In-Take Meeting for Adult Services.

Well as the end of December appproaches, Will turns 21 and he gets closer to officially graduating; he was able to walk the stage with his peers at the end of his regular senior year. Now he can get his diploma or certificate (whatever the state has decided for our special needs students) and turn to adult day services, which we have been working towards these past months - see transition label. I picked out 2 agencies for him to attend and today we had our first in-take meeting. The John Fogarty Center is for employment 2 days a week. They also offer music, art, computer for both skills and fun. They wanted me to bring Will and he wasn't fazed by the fact it was comperable to being at a Camp David summit meeting. Wow! A good number of staff members were there and believe me, I am not saying this is a bad thing! I thought it was wonderful. Very similar to the past IEP meetings we had. There was our state agency case worker, social workers from the agency, a nurse, the person in charge of the employment program, people in charge of the agency offices. As everyone explained their job and how they were to be involved with Will's program, I came to the conclusion that clients in the program are very well taken care of. Questions and answers went around the room, to Will included so they can see how he handled himself and uses his iPad for communication. His plan goes to the state from here to be approved. In the meantime, we get more forms filled out. He should be eligible to ride a bus, here called the RIde Program, that is designated for people with disabilities and seniors who fill the state's requirements from several different agencies. It may be free or for a small fee. Part of the form is sent to this person's physician, which should not be a problem for him. We now sit and wait for one agency plan to be finalized. In the meantime, I hope to get started working on his second agency, Community Living of RI for 3 days a week. This will be more for social, in the community trips and events. As soon as the word comes down, there will be another meeting to firm up plans here. We looking forward to starting at the end of January, beginning of February. We all know plans can be modified, so if Will needs things changed, it should not be a problem. Everyone so far has been easy to talk to and seem very upfront with information.