Monday, November 8, 2010

Special-ed grads to get new path at UA

The first generation of special-education students with individualized learning plans that allowed them to be included in high school classrooms is graduating. Now they have a new option: college.

Beginning next summer, Tucson students with intellectual disabilities can attend a University of Arizona certificate program.

This new effort is called Project FOCUS (Focusing Opportunities with Community and University Support). It's about academic learning, the campus social experience and skills for independent work and living.

The UA has long had special resources for disabled students on campus, "but now we're talking about students with more significant types of intellectual disabilities to have the same opportunities, to be on campus, to enroll in a class, and to be part of the University of Arizona community," said Dan Perino, who leads the Tucson Unified School District's Community Transition Programs.

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