ADAPT
Assisting Developing Adults with Productive Transitions
Click here for list of ADAPT staff and classes
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
ADAPT is a program designed to help young adults with disabilities transition into a more independent life. Activities and skills learned here serve as a bridge between high school and adult responsibilities. The primary concept is two-fold: to enhance and increase independence in both practical/personal management and vocational skills, and to give students real world experience practicing these skills.
ADAPT is a community-based program. In ADAPT, the outside world becomes the classroom. The emphasis is development of functional skills for adulthood. Current and future real world requirements are the guiding force in selecting an individual’s goals and objectives. Students' and families' active involvement in decision-making for the future is another key element in planning an individual’s ADAPT program.
Students spend much of the day in local communities learning how to negotiate the adult world. Teachers accompany small groups of 3 to 5 students out to various locations. These trips include: practicing work skills at job sites, shopping at retail and grocery stores, eating out at fast food and sit-down restaurants, conducting business at area banks, and traveling to area locations such as parks for recreation.
Students have additional opportunities within our school building to practice domestic skills such as cooking, family-style eating, cleaning, and doing laundry in classrooms designed to simulate home living environments. Students may also be responsible for jobs within the school building, such as shelving books in the media center or working with custodial staff. We have a student-run coffee shop, One Mean Java Bean, open daily. Our building also has a leisure/game room. We work with students to practice adult social skills and interactions at all locations throughout the day.
ADAPT STUDENTS
ADAPT serves students ages 18 to 21 who have completed their high school senior year activities and requirements. Students have gone through sequences of classes for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairments, Other Health Impairments, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and/or Traumatic Brain Injury. Student hours are 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., five days per week.
STAFF
Our staff comes to the program with varying backgrounds, but all bring a mandatory level of expertise in basic educational skills and the type of enthusiasm which GCPS encourages for their teachers. Support services such as physical and occupational therapy, vision and hearing therapy, and speech therapy are available to those students who require them. Staff use their skills and knowledge to help students achieve increased independence as they learn and refine real world tasks. Options and agencies that might be a part of a student’s life following ADAPT are included in the planning and transition process. The commitment and responsibility assumed by the student, family, teachers and participating community businesses and members ensure a successful program.
For more information: please contact Tom Kana, Lead Instructor, at the ADAPT office (678) 542-2354 or by e-mail at tom_kana@gwinnett.k12.ga.us