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Every young adult with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) 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 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 the Meaningful Engagement model are to
- Provide a welcoming environment that facilitates trust, acceptance, and engagement, and alleviates the struggle associated with performance stress;
- Provide ongoing, skills-based classes for adults with ASD and I/DD in an environment that stimulates and challenges them;
- Offer adaptive solutions to accommodate any physical and/or emotional unique needs so that each participant can successfully engage;
- Address the effects of social rejection and its subsequent social isolation by providing opportunities for peer socialization and support;
- Nurture each participant’s ability to take on new roles, learn new skills, and contribute creatively to the group’s experience;
- Instill personal empowerment through the experience of uplifting others within their communities;
- Develop opportunities for participants to sere as ambassadors, making a positive impact in their communities and fostering more positive attitudes towards people with ASD and 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!