Transition House

Lincoln-Way Transition House helps give special-needs students a brighter future
By Susan DeMar Lafferty

It looks just like any other house in this Frankfort neighborhood — but it’s not.

It’s also not — as some have believed — a halfway house, a group home nor a drug rehab center.

What it is, is a doorway to opportunity — a place where special-needs students learn to
be independent, responsible citizens.

The Lincoln-Way Transition House, at 310 Colorado Ave., is a fully functional, handicapped-accessible home, with a kitchen, a bedroom, two bathrooms and laundry and living rooms. The home, built by the Lincoln-Way Area Special Education Cooperative District 843, also has plenty of meeting space.

But for the students who go there, it’s also a classroom Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“It’s innovative,” District 843 board president Kathy Moore said. “It’s very forward thinking,”

Here, on a recent afternoon, Alyssa was making pancakes for the first time. She and her three classmates (identified only by first name for privacy at the request of District 843 staff) were learning how to read a recipe, how to measure accurately and how to neatly flip those blueberry-filled blobs over a hot stove.

Then, they set the table, sat down to enjoy them and cleaned up their mess.
Melinda Green, transition specialist and social worker, and instructor Steve Stacel were taking students through it one step at a time.

Students prepare their own lunch every day and plan meals weekly, with an emphasis on nutrition and budgeting. They scour ads and clip coupons before they shop.

“You really have to break it down into steps to make sure they understand it,” Green said. “Here, we teach them, we support them and let them be independent.”
That may also mean allowing students to make mistakes and experience the consequences for their choices. If they use up their weekly $25 budget, students may not have enough money to go to a restaurant on Friday, Aaron, another student, explained.
“I like doing different things every day. I’m learning to live by myself,” said Alyssa, who is hoping to land a job in data entry and get her own apartment. They will learn skills many take for granted.

Among the “different things” students learn at the transition house are social skills — how to greet people, act appropriately, order from a menu or ask for help. They will learn how to open a checking account, schedule appointments, wash and fold laundry and clean a toilet.

“Our focus is on increased independence,” Barb Luoma, the transition house’s supervisor, said. “We need them to be as independent as possible.”

And what better place to learn than in a real-life setting. Otherwise, it would be like “teaching mechanics without a car,” Luoma said.

In just the first two months, the growth in students has been “amazing,” she said. Students are opening up and communicating more. They are thinking about their future and making plans to attend college or find a job.
The new Lincoln-Way Transition House is on “the cutting edge,” director Sally Bintz said. It’s the only co-op to build a new facility exclusively for this purpose.

Similar programs are held in rented spaces or in schools, not fully designed for handicapped accessibility, she said.
The house opened to students in August and is available to those 18 to 22 years of age who have completed all high school graduation requirements but aren’t quite ready to be on their own.

Transition is a huge concern of their parents, Bintz said.
About 70 students are eligible for the Transition House program, which could accommodate 15 at a time, Bintz and Louma said.

With only four current students, it may be off to a slow start, but it has generated a lot of interest, they said.
“Many people are not sure of what we’re all about, but word is spreading,” Luoma said. “It’s evolving. It’s exciting. It’s positive.”
The $470,000 house — built largely with grants and donated labor — belongs to the six school districts that comprise the co-op — Manhattan 114, New Lenox 122, Frankfort 157C, Mokena 159, Summitt Hill 161 and Lincoln-Way 210.
Many of their special education classes come here for field trips to learn daily living skills, Bintz said.
“This house represents their future,” she said.
“It says a lot about this community to build this house in these economic times,” Bintz said. “These students have needs just like students in band and athletics and they deserve a quality environment.”

Moore predicted that “many will see the benefits of the Transition House.”

Some students may be reluctant to try something new because they are so comfortable with current programs, but once they see it, they will embrace it, she said.

“I can’t wait to see more people using it,” Moore said.