FIU offers program for students with special needs

WEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A local university is giving students with special needs the opportunity to go to college.

Florida International University started it's Project Panther Life for intellectually disabled students. "It's important for people to realize that an intellectual disability does not limit you from so many other things that you can do in your life," said Liliana Demoya, a mother who helped start the program.

A group of freshmen students in the program enrolled in their first college class. "They're taking a course a semester, and they are engaging in the same assignments that all of the other university students are doing," said Diana Valle-Riestra, Assistant Professor of Special Education at FIU.

The young adults have difficulty communicating and developing socially, but the program offers a way for them to be included. "The biggest thing for them is to be included with the mainstream and as well to feel part of society with everyone else," said a faculty member.

Faculty and fellow students are welcoming Project Panther Life students with open arms. Each student is paired with two mentors who introduce them to life on campus and help them with their assignments. "First day of school, I got good friends right now in my classroom. I've got Alex, he's a really good person, me an him have become super best friends," said one student.

"I love my classes, I love my FIU program," said student Alex Demoya.

Demoya's family is thrilled there is an opportunity for him to continue his education beyond high school. "I think he can teach a lot of students skills that are not academic skills. I think he can teach them strength. He is the most motivated, hard-working person I've ever known," said Liliana Demoya.

Thanks to Liliana, the program allows these students to have academic access at a local college. "A program like this one was not available in South Florida, so I started to knock on doors and meet people at universities and meet presidents and put together proposals," said Liliana Demoya.

The eight students in the project now call FIU home, and the future for these students has positive possibilities. "I think one of our last goals, as they graduate from the program, is we want to see them go ahead and develop the skills to interview for a job and retain a job," said Valle-Riestra.

The students are not graded and do not qualify for a diploma, but the program offers the students the skills for them to become independent, productive adults.

Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21006006353619/fiu-offers-program-for-students-with-special-needs/#ixzz2MWISu79eWhenever Patti Thoman tells a story about one of her seven students, it usually ends with the words, "Oh, I just cried."
Like when she describes the moment Timmy Tedrow got his Walsh University ID.
"It was one of those moments when the tears were flowing," she said. "We go over to get our pictures taken. Timmy is the only boy, so he says, 'Ladies first.' When it was his turn, he takes his ID, looks at it, kisses it and says, 'I'm a college man now.' "
Tedrow, who has Down syndrome, and his six classmates, Chelsea Jacobucci, Kelly Stevenson, Alyssa Sutter, Billie Stevenson, Hannah Roberts, and Kristen Hall, are students of Transition U, a program specifically designed for cognitive/multiple disabled students, ages 18-22, who have completed social graduation with North Canton City Schools.
Social graduation means that students who have been on individual education plans throughout their school career and are exempt from testing, have earned enough credits to move on.
The unique collaboration between North Canton City Schools and Walsh University allows them to have a real college experience with their same-age peers — something neither the students nor their parents ever thought possible.
The students learn social skills through such activities as eating in the cafeteria, attending sporting events and hanging out with friends between classes.
Thoman, the program coordinator, along with assistants Pat Adams and Colleen Prentice, teach life lessons to their students in the Hannon Center at Walsh each morning. They learn personal care, pack their lunches, check emails and learn skills that will make them employable later.
In the afternoon, some go off to jobs, while others stay on campus to do life-skills transition exercises.
They have learned to follow a recipe, ride public transportation, use cellphones, order in a restaurant and figure out the tip, and shop for clothes and groceries.
While technically, the program is an extension of Hoover High School, said Thoman, "If you ask any one of these students, they will say they are Walsh University students. They wear the garb. They sit in the cafeteria."
Thoman still gets overcome with emotion when she talks about what she had hoped to do for her students and what actually has played out.
It all began when she heard one of her students talk about her dream to go to college.
"So I came to see my good friend Dr. (Jean) DeFazio, and asked what are the chances?" said Thoman. "All I wanted was a room. This is never what I'd dreamt," she said.
Whenever Patti Thoman tells a story about one of her seven students, it usually ends with the words, "Oh, I just cried."
Like when she describes the moment Timmy Tedrow got his Walsh University ID.
"It was one of those moments when the tears were flowing," she said. "We go over to get our pictures taken. Timmy is the only boy, so he says, 'Ladies first.' When it was his turn, he takes his ID, looks at it, kisses it and says, 'I'm a college man now.' "
Tedrow, who has Down syndrome, and his six classmates, Chelsea Jacobucci, Kelly Stevenson, Alyssa Sutter, Billie Stevenson, Hannah Roberts, and Kristen Hall, are students of Transition U, a program specifically designed for cognitive/multiple disabled students, ages 18-22, who have completed social graduation with North Canton City Schools.
Social graduation means that students who have been on individual education plans throughout their school career and are exempt from testing, have earned enough credits to move on.
The unique collaboration between North Canton City Schools and Walsh University allows them to have a real college experience with their same-age peers — something neither the students nor their parents ever thought possible.
The students learn social skills through such activities as eating in the cafeteria, attending sporting events and hanging out with friends between classes.
Thoman, the program coordinator, along with assistants Pat Adams and Colleen Prentice, teach life lessons to their students in the Hannon Center at Walsh each morning. They learn personal care, pack their lunches, check emails and learn skills that will make them employable later.
In the afternoon, some go off to jobs, while others stay on campus to do life-skills transition exercises.
They have learned to follow a recipe, ride public transportation, use cellphones, order in a restaurant and figure out the tip, and shop for clothes and groceries.
While technically, the program is an extension of Hoover High School, said Thoman, "If you ask any one of these students, they will say they are Walsh University students. They wear the garb. They sit in the cafeteria."
Thoman still gets overcome with emotion when she talks about what she had hoped to do for her students and what actually has played out.
It all began when she heard one of her students talk about her dream to go to college.
"So I came to see my good friend Dr. (Jean) DeFazio, and asked what are the chances?" said Thoman. "All I wanted was a room. This is never what I'd dreamt," she said.