Every young adult with I/DD deserves an opportunity to live a life filled with hopes and dreams, friendships, a sense of purpose, meaningful engagement, love, self-respect, confidence.
The Extended Family provides a community based approach to address the needs of young adults who struggle with isolation after aging out of their academic settings. Some of the issues TEF addresses include:
- What happens to individuals who are unable to participate in a traditional work environment?
- How can we create opportunities for these young adults to explore and reinforce their capabilities so they may achieve their untapped potential?
- As young adults age out of the educational system, how can we continue to develop and reinforce their social skills?
- How do we make them feel VALUED members of the community?
TEF works to create a social and entrepreneurial environment that reinforces both creative and social skills in a setting that focuses on what participants CAN do rather than on what they cannot.
Meaningful engagement
The Extended Family meaningfully engages exceptional adults who rely on qualified support by providing a sanctuary for learning skills, community integration, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging where personal interests, passions, and unrecognized intellectual abilities are revealed.
The primary goals of TEF’s Meaningful Engagement model are:
- To provide ongoing skills-based classes for adults with I/DD, within an environment that stimulates and challenges them, and is customized to their individual abilities and needs through Adaptive Solutions.
- To nurture each participant’s ability to take on new roles, learn new skills, and contribute towards the development of new creative ideas.
- To provide opportunities for peer socialization and support.
- To develop opportunities for participants to serve as program ambassadors, engaging with members of the larger community to share their skills and create positive attitudes towards people with I/DD.
Participants actively engage in ideation, decision making, and problem solving to create and develop new creative ideas. Everyone is included in every aspect of the process. An adaptive plan is created for each individual ensuring the full participation of everyone.
At the heart of Meaningful Engagement (ME) is an environment of inclusion, collaboration and teamwork within a no-pressure, non-hierarchical structure, resulting in a keen sense of ownership, responsibility, and pride.
And most of all, we have FUN!