 Abildon Arnair major sponsorship was given by Green Mountain Support Services, empowering neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Also sponsorship was given by Washington County Mental Health Services, where hope and support come together, and Champlain Community Services of Vermont. Welcome to this edition of Abildon Arnair, the one and only program that for the past eight years has been focusing on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the different label both in Vermont and beyond. We would like to thank our sponsors, first Champlain Community Services, Washington County Mental Health, and Green Mountain Support Services. I'm Lauren Seiler. I'm Lauren Seiler. With us, to discuss this important topic of going to college and being special needs, is Kelly Young of Community College of Vermont. Thank you for joining us on Abildon Arnair. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. What is the mission and goals of Community College of Vermont, and what do you do for the college and so on and so forth? Yeah, so the college has been around for almost 50 years, and the mission is to provide Vermonters with affordable access to education and to be successful in their goals. And my role there is as a student advisor and a lead coordinator for the Montpelier Academic Center. We have 12 centers around the state. The second largest one is here in Montpelier. Okay, so what special programs does CCB have for people that want to go to college and that are special needs, and that type of thing? Yeah, so like any school, of course, we provide accommodations for students who have documented disabilities. In addition, we've got a wonderful program going right now with Voc Rehab. They have a grant called Linking Learning to Careers. The purpose is to help students in high school with special needs, differently-abled students in high school, to access career in college. So they partner, Voc Rehab partners with the high schools in Vermont and with the Community College of Vermont. And the idea is to expose more students, differently-abled students to college, support them in success in a handful of college courses, and to understand how those connect to their career goals. And then to see that college is really maybe something that might be for them if they weren't considering it beforehand, or to have an easier entry into college for some folks. If college isn't for them, I know the CCB, because I know you have associate degrees, then you have certificates, and then you have workforce education or something along those lines. Because I remember my wife and I taking a course on career advancement and workforce education. So can you explain a little bit about those options and the difference between the three? Sure. So students come to us with their goals, what they'd like to achieve in the world, or we help them figure out what those goals might be. And for some folks, that might be taking a course or two that's going to help them get a job they're looking for. For some folks, that might be earning a certificate or an associate's degree, and for some planning for a longer term for going on for a bachelor's or master's degree. In addition to that, we do have workforce education. And so we're always working with partnering organizations and employers to figure out, right now a big focus is how do we help employers to hire folks who can be successful on the job and to move up in their companies. So some of our programming is about offering training programs to the community, which might be credit-bearing or they might not. And if they complete that program, they've got a job at the other end. So in some cases, workforce education courses, the completion of those courses leads to college credits, three college credits per course, typically. And in some cases, it's training that doesn't come with college credit. It sort of depends on the employer and the program. And they have to take a, because I remember the one we took, you got to know the computer, you have to know the certain exams. So you folks did the Governor's Career Ready Certificate program? Yes. We unfortunately no longer have funding for that program. And it seems to be, in some places, it's being taken up by other organizations. So Capstone Community Action in this area has a similar curriculum that I think is a national curriculum for their kind of agency. And so they have sort of taken that up. So CCV is no longer offering that program, at least not right now. But we do continue to work with employers, certainly if an employer wants that curriculum and training to bring people into their organization, we offer that that way. For those that are quote unquote scared between going to, from high school, you know, because they might come from a specialized program, so on and so forth. What are some of the advice that you can give to people who are transitioning into college? You know, because I went to junior college first and then with my four-year degree. But, you know, college isn't for everybody. So can you kind of disseminate some of that? Yeah. And I think it's taking away, you know, not putting colleges and for everybody on to any particular population. That's what we don't want to do, right? So we want to say, everybody's got goals. So come to CCV. Let's help you figure out what your goals are. And then let's help you figure out a pathway to those goals. Sometimes that might include some college. Sometimes might include a lot of college. It might not include any college. But that's the important thing is where do you want to get to in the world? How can we help you get there? And through this program with in partnership with Vogue Rehab, we're able to really help more students. So about 400 students served around the state, high school students who take a series of courses through us. Any questions you want to ask? What's, in terms of the difference between a diploma, because, you know, going from special ed to being mainstreamed, you know, what are some of the myths? Because, you know, people sometimes, if you have an EP diploma, might not be able to go to college right away. What are some of the myths that... Sure. So that's one myth, is that somehow, if you have a high school diploma through a special education program, it doesn't count. And that's just not true. You have a high school diploma, you have a high school diploma. Now, depending on the college you want to go to, some have entrance exams, you have to pass, there are other pieces, right? Like CCB, CCB has some, would you consider that test, an entrance exam? Not in the same way. So we have assessments that students take coming in so that advisors can help students decide where to start with English and math in particular. And we have a variety of entry points to that. We also partner with Central Vermont Adult Basic Ed in Montpelier and similar organizations, if a student's skills need some more brush up before they're ready to enter our pre-college classes. So there's pre-college classes, there's college classes, and then there's community organizations that can support as well. And we have some students doing all of the above. Right now we've got fundamentals of math class happening this summer in partnership with Central Vermont Adult Basic Ed. CCB students register through CCB but they're also CVABE students and they can continue to work Central Vermont Adult Basic Ed. They can continue to work with those folks on their math while they're taking other college courses. So, and that's true for any student that that array of options is available. So the purpose of those exams is not whether or not you get in, it's how can we best serve you and one of the best sets of courses. Whether you need a remedial class or not. Yep. So there are developmental skills classes in English and math, particularly a lot in math because we have served adults who it's been a long time since they've used math and we serve students who might have focused on accounting. Do people when they finish their associate degree do they have to take another test before they graduate or like an exit exam? There's not an exit exam, there is attached to our college level math classes. There is a quantitative reasoning assessment. That is a graduation standard for the Vermont State College system. So that's tied to our accreditation. We are allowed to give college credits that count in the world and this is one of the reasons why we measure our graduation standard in math through this assessment. What is the percentage of people who graduate CCD? Is there like certain per year or? I don't have those exact numbers off the top of my head but I'd be happy to get them for you. Like most community colleges we serve a variety of students for a variety of purposes and so we don't have as many students graduating from our programs as we'd like to. We're really refocusing our strategic plan is to refocus so that more students make it across the finish line if that's their goal. You know they make it across the finish line to transfer or to a completed degree. So okay community colleges is that considered a junior college or what's the difference between it? It's a two-year it's an associate degree granting institution rather than a four-year or a bachelor's degree institution. I think another myth is that it's not a real college and it's it absolutely fully a real college. It's fully accredited our degrees. Oh they're saying that people who go to junior college it's not a real college. Yeah I'm going to go to the community college and then I'm going to go to a real college. You know well we are a real college if those are real credits they transfer all over the place and an associate's degree is a real credential in the world so that's another myth. I've did some research about that there's a large percentage of people with special needs who just don't go to college because they can't. I think I sent you that but what so is there any other particular myths within that about going to school and being special needs? I think there's a whole host of myths about people with special needs in general that may create barriers for them going to college. I'm thinking they're not college material or they're not smart or they're not able or they're not capable or any of those messages that can come. I think you know my my own children have had a great experience in the schools and I think that we've come a long way in some communities and I think Montpelier is a great community and I think there's probably a lot of them in Vermont where there's a lot more understanding of what inclusion really means and that everybody's differently abled right? And so I think that that's gotten a lot better but I think you know people can absorb those messages from from the culture and I think that those can be barriers for folks. Notice you mentioned that there's a couple career programs you wanted to mention at CCB. So what are some of those? Well what I wanted to talk to you about was the article that you sent me showing that disproportionately fewer people with special needs go to college and so CCB is addressing that through that linking learning to careers and I wanted to talk about some of those pieces if I might. Go ahead. We have about 400 students being served across the state and again this is voc rehab grant in partnership with CCB in high schools and so most we try to have all of them take introduction to college and careers and that's a non-credit-bearing course that helps students develop skills for work and for college. It's kind of like that yeah and it also helps them explore what are a variety of career paths that match my skills and interests and abilities and what does it take to get to that career path? You know is there training I need to do? Is there college I need to do? Is there a degree I need and and to explore from there what they might want to take at CCB. We have a couple courses in particular one is an exploratory workplace experience that if there's a cohort of these students in any part of the state we can offer to them and that helps them have a an internship experience supported internship where they can really try out a particular career and then in addition to the two free college classes that all Vermont high school students get through dual enrollment through our agency of education they get two additional ones so they get four more college classes they can have a total of six through this program for free. What is meant by dual enrollment? Dual enrollment is a student who's duly enrolled they're enrolled in high school and in college at the same time. So their hope is that by exposing all of these students through introduction to college and careers and then maybe they take the internships class and a couple other classes now suddenly they are a successful college student and maybe they see themselves as a college student. Break the myth down is an internship a job is the student getting paid for it or not or both? Yeah and so we call it an exploratory workplace experience and so it could be job shadowing depending on the career path they want to go into it could be job shadowing to learn more about it it could be where you're doing some volunteer work you're doing some some of the work that would be required on the job and then it could be a full-on internship where you're really fully participating in it it's any usually the exploratory early internship is really that it's it's job shadowing it's checking things out it's seeing how things work and maybe getting your feet wet a little bit they're typically not paid that said there could be ones that would be. I've done internships with not paid but then some people need to get internships that are paid. Yeah and so towards the end of their degree program at CCD many programs require another workplace experience those are more full-on internships not all the time but more of the time they are and some of the time those are paid yeah. What is some of the myths around or the misconceptions around people with special needs when people first meet them and like you know you know when when they're in college or you know I think the wonderful thing about CCD is that we have such a diverse student body on all counts you know we have our graduating class includes 17 year olds and 76 year olds we have combat veterans we have people with you know abilities and disabilities of all kinds you know really and so I think for that reason there's not there's not a huge stigma or problem in terms of being in classes at CCD you know it's relatively easy to access accommodations and there's no stigma placed on that. Oh you mentioned combat veterans can a student who is in the military or just about to get out of the military can they use CCD on the GI Bill? Yes absolutely there's a variety of funding options through the military and some of those students also have combat related special needs you know that may need accommodation. The CCD offers students since you said that and they might have challenges. Does CCD offer students like an EAP program or counseling part to it if you're a student can you get health insurance being a student etc? So we don't offer health insurance we partner with United Way to offer a resource advisor who helps students figure out which resources in the community are available how they apply for them how they access them and help them with that process we don't provide those services directly we're not a social service organization in that way but we do try to provide a easy way for students to connect to those resources. Okay what in terms of college well all right what has been your experience being an advisor how long have you been with CCD? I've been with CCD about 10 years and for about almost eight years of those years I've been an advisor at CCD and during those seven and a half eight years I've been also an ADA advisor Americans with Disabilities Act advisor so I'm one of the advisors who helps students access accommodations through CCD. In terms of the ADA with college and higher education has it always been easy for students with disabilities in college and how has the ADA changed within that over the years? I think there's been changes in the law it's not my area of expertise so for instance it used to be that just a copy of your IEP was not sufficient documentation to access accommodations and that's changed there's been some you know minor technical changes in the law trying to think about what else like a service animal now can only be a dog or a small horse not anything else nobody would bring a small horse to class what's that I said nobody would bring a small horse to class I guess they make them really small now so I don't know yeah we haven't come right into that one but we used to have service animals that were not dogs or small horses and we don't anymore but but and I know that there've been other changes in the law it's just not my area of expertise. Do professors are professors always open to helping students has that always been the case? Yeah I think the kinds of faculty who choose to work at the community college of Vermont are really attracted to the diversity of the student body and to the variety of needs and strengths that they bring to the classroom and so students who have different abilities are a part of that mix and how it works at CCV and I believe in college which is a little different from high school um is that uh students their the reasons that they have an accommodations plan is between them and their advisor and if they want to choose that information share that information with their instructor they can but otherwise the faculty member just gets the the here's the accommodations here's what needs to be put in place. For example what do you mean by accommodation plan? Sure so a student might need extra time on tests and quizzes might have focus issues and be distracted in a large room with lots of people so need to take that test or quiz in a separate quiet location. A student might have issues being being emotionally triggered by content and so have the option to leave class and all students are able to leave class how what do you mean by that? So for instance if I have challenges with social communication and emotional regulation and somebody says something that's upsetting to me if I stay in class I'm likely to get in trouble I'm likely to blurt something out that's not going to be helpful to the class and maybe disruptive so instead I'm going to opt out or I might be somebody who has a trauma history and the content of the course might trigger my emotions and I might need to leave and just take a break and come back. Or for for example photography class sure if a student can't be in large crowds or if we're going to shoot like a film set for example sure there are photographers on a film set and if a student can't be in that environment how do they deal with that or within the course? So a similar example I can give we have a course going on this summer called Natural History of Vermont and a part of it is hiking a mountain a local mountain well not everybody is capable of doing that that's not that going to work for them hiking a mountain is not going to work and so a student with a physical disability or a medical disability might have an alternative assignment where they're still going out into the woods but it's not hiking a mountain and in this case it might be there's a similar assignment or a similar opportunity for learning but it's not that same exact environment. In terms of like do the ADA plan do professors normally give chances to finish assignments or you know like with extra time how does that work with like homework assignments yeah we don't typically offer an accommodation of extended time on assignments because our classes typically either meet online or once a week and the challenge is is that you get further and further behind if you're not completing your assignments because the next work is built on the previous assignment what some students request and we're able to do is to provide advanced access to assignments so that students so for instance a student with a mental health disability might and sometimes a learning disability might benefit from knowing what the assignments are in advance and having a longer time to work up to them and so that's something that sometimes we can offer or getting started before the class begins that we can't guarantee because courses typically are not ready to go until the semester starts but certainly having you know having advanced notice on assignments and being able to work progressively towards them we do also offer for all students learning assistance in our learning and career center how does that work so that some places it's it's drop-in and starting this fall summit will be by appointment but you can go and get assistance with you know reading or writing or what the most common learning assistance is is really like study and time management skills how do I map out my larger assignments to make sure that by the time a due date arrives I've actually gone through all the steps it takes to get it done well and or if I need help with my portfolio I can get that extra assistance yes exactly it might be a math problem it might be how to use something on a computer it might be any number of years a math problem how do you something on a camera because it's doing you're doing with numbers and different things probably I'm guessing most some you might come across a learning and career center staff member mentor who knows something about cameras but we don't have a ton of film classes so probably that's not going to be a primary area where you get support mostly it's research paper writing math how to use the library how to use the online resources how to manage your time and plan your assignments yep okay so is there any other major things that you wanted to talk about within the program I don't think so I think we've done a lot of it okay uh well um address and phone number where people can be reached sure ccv because the community college of vermont is all over the state probably the best place to go is our website which is www.ccv.edu and the main statewide phone number to call would be 802-828-2800 um because we do have from there you can get to any of our 12 academic centers you can get to staff list you can get to all the different programs where the academic centers if you know mommy I mean asking what uh where are the academic centers located so let's see if I get this right newport st johnsbury morrisville montpelier st alvins winewski middlebury and then moving south um wilder in the upper valley near white river um braddle borough springfield bennington and brotland but the most popular campus is winewski is by far our largest academic and then we also have a lot of online classes the most classes that we hold are online is it more is it more popular online as far as we offer far more classes online than we do at any academic center yeah why is that i think uh you know people are navigating the world through technology more and more and it provides a great deal of convenience particularly i think for adult learners who are trying to manage more and more on their plates with jobs and appointments and kids and you know all of that yeah because um as i'm listening to you i'm not you know as well listen to you uh we're noticing you say classes are once a week if they're in person then classes are typically once a week they're occasionally classes like a four credit lab science might meet twice a week but by and large our classes are is there a reason why classes are only once a week though i like there yeah when i went to community college i mean i had classes for five days a week yes so you might have a you might come to campus if you're full-time you might come to campus four different days for four classes but each class meets once a week and the reason for that is well a couple of reasons one is so that um first people who are working or have a lot on their plates it doesn't take as much as many days and times and figuring out schedules to get there so it's more accessible for them and the other reason is that if a class is two hours and 45 minutes long uh we've got our classes are very small the largest is typically 18 maybe 20 on the outside and that class size average is something like 13 for the college so you're talking about an opportunity to go in depth to do collaborative work in teams to really engage with the material with your instructor and your classmates in a way that it's not lecture halls it's not you know 50 minute lecture come back do the homework come back you know it's really diving into the material and having a chance to explore can you explain now i've not left you know with us when we started our class this fall i noticed that you had a that you're having to take like a new student seminar what does that do for someone i mean because i have community college experience and so is my wife but what does that do for a student at um any college being a new student how does that work within sure so a new student orientation um at ccv it's different things at different colleges but in in general it's a way to welcome new students help them understand how to use the tools in front of them and be successful on the path so um at our orientations we are you know welcoming students helping them get to know each other a little bit so they can start the semester knowing a few people uh we're orienting them to the campus to the portal the online space that they use to access a lot of the materials they need and then to also every single course and do homework online put the homework online sure so every single class whether it's in person or online has a course site um starting in the fall we're using something called campus and so you should be called Moodle exactly that's phasing out and campus is coming in and that's a space where students where faculty can whether they're on the ground or online can post materials can post assignments have a grade book and students students need to know how to navigate that space um so is so but do do students put their assignments on there so they can get checked or how does that work that depends on the on the course and the faculty member more and more on the ground face-to-face faculty are also using that feature um but the assignments could be something that you hand in or email your instructor or um yeah or or post to that course site more more faculty are using it that way so repeat the number one more time and address yes most important thing is our web address and that's www.ccv.edu from there you can explore our programs you can explore different locations around the state and the statewide phone number is 802-828-2800 and where in Montpelier is the college located we are at 660 Elm Street so if you know where the pool and the ballpark are we're right across the street okay for more information on ccv and their programs you can go to www.ccv.edu or call 802-828 what is it 2800 802-828-2800 i would like to thank kelly young um student advisor of community college of Vermont for coming to talk to us today uh we'd like to thank our sponsors uh champagne community services uh green mountain support services and washington county mental health let's put an end to this edition of abledon on air i'm lauren silo i'm lauren silo see you next time abledon on air major sponsorship was given by green mountain support services empowering neighbors with disability to be home in the community also sponsorship was given by washington county mental health services where hope and support come together and sampling community services of vermont