What makes IEA's Transition Program Unique?
- Location
We are in walking distance to many businesses, job sites, restaurants, social and fitness opportunities. Additionally, we have public transportation (bus, FasTrak) located within one block of our campus, providing our students with real-world practice to travel to employment, leisure, and community activities throughout the Hartford region. - Related Services Accessibility
Students continue to access related services as delineated on their IEPs or based on their current needs through the IEA related services department (counseling, BCBA, occupational therapy, speech/language). Based on student need, services may be delivered through a traditional model (classroom- or office-based), or a community-based model, where related services staff support students in employment or community settings. - School Community
TEA program students remain connected to a school community through IEA, allowing them to access social, academic, and extracurricular opportunities through the traditional IEA K-12 school program. - Groupings
The TEA program offers a bifurcated approach, with two pathways to allow students of varying cognitive abilities, social skills, and vocational goals to have their future needs addressed appropriately through a delineated programmatic focus. Both pathways offer students similar foundational skills at their respective instructional levels, however the emphasis of each track is unique.- The Blue TEA Pathway is for students who are interested primarily in securing independent or supported employment upon their exit from the TEA program. These students will continue to receive functional academic skills support through real-life applied instruction and practice, but a focus of their program will be on employment experiences and skill work.
- The Green TEA Pathway is for students who are interested in exploring higher education (i.e., community college, four year college) upon their exit from the TEA program. These students will take a course through Tunxis Community College each semester with the support of a TEA job coach and work on skills including time management, study supports, and self-advocacy in academic settings. They will also continue to participate in employment experience and instruction, however the frequency may be limited due to the time commitment of taking college-level courses.
- Both pathways offer students instruction in the foundational skills of community safety and exploration, daily living skills (i.e., cooking, cleaning, laundry, money management), fitness/leisure, and employment.
- Customization
The TEA program recognizes the unique needs of each of our students, and therefore, we customize our program to meet individual student needs in terms of employment, community, academics, daily living skills, and higher education. While there are two main pathways, the students will have the opportunity to work on splinter skills as needed within the program. Students' learning plans are customized based on their Futures planning/MAPS meetings outcomes and future aspirations.
