One Step Beyond, Inc. was founded July, 2001, in Glendale, Arizona, by Mimi S. Rogers, and was approved as a 501(c)(3) by the IRS on April 12, 2002. Its mission is to provide training and optimized residential facilities that make it possible for people with cognitive disabilities to achieve maximum independence, meaningful employment, community inclusion, and long-term, enriching peer relationships. To fulfill its mission, One Step Beyond utilizes two linked programs:
· Stepping Out. This school-to-adult life transition program, funded by the Arizona Department of Economic Security, will open in September, 2003. Directed initially at high school students with disability in West Maricopa County, Stepping Out will provide independent living skills development; employment preparation, placement, and support; community recreation; and opportunities for community service. The 00 week curriculum can be completed during school hours or after school, and includes weekend and week-long immersion experiences in living outside the home. Where possible, Stepping Out encourages groups of students who have already established successful, appropriate peer relationships to transition train together and, ultimately, to form residences together.
· One Step Beyond Supportive Residences. The first of these residences, primarily intended for groups of Stepping Out graduates, is projected to become operational in September, 2004. The facilities will be specifically designed to meet the needs of adults with cognitive disabilities and to address the concerns of their families regarding permanent care outside the home.
The goals and services of One Step Beyond are informed by research conducted by its staff over the past two years and by the experience of One Step Beyond staff, consultants, and board members who, collectively, have been responsible for the care of hundreds of cognitively disabled persons. Our findings have lead to the following areas of emphasis that help uniquely characterize the One Step Beyond program:
· Employment. One Step Beyond research suggests that people with cognitive disabilities want to work, and find just as much satisfaction and pride in their jobs as anyone else. Our studies also show, however, that the majority of special education programs in West Maricopa County do not offer adequate employment training, placement, or workplace support services. In particular, they make little or no effort to help parents set up postgraduation plans for employment of their sons or daughters, or to connect the parents with community service providers that can help implement such plans. They fail to take advantage of multi-agency collaborations that could substantially enhance school-to-adult life transition, especially in the area of employment. They offer only a limited set of employment options, and do not provide effective on-site support and monitoring, which can be crucial to success in the actual job. At One Step Beyond, employment training, placement, and monitoring are major priorities for residents. Indeed, enhancing these areas is the largest part of the present funding request.
· Peer Group Enrichment and Choice. One Step Beyond research shows that these fundamental elements of a happy, rewarding life are significantly less available to people with cognitive disabilities, and are of major concern to them. Home care by even the most devoted parents often results in a lonely disabled adult bereft of meaningful contact with peers. Likewise, most group residences are filled as space becomes available, renting asunder previous successful peer groups formed in school, and placing together adults with such disparate needs that successful relationships are impossible. One Step Beyond, by contrast, seeks to transition together groups of residents who have already developed rewarding, level-appropriate relationships and bonds. From school the students go through the Stepping Out program together, and from the Stepping Out program they move into a One Step Beyond Supportive Residence together.
· Independent Life Skills. One Step Beyond research shows that most residential programs neither effectively teach nor actively encourage basic independent life skills, such as helping with laundry, food preparation and serving, or housekeeping. This relegates the residents to being guests in their own house rather than building a sense of community, ownership, and control. Independent life training should also, in our view, include communication, social interaction, rudimentary first aid, and money management skills. One Step Beyond sets specific goals for each resident in these areas and assures that the residents receive appropriate training to reach those goals.
· Recreation. Recreational activities are important to everyone, including the cognitively disabled. However, One Step Beyond research shows that the majority of day training programs for cognitively disabled students have become almost exclusively recreationally-driven. We do not consider this to be an acceptable substitute for employment or independent life skills training.
· Teaching Approach. Individuals with cognitive disability learn most readily through constant repetition over extended periods of time. Most special education programs utilize this principle, but they do not do so consistently. For example, they attempt to teach money management and consumer skills through 2-3 community field trips/year over the course of a 4-6 year enrollment in school. Meal planning and preparation, where considered at all, generally focus only on snacks. By contrast, planning and preparation of healthy, nutritious meals are part of the weekly curriculum of Stepping Out, and are a daily exercise for all One Step Beyond Supportive Care residents. Family Concerns. One Step Beyond surveys consistently find that parents of young adults with disability are worried about who will care and advocate for their children when they no longer can. They are skeptical that current transition programs offered by special education departments are adequate to prepare their children for life after high school, and they are concerned about the potential for exploitation, mistreatment, and neglect of their children if they should ever move beyond the range of direct parental supervision. These and other factors have tended to produce a defeatist attitude with regard to extra-home residential options, although most families profess interest in them. One Step Beyond's programs are a direct response to these concerns.