lifeskillsOT

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Does the state in which your student attends school allow the student to stay until he or she is 21 regardless of whether he/she has met the graduation requirements?

·        In the state of Maryland, students with an IEP receiving a high school diploma must determine how long he/she will be in high school by his/her 9^th grade year.  This is so the IEP team can spread out the 22 credits needed for graduation over 5 or 6 years.  Once a student completes 22 credits and reaches a passing score on State tests or completes state projects, the student must exit the school system!  The problem with this is that students who exit when they are 18, will not be eligible for support from the State (i.e. long term funding for care or participating in agencies for the disabled) until he/she is 21.  That leaves 3 years with little to no support!  Maryland has the Department of Rehabilitation that funds short term programs, but this only provides several months worth of support.  For students who have physical disabilities that require extensive physical care, this becomes a huge problem. 

·        In the state of Pennsylvania, a student with an IEP can defer exiting high school for an extra year even if he/she has met high school requirements if it is felt that the student has not met all of his/her IEP goals by graduation.

As far as I can tell, most states are eager to assist students with graduating with a high school diploma after four years.  Students with physical disabilities, Autism, or Emotional Disturbances are typically moved along each year, and graduate at the same time as their non-disabled peers.  Most states appear more interested in helping students with an IEP meet the high school graduation requirements without looking at how the student will live once they have graduated.  Although most states require transition planning and an exit document, students that graduate by the age of 18 often sit at home for three years before services are available to help them with vocational and community pursuits. 

What does your state say?  Is this an area that OT can become more involved on a legislative level?  What are your thoughts?

Over the last decade of my practice as a school-based therapist, my colleagues and I have noticed a shift in the inclusion of life skills activities as part of the instructional programming for our students with special needs.  This observation is more appreciable in special education classrooms that program for students who are primarily on track to receive a certificate upon graduation versus those who are slated to graduate with a diploma.  In essence, many of these programs are intended to promote the acquisition of academic skills through participation in community based activities.  However, over the years, I have observed a lessening of functional life skills instruction and a swelling emphasis on more traditional academic instruction.  Moreover, teachers with whom I work have complained about the increasing restrictions they experience with adapting the state curriculum to meet the needs of their students with special needs.  Furthermore, with constricting budgets and dwindling resources, some teachers appear to be relying more paper-pencil tasks in lieu of hands-on functional activities.  Certainly, this post is in no way meant to point fingers at hard working teachers.  Rather, I hope to generate discussion as to how we may help school teams bridge domains of traditional curriculum to the provision of life skills activities.

I would like to share a resource that members of our department have found useful.  Ellen Glisan authors two related books which are published by the Attainment Company, Inc.:  1) Life Skill Lessons; and 2) Aligning Life Skills to Academics.  These books provide over 650 life skill lesson plans that correspond to various academic areas such as math, social studies, science/health, and language arts.  For example, reading a thermometer is offered as a science lesson and making leisure choices is presented as a social studies lesson.  These books also outline information for the teacher regarding needed supplies and related objectives.  Each lesson has a corresponding worksheet, however, many are easy to adapt to hands-on experiences.  With the growing curriculum demands that are placed on our students, it seems fitting that our role may be to work with teachers to assist them with pairing domains of traditional academics with functional outcomes.  After all, we are skilled at task analysis and being able to adapt activities…..Food for thought!

I would love to know if you have observed any changes in how functional life skills have been addressed in classrooms over time.  Please feel free to highlight any strategies you have found helpful in bridging life skills to the curriculum and what barriers you have observed.

Thanks for your input!

Alicia Nahas

References: 

Glisan, E. M. (2008).  Aligning life skills to academics.  Verona, Wisconsin:  Attainment Company, Inc.

Glisan, E. M. (2008).  Life skill lessons.  Verona, Wisconsin:  Attainment Company, Inc.

This is the fourth of a six part series dedicated to inspiring leadership on transition teams through the use of resources including evidence, tools and models for high school based practice. Feel free to contribute your own comments about tools and resources you use that are not mentioned here! Please note, in an effort to keep the information in the more casual form of a blog, a reference list is available via email to the author at heatherj@newviewot.com.

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The transition evaluation is an ongoing process that is student-driven based on unique interests, skills and goals. First and foremost, this evaluation process starts and ends with the student driving its course.

The purpose of this post is to share a few key resources with you that can help to guide your contribution and development of an individualized transition plan. These resources were chosen and emphasized based on their occupation-based nature and focus on the individual to gather information for the transition plan.

I encourage readers to choose one or two that you might not have heard of or are not well versed in and explore them. The awareness, use and application of these resources can greatly improve your leadership and impact on high school transition teams.

Please comment with your own assessments you prefer to use and have had success with. 

Frameworks

OT Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 2^nd Edition

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/Official/Guidelines/41089.aspx?FT=.pdf

- Particularly useful for developing a thorough occupational profile that is a perfect model in developing an individualized transition plan.

Person Centered Planning

- This approach to people and their unique path with a disability is a natural compliment to our occupation-based philosophy.

http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/edi/pcp/

Model of Human Occupation

- Not just for mental health interventions, this well-researched model offers tons of student-centered tools for evaluation of all areas of occupation including employment.

http://www.uic.edu/depts/moho/intro.html

Person Environment Occupation Model

- This model does not allow us to forget the dynamic relationship a person has with their environment impacting their occupations. This is important to address in a transition plan.

http://www.mendeley.com/research/ther-personenvironmentoccupation-model-a-transactive-approach-to-occupational-performance/

Assessment Tools

This is not a comprehensive list but one that is short and sweet but with the ability to impact your transition evaluation process within your school.

Assessment of Occupational Functioning (AOF-CV)

http://www.uic.edu/depts/moho/mohorelatedrsrcs.html

Teele Inventory of Multiple Intelligences (TIMI)

http://www.sueteele.com/teele_inventory.html

Enderle Severson Transition Rating Scale (ESTR)

http://www.estr.net/

Wide Range Interest and Occupation Test-2^nd Edition (WRIOT-2)

http://www.pearsonassessments.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en-us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=WRIOT-2&Mode=summary

The Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS)

http://www.ampsintl.com/AMPS/

This is the third of a six part series dedicated to inspiring leadership on transition teams through the use of resources including evidence, tools and models for high school based practice. Feel free to contribute your own comments about tools and resources you use that are not mentioned here! Please note, in an effort to keep the information in the more casual form of a blog, a reference list is available via email to the author at heatherj@newviewot.com.

"If there is a better way to practice, therapists should find it.”-Law & MacDermid

Student-Centered is an Evidence and Ethics-Based Practice

There are misconceptions about evidence-based practice. Before I summarize some recent research that impacts how we prepare students for transition I want to stress one point about the term evidence-based practice.

Many practitioners don’t realize evidence-based practice includes the integration of the student’s wishes, goals, strengths and needs based on our thorough interview and observations of the student; it is not the sole use of research-based activities in practice. 

Evidence-based is student-based.

While school-based practice is not a clinical-based practice, it does require a thorough gathering of all evidence to create an effective, student-oriented IEP— including research based practices to the best extent possible.

 I bring up this point because we owe our students our best effort and avoiding the use of interventions that are shown to work means we are also influencing the possible outcomes of our students. 

Evidence-based is ethics-based.

Evidence that Impacts School-Based Transition Interventions

Lee & Keilhofner (2010)

The factors that impact employment: volition, time not working, previous employment, environmental support, skills, and the workers beliefs about the environment

Becker et al. (2001), Campbell et al. (2010), Drake  et al. (1999), Lehman et al. (2001)

In order to have the best vocational outcomes supported employment and the integration of student work interests and preferences are more supported by evidence than pre-vocational tasks.

Benz, Lindstrom & Yovanoff (2000)

These researchers found that work experience in combination with mastery of individualized transition goals supports best post-school outcomes. More specifically, and importantly they found:

Students who did not feel their transition goals were based on their unique preferences also had worse outcomes in post-secondary employment.

AND

Surveyed students who felt their transition goals were focused on their interests had a greater chance of post-secondary employment.

Rabern, Dunn & Chambers (2010)

In probably the most significant research to determine successful post-secondary outcomes for students these researchers explored what impact employment vs. non-employment at the time of graduation from high school had on students.

87% of 1,393 students who were employed at the time of graduation were still employed one year after graduation.

The Bottom Lines 

1.     We must consider the factors that impact a student’s work success including their desires, if they’ve worked before, how much support they need, how they perceive the workplace and what skills they have to complete the job

2.     Real-life, community based employment with support will give our students better success than simulated pre-vocational tasks

3.     If we do not have individualized transition goals based on the student’s input they are not as likely to be employed or feel positive about their high school experience after graduation

4.     If our students are employed when they graduate they will be more likely to be employed a year after graduation 

This is the second of a 6 part series dedicated to inspiring leadership on transition teams through the use of resources including evidence, tools and models for high school based practice. Feel free to contribute your own comments about experiences, tools and resources you use that are not mentioned here. Please note, in an effort to keep the information in the more casual form of a blog, a reference list is available via email to the author at heather@newviewot.com. 

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"Thee lift me and I'll lift thee and we'll ascend together." Quaker Proverb

Becoming Aware

Before we dive into evidence-based activities you can use in transition I wanted to share with you some OT literature that might give you some validation; there are many shared barriers to providing transition services in school based practice.

If we can have a better awareness of what is and is not working, what others are experiencing and what impacts practice we can develop a better action plan for change. 

Awareness of the status of practice =

The first step in addressing priorities of change

R.D. Laing said (found in The 8th Habit, by Steven Covey, p. 43):

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change: until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds”

So, in an effort to create change and help our students have successful outcomes after high school, let's take note of what some (if not all) of us are experiencing. Shall we?

What the OT Literature is Saying About OT in Transition 

Kardos and White (2005)

These researchers investigated school-based OTs degree of knowledge regarding transition services and their amount of participation in them and the results, though not entirely surprising based on my practice experience, they do reflect a continued disconnect between OT as a related service on the IEP and transition evaluation and services.

Highlights:

*30% (n=80) of OTs indicated they participated in transition services in such a way that their skills were maximized

* Half of the OTs reported contributions to the evaluative process that led to drafting of goals and objectives related to transitioning

*30% of OTs reported participating in the post-secondary employment assessment process

*74% indicated transition services were the responsibility of another discipline

The authors concluded: 

“Occupational therapists in the public schools are well-placed and trained to address these areas, and should be exploring ways in which they can collaborate with special education transition teams to augment services that have been well documented nationally as needing improvement,” (Kardos & White, 2005, p. 178).

Gangl, Neufield and Berg (2011)

They investigated occupational therapy’s role in high school transition in the Midwest using a qualitative survey method.

The background on this study:

*Survey participants included six OTs and five non-OTs

*Three main themes were revealed after the data analysis was complete:

1. Non-OTs perceived OTs as not having a role in transition

2. OTs saw their role in transition but were not involved unless a student received direct services

3. OT is not seen as an important part of transition services

Most thought provoking were the critical barriers OTs identified:

1.     Many parents were unaware of the benefit OT intervention could have in the transition from high school to young adulthood

2.     The rate of referrals for OT services dramatically declined after 6^th grade

3.     The school personnel did not view OT as a vital or priority in the transition evaluation process and OTs were not sure his or her participation in the transition process should be considered as a typical part of school-based OT intervention

4.     OTs believed they did not have enough time to “build collaborative relationships with teachers, parents and staff; to expand their practice to include more transitional activities; and to develop new programs outside of their service minutes” (p. 161).

Quite appropriately, the authors draw the link between successful student outcomes in post-secondary life and OT: 

“If a state’s education goal is for students with disabilities to be employed or enrolled in continued education 1 year after graduation, there are clear roles for occupational therapy services” (Gangl, Neufield and Berg, 2011, p. 165).

Moll, Huff and Detwiler (2003)

These authors identified the strengths of OT and its parallel nature to the employment transition process:

1.     Value of meaningful occupation

2.     Patient-centered approach

3.     Goals based on individual preferences

4.     Job placement based on function and skill level

5.     Identification of job modifications that promote successful outcomes

6.     Expertise in environmental assessment and fit between person, environment, and occupation

7.     Understanding and advocacy of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Though these areas might seem obvious to us, it is clear, based on the studies summarized above, that many OTs are not using these unique and valid skills in their contribution to the IEP and transition plan at the high school level.

Why should we care about these studies?

Well, first, we have to know where we are to establish where we want to go.

Second, it helps to have commonly shared feelings exposed for those of us in high-school based practice. It gives us a community of shared experiences. 

While we nod our heads in agreement we likely spark thought and inspire a desire to create change.

Lastly, I propose a challenge led by these results: 

Choose one barrier above that resonates with you most and think of 2-3 simple, concrete ways you might start chipping away at it.

This call to action doesn’t need fireworks: we can each start with one student or one supervisor with casual discussions.

Want Examples?

*Schedule an informal meeting with your immediate supervisor to share these studies to highlight those you see in your program

*Meet with the transition specialist at your school to discuss collaboration with one student who might have an upcoming IEP meeting

*Ask the transition specialist and/or special education coordinator what role they see OT having in transition

* Ask your supervisor what he or she feels is the role of OT in transition and their perceived barriers in your school. Share the findings of the studies above.

Please share some successful steps you have taken in the past to chip away at a barrier or, if you feel you are well used as an OT in a transition plan, please share how this came about for others to benefit too! 

This is the first of a 6 part series dedicated to inspiring leadership on transition teams through the use of resources including evidence, tools and models for high school based practice. Feel free to contribute your own comments about tools and resources you use that are not mentioned here! Please note, in an effort to keep the information in the more casual form of a blog, a reference list is available via email to the author at heatherj@newviewot.com.

"We immediately become more effective when we decide to change ourselves rather than asking things to change for us." Steven Covey 

The Centennial Vision isn't just for the leaders of the profession to follow. It calls for all OT practitioners to be leaders of the profession. Leadership isn't a position but a choice (Covey, 2004) and we must all choose to take a leadership role within our school-based practice in order to advocate not only for OT but also, more importantly, for the needs of our students.

Recent survey research shows OTs are not well integrated into high school transition teams.  

Spencer, Emery, and Schneck (2003) conducted a survey on special education directors and their perceptions of the role of occupational therapy in transition.

Overall, special education directors felt that OTs were needed in job assessment, job performance and other employment skill areas but were most widely used in domestic skills, meal preparation, leisure exploration, assistive technology, modifying the task environment, IEP planning and staff education.

Most concerning was the directors' indication that OTs provided only 5-8% of any community-based transition service.

5-8% of any community-based transition service!

Kardos and White (2005) investigated school-based OTs degree of knowledge regarding transition services and their amount of participation in them.

Though there were many revelations in this study that will be discussed in later posts, there were many barriers identified as impacting OT practice in high school transition that are likely felt by many OTs.

Barriers included:

* Lack of understanding of the OTs role by other disciplines

* Lack of knowledge regarding assessment tools to evaluate in the area of transition

* Transition services not being taught in respective OT programs

* Lack of knowledge of their role as an occupational therapist in transition services

Studies like these create lots of thoughts and questions.

* How do we become leaders on transition teams?

* How can we become part of the transition team rather than in a box providing handwriting or no services at all to high school students?

* How do we get out into the functional environment to address the areas of occupation our students need us in?

* How do we create change when our caseloads are full, our days are packed and our supervisors aren't interested?

One place to start in our leadership on these teams might be with evidence and a better awareness of the tools, models and resources available both within the OT profession and from other professions.

Change can't happen overnight, however with the employment of small steps, starting one student at a time, change through leadership is possible in the long run.

Are you ready?!

AOTA Pediatric Virtual Chats are offered monthly as an opportunity to dialogue with experts.

These topic-specific chats are recorded and available for play-back.  Also, a downloadable attendance verification form is offered each month that corresponds to the most recent chat.  The form can be submitted for possible continuing education approval.

Visit www.talkshoe.com/tc/73733 to join a live 60 minute chat or listen to the previous recordings.  The next live chat will focus on OT's role in prevention of and intervention for obesity.  It will be held on Thursday January 5 at 1 pm EST.

Please access the new Childhood Obesity Information Sheet at http://www.aota.org/practitioners/practiceareas/pediatrics/new/obesity.aspx?FT=.pdf and learn more about the series of Mental Health Information sheets at http://www.aota.org/practitioners/practiceareas/pediatrics/new/how-to.aspx?FT=.pdf

How can these new AOTA Pediatric Resources be used to demonstrate our value in promoting occupation and developing lifeskills, healthy routines?

Autism Resource/Challenges and Opportunities:

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/PracticeAreas/Pediatrics/New/ASD.aspx?FT=.pdf

Tip Sheet for Families: Toy Checklist and OT Role in Promoting Play:

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/PracticeAreas/Pediatrics/New/Toy.aspx?FT=.pdf

RtI Brochure:

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/PracticeAreas/Pediatrics/New/RtI-Brochure.aspx?FT=.pdf

AOTA School Mental Health Information Sheets on for practitioners on prevention of and intervention for childhood obesity :

http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/PracticeAreas/Pediatrics/New/How-to.aspx?FT=.pdf

I highly recommend looking at the new IDEA Partnership Common Core Standards Collection.

http://www.ideapartnership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1522

The collection includes: a ready-to-use workshop with presenter guide, three dialogue guides to begin conversation, short videoclips describing purpose of tools and more.   We need to articulate our role in helping students achieve these benchmarks.

You could pair this collection with the IDEA Partnership Collection on Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISPs), often referred to as Related Services and with the IRIS Center Module on Related Services/SISPs.  Specific information about occupational therapy is offered through both of these modules

http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/rs/chalcycle.htm

http://ideapartnership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1512

There has been a positive shift that I have observed over the last three years of my school-based practice.  Following best practice standards, many IEP teams diligently work toward crafting IEP documents that are reflective of a student’s strengths and needs.  State and district protocols are becoming more responsive to tightening the documentation requirements needed to reflect positive transition initiatives for middle and high school age students.   The culmination of these assiduous efforts is manifested at a meeting where the document is presented, discussed and tweaked if the process runs smoothly.  However, it has only been in recent years that I have witnessed more consistency with having our middle and high school age students attend these meetings.  Certainly, this is a change in the right direction.  Yet, many students appear to be passive bystanders to this process.  How can we help our students become more active participants in these meetings?  My colleagues and I have spent time over the last year brainstorming about how we may be able to assist our students with advocating for their needs during these meetings.  Not only are we attempting to establish methods to encourage participation, but we are hopeful that we can provide our students with tools to communicate their goals as well as strengths and barriers to success as they transition to their post-secondary setting.  We are exploring using the following strategies/tools to promote self-advocacy: 

• Helping students construct personalized booklets to convey important facts about themselves.   These “All About Me” books may include information such as strengths, needs, likes, and dislikes.  Information may be reflected through pictures, drawings or writing depending on the approach that works best for that student.
• The Center for Learning and Leadership through the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center has devised a tool called the Personal Preference Indicators, A Guide for planning.  This tool provides teams with question prompts related to preferred activities and settings, feelings, choices, roles as well as information regarding health and social relationships.  This tool may be best utilized with input from families, and can be adapted for people with significant cognitive disabilities.  http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/Education/documents/personal-preference-indicator.pdf

I would be interested to hear about any methods or tips that you use in your practice to encourage self-advocacy and student participation as they relate to transition planning.

The AOTA Autism West Specialty Conference was held in Long Beach California this past weekend. There were wonderful presentations. Roseann Schaaf spoke about the importance of systematic data driven interventions. Kristie Koenig spoke about viewing autism as differences with strengths and meeting the needs or adolescents and young adults. Barbara Demchick presented excellent videoclips using early childhood sensory strategies, visual supports, and fostering functional communication. Jane Case- Smith presented the AOTA evidence based review for Autism project. Lisa Crabtree talked about a Participatory Occupational Justice Framework and social inclusion. Renee Watling spoke about applying Ayres Sensory Integration (R) Principles to ASD and fidelity measures.  Diana Henry presented sensory based strategies with 4 students with ASD.  Winnie Dunn challenged the audience to use long term strength based approaches.  Brenda Smith Myles reviewed the Hidden Curriculum, the subtext of social interactions and dialogue. Cinna Hunter and I presented on school transition needs and the role of OT.  We circulated this new resource http://www.aota.org/DocumentVault/ASD.aspx that provides challenges and opportunities in serving individuals with ASDs. The panel of family members and young adults on the spectrum was a highlight of the 2 day conference and was given a standing ovation. I am interested in hearing feedback about the conference and any next steps which were discussed during an interactive session that focused on vision and commitments.

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The name Autism Spectrum Disorder not only defines the continuum of unique symptoms that individuals and families experience when dealing with this disability, but also defines the variety of interventions and frameworks specialists and families adopt when working with individuals with autism.  As occupational therapists, our framework has also evolved to looking at clients, families, and institutions using a top-down approach and defining meaningful occupations and routines that support individuals with accessing social, emotional, and physical components in their daily life.  When working with the autistic population, our framework has guided OT intervention approaches to include task analysis and using meaningful occupations as a way to encourage involvement and integration into family and community life.  Task analysis allows the practitioner to identify problems and then develop solutions that will support an individual with adapting to his or her environment.  Occupations is a broad term that can be defined as a role, hobby, interest, or activity that either one enjoys doing or one is required to do.  In the school setting, this can include:  keeping pace with academic demands, social integration and developing relationships, preparing for transitions within the school setting or when leaving the school setting (post secondary planning).  The challenge for most OT practitioners is that many school districts are under fire to show progress in academic tasks, such as reading and math.  Although these standards are meant to be a positive measure of a student’s performance, it often acts more as a barrier to learning than a support to learning.  Many teachers do not have flexibility in how they approach teaching, and IEPs are more reflective of having a student meet testing standards, which the curriculum is based on, versus individualized goals that prepare the student for adulthood and life outside of the school setting.  As OT practitioners, it is our challenge to include occupation based interventions into a system that does not view this as valuable.  We have to become creative in how we attempt to include occupations into the school setting, especially in the post secondary setting. 

Here are some ideas on how to tackle this issue:

·        Pair up with program administrators, such as a Transition Coordinator, and offer them support with program development.  Ask if you can attend their meetings and involve yourself as a team member.  It is easier if changes are made from the top, so that teachers are encouraged to be more creative with how they teach the curriculum.

·        Two great resources that provide lesson plans which merge life skill activities with academic learning are “Attainment’s Aligning Life Skills to Academics Worksheet Directory” and “ Attainment’s Life Skill Lessons:  650 ready to use transition activities”  by Ellen McPeek Glisan, Ph.D.

·        Don’t do this alone….pair up with guidance counselors or school psychologists (if available) to start a lunch buddy group, and use this time to teach appropriate behaviors and social skills.  The more school personnel involved in a life skills/social skills initiative, the easier it may be to get principals to “buy into” what you are doing. 

Let’s keep the conversation rolling….can you provide 1-2 ideas/resources that would help keep lifeskills and meaningful occupations in the school setting? 

Heather Boley, DrOT, MS, OTR/L

Have you seen the Self Determination Project sponsored by the VA Dept of Education at www.imdetermined.org?

The site offers goal plan templates, films about understanding your IEP, and information about youth summits.

An OT can be instrumental in helping a student with a disability identify his strengths, preferences and interests and help to develop an strategic plan focused on life skills acquisition: making and maintaining friendships, going to college or technical school, independent living, participation in community recreational or leisure activities, obtaining and keeping a job.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so bear with me!  I have been trying to set up a life-skills program (cooking, laundry) in a public middle school.  Although the teachers that I have approached seem to like and support the idea (the Autism classroom performing laundry duties for the school sports teams), the principal of the school has not seen the importance of such a program, and therefore actually refused to support it.   I was somewhat shocked and dismayed by his response.  I decided to start small; this coming Monday, I am going to take photos of the steps to doing laundry (using myself as the 'employee'), and then make icons to post by our washer/dryer.  The teacher of the Autism classroom and I will begin to introduce the students to the idea and with slow steps begin to engage them in the process of doing laundry.  They will each be assigned a task, and then have practice mastering that task before moving on to another.  After this is done, and the complete process of doing laundry completed (including folding), we will invite the principal to observe.  It is my hope that he will see that these students are 1) able to learn a 'marketable' task, 2) that these students are able to interact with a 'boss' or 'supervisor' doing a job, and 3) that these students are valuable assets to our community.  If anyone is currently involved in a similar pursuit, I would love feedback on successes/challenges, etc.