage is committed to equality of educational opportunities for eligible students with disabilities. If you have the ability to do college-level work and an educational commitment to succeed, we ensure access, provide accommodations and coordinate support services. All students requesting accommodations need to self-identify with the Center for Access and Accommodations and provide appropriate documentation of their disability. Documentation may include a diagnosis of disability, academic history, intellectual assessment and recommendations for accommodations. Referrals can be made to outside agencies if students do not have documentation but feel that they might have a disability.
Once students contact the office, individual appointments are made to assess needs, explain services and give guidance through the COD process. Any information provided by students is voluntary and confidential.
It is best if students contact the office before classes begin for a smoother transition to College of DuPage.   
 
 Disability Support Services promotes and facilitates full access by empowering students with reasonable accommodations, training, collaboration, and innovative programming to create opportunities for diverse learning environments that are usable, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable and is an aspect of diversity that is essential to the larger mission of Dominican University. 
The Elmhurst Learning and Success Academy (ELSA) is a four-year program that offers a full-time, post-secondary educational experience to young adults with developmental disabilities. The program emphasizes three key areas: Academics and Career Exploration, Independent Living Skills, and Social and Recreational Skills.

ELSA students are invited to participate in Elmhurst College clubs, organizations and intramural sports. They also attend sporting and other events on and off campus with mentor support, and use the College’s fitness center. Elmhurst College students, serving as peer mentors and education coaches, engage ELSA participants in a range of planned activities and encourage peer interaction and social skills.

Personal responsibility and advocacy, decision-making, time management and organizational skills are integrated across the curriculum. Upon completion of the ELSA program, students participate in the College’s commencement ceremony and receive a certificate of completion with a transcript of their course work. ELSA alumni are invited to attend evening support seminars offered periodically by the College. What’s more, graduates are better prepared to find employment and live with greater independence in the community or with their family.   
 
RISE to the Challenge and Join Us! Are you looking for a unique opportunity for a post-secondary education for you or a loved one who has an intellectual disability? Through the RISE Program, we give students with intellectual disabilities the college life experience in a Christian community and build upon strengths for independent living and customized employment.   
 
  P.A.C.E. at NLU is a three-year post-secondary program which is designed to meet the transitional needs for young adults with multiple intellectual, learning and developmental disabilities. P.A.C.E. is one of the leading residential-based programs in the country that integrates employment preparation, independent living skills coaching, functional academic courses and social development into a curriculum that prepares students for independent living through experiential learning.

Generally speaking, P.A.C.E. students have more ability and potential than their test scores indicate, and are highly motivated to be successful in life. They want to attend college and with a goal in mind to contribute to society as independent adults.

Students have a range of intellectual, learning and developmental disabilities, most often in areas of language, mathematics, reading comprehension, abstract reasoning, as well as organizational and social difficulties. Student diagnoses include learning and intellectual disabilities, high-functioning autism spectrum disorders, executive function disorder, speech and language impairments, and other similar disabilities that interfere with learning and success in a traditional college program.

Northern Illinois University Disability Resource Center 
The mission of the Disability Resource Center (DRC) is to create an accessible, inclusive, sustainable learning environment, where disability is recognized as an aspect of diversity that is integral to the campus community and to society.

The goals and objectives of the Disability Resource Center are to promote and facilitate access through creative outreach and training, collaborative partnerships, innovative programs, and proactive solutions; To create inclusive environments by engaging and supporting the campus community in progressive system change;
To increase the recruitment, transition, retention and graduation of students with disabilities; To consult regarding reducing barriers for persons with disabilities; and
to ensure the effective delivery of accommodations.   
 

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Disability Support Services 

 Disability Support Services (DSS) is dedicated to providing reasonable curricular and co-curricular accommodations to students with disabilities at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Each year, DSS assists more than 300 students with a variety of disabilities as they pursue their academic disciplines. DSS also has services which students can use to increase skills in learning, time management, and test-taking. Both accommodations and services are offered to students with disabilities who have provided documentation of disability and are approved through the application process.   

Waubonsee Community College 

 Accessibility is a core value of the entire institution, but it is a special focus for the college’s Access Center for Disability Resources. This department provides academic support services and reasonable appropriate accommodations to students with a variety of disabilities.

Another important part of the Access Center’s mission is helping students with disabilities make a successful transition from high school, where documentation and advocacy were often the responsibility of their school and/or parents, to college, where students become their own advocates, assuming responsibility for their own accommodations and educational goals.

In addition to the Access Center, Waubonsee also has a Delta Sigma Omicron chapter on campus, which is open to all students interested in advocating on behalf of or working with individuals with disabilities. The college also offers courses in Disability Studies.  

Western Illinois University Disability Resource Center

The role of the Disability Resource Center (DRC) is to facilitate equal access to University classes, programs, and activities for students with disabilities. Because access is a shared University responsibility, DRC serves as a resource for faculty, staff and administrators on creating accessible and inclusive environments. While WIU is committed to access and inclusion, it is not possible to anticipate all barriers that might exist for individuals with disabilities. Therefore, the DRC is the campus department designated by the University to work with students through an interactive process to determine disability and hear requests for reasonable accommodations.