Episode 34: From school to adult life

Download the transcript (Word)

Choice and Control episode 6.1 

From School to Adult Life 

Transcript 

0:00 Carers Queensland announcement: LAC Connect: It’s a new way to stay in touch with your Local Area Co-ordinator, Carers Queensland. With everything you need right here on your device. It’s a handy app to keep track of your LAC appointments, browse workshops and events, check out information and support, and get the latest news, stories and podcasts. It’s available on Android and iOS, so whatever device you have you can stay in touch. Head to our website to sign up at www.carersqld.com.au and look for LAC Connect.  

0:40: voiceover: Choice and Control, a podcast celebrating people with disability. Brought to you by Carers Queensland, NDIS Local Area Co-ordination Partner in the Community.    

The late teenage years an incredible time of change and adventure. It’s the end of school, maybe going to uni or TAFE or into an apprenticeship, moving out, getting your first grown-up job, getting your license, getting a car, building your independence.  For young people who need a bit more support or a bit more time to reach those milestones, it can be a very uncertain time and a very stressful one for their families, parents and carers. That’s where Carers Queensland’s School to Adult Life Transition project comes in.  The project works with families of 12- to 18-year-olds to make sure they start their adult lives with the same opportunities as their peers without disability.    

Jasmin Fawcett Clarke is from Carers Queensland’s Local Area Co-ordination Partner in the Community program’s Community and Mainstream team.  

1:38 Jasmin Fawcett Clarke: The School to Adult Life Transition project is aiming to identify existing barriers and develop and facilitate activities that will work towards greater outcomes for young people with disability as they transition from school into adult life.  So these activities are working towards increased inclusion of young people, in fundamental skill development, and enabling them to transition out of school as successfully as their peers without disability with greater social and economic opportunities.  

2:13 Fiona Stutz: In what space are we doing that? I hear that we’ve had some School to Adult Life Transition forums, how’s that been going?  

2:20 Jasmin: Yeah, so we ran our first Family Connect forum in Chermside earlier this year. We called it to the School to Adult Life Transition Family Connect Forum and we invited parents and carers of young people aged 12 to 18 years to come together and sort of be experts in their own lives. They shared experiences, some of their plans, some of their concerns, some of their ideas with their peers and started to think about how they can make that transition to adult life successful for their young person.  So we grouped parents and carers to discuss a range of topics using the broad headings of Work, Lifelong Learning, Relationships, Social and Community Participation, Health and Wellbeing, Choice and Control and Independent Living Skills. So you might recognise those from the NDIS Life Domains, so we’re trying to use that language because it’s familiar to people. Those conversations are really exploring the parents’ ideas, some strategies, some barriers that exist regarding successful transitions.  

3:35 Fiona: And what sort of feedback have you got from parents and carers from the forum?  

3:39 Jasmin: Parents and carers reported increased confidence levels, so feeling more confident in supporting their children with this transition from school to adult life.  

3:48 Fiona: And why do you think it’s important for Carers Queensland to actually be able to do things like this forum, for the families and carers to understand a little bit more about their child as they become adults and leave school? Why is it important?  

4:03 Jasmin: I think it’s a really difficult time for all families, to go from something that’s been so familiar for a really long time. And then it’s hard for all of us to know what to do when we finish school. We know parents have reported to us that it’s really hard to know what all of the available supports are in their local area, so by bringing peers together they’re able to bring their knowledge and their understanding of existing resources and supports and kind of refer each other into different programs. It’s able to sort of bring everyone together and talk about the importance of working with all the supports that might be in the young person’s life. So, for example family and informal networks, community, mainstream, and our NDIS funded support, all working together alongside that young person so that they can achieve the goals and they can do the things that they would like to do when they finish school.  

5:02 Carers Queensland announcement: Everybody has rights but sometimes it’s not easy to speak up and advocate for yourself. It takes confidence, resilience, knowing your rights, and knowing someone has your back. Be The Voice You Want To Be can help. It’s a free program from Carers Queensland for people with disability. It will build your skills, help you be a strong advocate for yourself, your family and friends, maybe even your community.  Along the way you will build a peer network so you have a squad to support you speaking up. Find out more, get in touch, or look for events and opportunities coming up near you: visit our website at www.carersqld.com.au or call our enquiries line on 1300 999 636.  

5:50 voiceover: One of the parents coming living through this is Anette. Her daughter Jay is 18, she’s finished school and has been using the NDIS for about four years now.  

6:00 Anette Novis: She was diagnosed in primary school with an intellectual impairment, and because of that there was a big struggle for at school. Thank goodness for the help of NDIS, we were able to access a lot of help for Jay. We had the psychologist because she was also self-harming at one point, when she was frustrated and she didn’t know what was going on, why she’s like different from other kids. And then the OT [occupational therapist] was very good because Jay has got a bit of depth perception in the beginning when she was younger, and also she has, she’s time blind, she also has dyscalculia which is very hard for her to understand maths and numbers. Also the speech therapist which is good because before she was only one question one answer kind of girl, at least now she can elaborate a little bit, and some support group or support person.  So Jay is really, needs all of this help from NDIS.  

7:07 Fiona: Oh that’s great sounds, like she is going well compared to when you first started with the NDIS? That’s great.  

7:14 Anette: It did really, really help her, although we still have a lot of challenges, you know? One of the strategies that she was taught, and we also taught as well, and the OT used, is to set alarms. So we’re getting there, if you know what I mean. That’s just like part of the challenges she has.   

7:31 Fiona: And that’s why you access an OT to be able to help her with that. And you said, you touched on she has support workers as well?  

7:40 Anette: Yes, she has a support worker for the life skills, although we also teach her at home. But this support person is going to help Jay towards her own,  have a little business, start her own business walking dogs, so she can be part of the community and earn some money herself as well. So that’s what she’s helping Jay with.  

8:00 Fiona: And how long is that away from being established?  

8:03 Anette: Well, she was supposed to launch when she turned 18 last April. But because of covid, and her getting the first aid course with the dogs and the trainer, it took a while because of the covid. So hopefully by end of the year.  

8:20 Fiona: That sounds fantastic, and that’s a really good segue into my next question. You obviously went to the Carers Queensland School to Adult Life Forum recently. Why did you decide to attend the forum, and what did you hope to get out of attending?  

8:37 Anette: Oh yeah, we went there because we were hoping to get some information on how we could help Jay, you know, become part of the community, and her independence. Also by going there it was a good idea of getting information from other parents as well, who has kids like our daughter, and get a bit of connection and information. What other parents do, where do other parents go to get help? 

9:12 Fiona: And what information did you take away from attending?  

9:15 Anette: Oh, a lot of ideas and information from other parents. For example if your child has got a bit of a talent, like for example sports, there’s a lot of sport organisations that help them. Also for example Jay, I found out she wanted to learn how to drive so she can become independent. I didn’t realise there’s also a special driving school that helps them, kids with autism and stuff like that. Yeah, so I was able to get that information. Also for them to learn how to cook, I didn’t realise there’s a lot of NDIS funded companies who help kids to get towards part of independence and learn all the different skills. 

10:01 Fiona: Absolutely. And she’s 18, she’d be thinking about that independence like you said, getting a license and thinking about cooking for herself. Is that something you see in the near future, her developing her independence and maybe even moving out and things like that?  

10:15 Anette: Yeah, in the future. I am not sure if it’s in the near future. She even asked us the question not long ago, “do you think I will be able to live by myself one day?” And we always say “absolutely, but we just need to, you know, take our time with learning and being confident in doing things that you need to do, especially the basics.” So hopefully she will in the future be able to live independently.  

10:40 Fiona: And you said you found out a bit more about how people with autism, they can get their license through a special driving school, also about the cooking you mentioned. Have you looked into that further for her?  

10:55 Anette: I have, actually. We contacted one person for driving, because as you know school has finished and she’s not doing anything at the moment. Although there’s a company that helped her get a job and she has a job which is like three hours a day, two to three times a week. That’s enough for her to be able to get out, you know, bussing tables in a restaurant. Also the driving school, because she was a little bit bored and I thought if she gets her license she will be able to start volunteering in the animal shelters. This driving school actually is going to refer us to an OT to assess Jay on what she needs, therefore they can refer to her to a driving school that will suit her needs.  So I spoke to a lady today and she’s going to give me all the information.  

11:50 Fiona: That sounds fantastic. Why do you think it’s important for families who have a child with disability be able to access this type of information to help them in the future?  

12:00 Anette: Oh yeah, a lot of families got no idea where to go. I think the forum is a very good, I wouldn’t say exposure, but it’s a very good information session for us to get some help, or information, a referral, or other things that other families do. So, for us to be able to get ideas, I guess, where to ask help and finding out their own experiences. Oh! You know, it gives you an idea on what to do yourselves, because a lot of parents don’t know. Like, this person I was sitting with has got no idea how to get her child into a work experience. I think his daughter is 18 years old and they had no idea, so that session I think gave him a lot of information.  

12:52 Fiona: It sounds like it was really worth it, yeah? 

12:55 Anette: It was, it was definitely worth it.  

12:57 Fiona: That’s great. So you touched on, obviously Jay’s getting a bit of OT, has support workers, is there any other NDIS support that she’s accessing now?  

13:08 Anette: Yeah, psychology. She sees a psychologist, a support person, OT. We just finished the speech because Jay feels that OT is more important so we are adding that time towards her OT instead of speech. And a support person for life skills, and hopefully this driving and the cooking classes will be the next step that we go looking into. Hopefully it will be a good help for Jay.  

13:40 Fiona: And you touched on that, you know, she does want that independence just like any other 18 year old does. Does she have any other goals or passions?  

13:48 Anette: Oh yeah, she wanted to become an animal therapist eventually, but to get into that she would probably, she’s happy looking into volunteering in animal shelters, Guide Dogs or maybe the RSPCA. She wanted to become an animal rescuer, so that’s the kind of thing I think that would suit Jay. And her dog walking business to give her financial support in the future, yeah.   

14:17 voiceover: School to Adult Life Transition is part of Driving Inclusive Change. It’s a Carers Queensland initiative that has projects working all across the community to improve outcomes, accessibility and inclusion for people of all abilities. We’re working with councils and businesses, the multicultural community, First Nations families, everything from disaster planning to community gardens.  You can find out more on our website, www.carersqld.com.au and look for ‘Driving Inclusive Change’. Or you can give our enquiries line a call on 1300 999 636.  

Thanks for joining us at Choice and Control, a Carers Queensland podcast. For more information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme or Carers Queensland, contact us online at www.carersqld.com.au. You can call us on 1300 999 636, or head to Facebook and look for ‘Carers Queensland NDIS’.  

Mentioned in this episode 

• School to Adult Life Transition on the Carers Queensland website 
• Carers Queensland upcoming events and workshops 
• Carers Queensland NDIS on Facebook 
• Register for the LAC Connect app 

 More from Choice and Control 

• Apple Podcasts 
• Spotify 
• Google Podcasts 
• YouTube 
• On the Carers Queensland website