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.
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.
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.
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.
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.