Ms Lisa Marie Clinton:

Sure. The IDEA is a federal requirement and structure which is in place and, as part of that, a person has an individual education plan.

However, as I mentioned, when a person turns 16, there is that mandate. It is co-funded and the funding goes state by state. It is federal funding and is then joint-funded from the state. It does get a bit confusing because every state operates differently and with a different amount of funds. There are the annual individual education plan, IEP, goals, similar to here and they are reviewed. There is nearly a legal onus to work on the goals mentioned in the IEP but then there is the transition plan and then another plan, namely, the employment plan. When you look at it, it is a template and a framework. There are different elements to it such as independent living, employment, higher education or whatever it may be. Stakeholders come together and get into one room to establish what it looks like for that particular child. It may be a therapist, or whoever is associated with that individual, who will come together and look at what adult life looks like for him or her and how they should prepare for his or her best possible outcome as an adult. Then the resources are put in place. There are multiple different funding entities. Some of it comes from vocational rehabilitation. This is funded by the Department of Labor, which is similar to the Department of Social Protection here, which funds job coaches or whatever it may be. It organises paid experience by partnering with an agency or an employer for however long a period the placement is. Project SEARCH falls under one of these transitions services and as mentioned, we have seen the success of that programme.

Another example of a funded transition programme could be a room which has been kited out to replicate what an employment setting looks like. It could be for engineering roles, hospitality, mechanics, or plumbing or whatever it may be. An assessment is done and then a replica is made so that people can get to feel, understand and experience what it looks like to work in that environment. This provides data to support an environment being suitable to a person's capabilities or interests, whatever they may be. From that unique age range, people get the chance to be augmented with the employment environment. By getting to understand what they really like, getting experience or by completing paid work experience, those people leave school a few steps ahead because they have had that. I can share different examples. The difference is that there is a framework that must be adhered to. We can imagine what it would be like if we could enable every student to leave school with a plan, experience, knowledge of employment and having an idea as to what the next steps would look like. It is incredible for the parents that their sons and daughters have this plan they have been working on for many years previously that can then be transferred. If augmented technology is used, it means that for those parents, there is content or a profile created by an educator that can now easily be moved. Sometimes we have different funders or the parent might even fund the profile for it to continue. It reduces that cliff effect when there is a transition programme that goes beyond just school and can go on with the person. It can be based on what their likes are, how they communicate, the challenges they may have, as well as, obviously, on their independent living, employment skills or travel training. Whatever it may be, their goals can be augmented and expanded both outside of the school, because it works at home obviously, and as the age range changes.