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General FAQ section
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Participant FAQs
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Volunteer FAQs
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Group Leader FAQs
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Administrative FAQs
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General FAQ section
Together
Including Every Student (T I E S) is designed to facilitate
participation of children and young adults with disabilities in
traditional recreation by providing natural support from peer partners.
The program encourages experience of diverse abilities through
partnerships between students with and without disabilities who wish to
take part in extra curricular and community activities.
What does an activity look like?
It can be any
organized recreational or extra curricular school activity in which
students typically take part. TIES arranges a trained student partner
for each participant to facilitate a successful experience for all
members of the group. See TIES in Action
for descriptions of three different activities.
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How
long is each activity?
An activity may be
a single event, such as attending a school dance or after school
football game, or an ongoing class (dance, martial arts, music,
gymnastics) or ongoing participation in a traditional organization such
as Scouts. If an activity is ongoing, two or more volunteers may share
the commitment.
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What
restrictions are there to joining an activity?
Any activity that
is organized and has an adult activity leader is available to the TIES
program. Modifications, as needed, are arranged on an individual basis
through the collaboration of the TIES Coordinator, the activity leader,
parents, teachers and other interested parties.
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Who
pays the activity fees?
The participant
pays whatever fees, if any, are required by the activity of choice, and
the volunteer’s fees, which are frequently waived, are covered by the
TIES Program at the discretion of the school district.
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Is
one volunteer assigned to one participant?
Volunteers make a
commitment for one activity at a time and each activity is arranged as a
separate project. For long term activities two or more volunteers may
take part. Some partnerships endure from year to year, while others may
change with each activity. Individual input and choice is a dynamic
element of the program for both volunteers and participants.
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Participant FAQs
Does the
school provide transportation for my child?
The school district
does not provide transportation nor is the TIES Coordinator allowed to
transport participants. Parents are responsible for transporting their
child to and from an activity.
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Can
the volunteer spend time with my child in our home?
TIES only provides
volunteers for school or community sponsored activities that are run by
an activity leader. If a participant and volunteer choose to spend time
together outside of this type of activity that is their decision and not
part of the TIES Program.
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What type of
activities can my child join?
A participant may
join any activity of his or her choice. It simply needs to be an
organized activity that is run by an adult activity leader, e.g. park
and recreation program, sports program, after school club, school of
religion, etc.
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What if my child
does not like the volunteer?
The TIES
Coordinator aspires to match volunteers with participants based on
common interest, age and gender. Both parties complete similar
applications on which they list their interests, hobbies, or activities
they are currently involved in or have been involved in before. From
this information the TIES Coordinator proceeds to make arrangements.
The program is designed to be individual and flexible. If at any time
either the participant or volunteer feels that he or she was not
correctly matched, the Coordinator will gladly find another partner.
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As a participant what kind of support
will I receive?
Your partner will
provide whatever support will make the activity successful and enjoyable
for you. It may be as general as keeping you company in a new activity,
or it may specific physical, verbal or social support (see Volunteer
FAQs, What will I be doing? for
sample strategies.)
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Volunteer
FAQs
What will
I be doing?
Essentially, you
will be providing support to a young person with a disability in a
community recreational activity. The individualized support plan that
the TIES Coordinator gives to you will contain in detail the strategies
that you will use to help your participant partner enjoy success in the
activity and make friends with other members of the group. Here are
some examples of strategies:
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Cue the participant to say, “Hi!”
to other members of the group. |
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Model turn-taking for the
participant. |
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Break instructions down into short
sentences. |
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Use conversation starters. |
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Move the participant’s wheelchair
close to other members of the group. |
See
TIES in Action
for examples of actual activities.
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Do
I need to travel to and from the activity with the participant?
No.
You and the participant are responsible for getting to and from the
activity on your own.
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Do I have to pay for the
activity?
No. Your fee will
be waived or covered by another source. You will need to register for
the activity with the activity leader, however, so that you are covered
by insurance.
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Do I stay with the same participant from one activity that they choose
to the next?
Once you and your
participant have completed an activity, you may tell the coordinator
whether you would like to continue in another activity, but it is not
required.
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What
if I need to stop doing the activity because of another commitment?
When you have a
change in your schedule, let your TIES Coordinator know so that she can
find another volunteer. The program is flexible to accommodate the
needs of student volunteers to participate in other activities besides
TIES.
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Can
I do something with my participant partner outside of the TIES
activity?
You are free to
make arrangements to meet with your TIES participant outside of the TIES
activity. The TIES Coordinator and the school district are not involved
in or responsible for activities other than the TIES activity.
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Group
Leader FAQs
As
a group leader what are my responsibilities toward the TIES partners?
They are the same
as toward any member of your group. The TIES volunteer is there to
provide specific individual support for his or her partner so that you
can lead the group as a whole. In the case of younger participants, the
TIES Volunteer, who will be older than the other students, may assume a
role of general assistant, being naturally available to all the
children. TIES partners can enrich the group as a whole by bringing a
new experience to all.
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Administrative FAQs
What is the cost of TIES?
Coordinator’s
salary is based on 13 hrs./week for 36 weeks. This salary is paid out
of our existing grant for the initial year of implementation and then
the school district assumes responsibility. We allow a budget for
supplies and expenses, for eg., brochures, posters, transparencies for
volunteer training program, letterhead, postage and printer cartridges.
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How
do you market TIES to school districts?
Since our existing
grant runs from January 1 – December 31, in September of each year we
send a letter and brochure to each school district in the county which
our grant covers. In this letter, we describe the TIES program, and
encourage contact from the Pupil Services Director/Special Education
Chairperson in order to set up a meeting with the TIES Directors to more
fully describe TIES. TIES Directors ask for a commitment from the
school district that after the initial year of funding, the school
district will continue the program.
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How
is TIES funded?
TIES was
originally funded by a grant from the NYS Developmental Disabilities
Planning Council as a one year Field Initiated Idea. After a successful
year of development and implementation, our school districts assumed the
cost of TIES. Other school districts in our area became aware of TIES
and requested support in starting TIES in their school districts. We
sought funding from Family Support Services, a component of the Office
of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, to provide funding
for one year of training to new school districts. After the initial
year of funding, each school district commits to continued funding after
the grant period.
Be creative in
exploring your local school district, community and statewide funding
sources!
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What
is the role of the TIES Coordinator?
The TIES
Coordinator is selected by the school district and is ideally the parent
of a child with a disability.
The Coordinator is
responsible for:
| Marketing TIES
in the school and community |
| Recruiting
participants and volunteers |
| Training
volunteers and activity leaders |
| Developing
support plans for each participant and sharing them with the volunteer |
| Evaluating the
participant’s, volunteer’s and activity leader’s experience |
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Thank you for your interest in TIES!
We are very pleased that you are considering TIES as an approach to
expanding opportunities for children and young adults with and without
developmental disabilities to have fun and learn from one another.
There are three component parts to
the TIES Program Package which will give you the basic tools to
implement the program.
1) The TIES Program
Manual is meant to explain the program design, provide structure for
implementation, and detail the essential ingredients for success.
2) The TIES Training
Workshop is a PowerPoint presentation for volunteers and other
interested audiences.
3) The TIES video shows
TIES participants and volunteers engaged in an array of activities, and
presents the perspective of volunteer, participant and parent.
We encourage you to view the program
in its entirety since each component contributes significantly to TIES
success.
See
Products for details and information on ordering.
If you have questions about the TIES
Program Package please contact
Kathy Costello
kcostell@rochester.rr.com
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TIES was developed and implemented by
two parents who each had a child with a developmental disability. They
knew from first hand experience the interest their children had in
joining recreational activities as well as the difficulty they had in
getting the modifications and support they needed to be successful.
Although it was their right to fully participate in school and community
activities, several obstacles kept them from being able to do so. A lack
of knowledge, experience and effective support was preventing their
success.
Parents are often in the best position to advocate for TIES since the
opportunity it provides to their children means the most to them. An
initial meeting with the school district’s Director of Special Education
and the director of community recreation to share the concept of TIES
and to illicit their feedback and experience is an important beginning.
Frequently we find that they recognize the need for inclusive recreation
and are anxious to explore approaches to meet this need. You may want to
form a group of parents, school district members and community members
to identify approaches that would be effective in your community. It is
always critical to include key decision-makers at the outset who can
assist with planning, funding options and implementation.
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