Meghan Smallwood: 0:01

When discussing about what comes after high school, that's Post Secondary Transition. That could mean getting ready for opportunities like college jobs or just time out in the community. One challenge is that everyone's different, especially as it relates to disability supports. So we're here to help by having conversations around the whole whole process. Welcome, this is the Post Secondary Transition podcast. I am one of the hosts. My name is Meghan Smallwood, and I'm a transition specialist in my county. And my co host is... Yeah, like we said, we always refer to them.

Patrick Cadigan: 0:31

My name is Patrick Cadigan. I am a special education teacher in said county. And let's see, opening up today's conversation. All right. One thing that you always hear us talk about is the CCS or Coordinator of Community Service. We mention them a lot. And heck, we've even interviewed one and you never know there might be some more on the way. But we, as Meghan and I were sitting down and talking, we realized that we have yet to really talk out this role. So that is what we're going to do here today. So what is this Coordinator of Community Service that we speak of? And I know when we had our podcast about DDA, or Developmental Disabilities Administration, we refer to them because they are a part of DDA. So we discussed completing that initial DDA application, usually, we advise that at 14, and you go through the whole process, and typically around age 18, is when you'll have to worry about your CCS or a Coordinator of Community Service. At that age, you usually get sent a choice letter from DDA. This is a rough timeline, though, because I know parents who have not received it or received it earlier. So just you know, keep that a loose timeline. But there will be a choice letter. going to be a fairly generic looking letter, right?

Meghan Smallwood: 2:17

Yes, yes. Thank you for pointing that out. Because I know it could be a couple pages of, you know, same info for everybody. And a lot of parents be like, "Well, I don't need to worry about this part." No, no, you just don't, there will be a page. And typically, it's by snail mail. Although there has been some electronic, again, there's no consistency. I hate to say that. But it's just, just be aware, make sure you're checking all forms of communication. But there will be a form that you have to send back to them selecting an agency. Now, this often draws some confusion from parents, because parents have said to me, Well, why would I select an agency now, and they start getting worried thinking, this is the agency for the end all be all at 21, right? No; the agency that they're looking for with the choice letter is just going to house your Coordinator of Community Service. So they're not going to be providing any direct services for your child. This is just going to be that Coordinator of Community Service, who as we'll talk a little bit later is kind of like your middleman to all things DDA. So every county has different agencies for the Coordinator of Community Services, and they will be listed on your choice letter for you to select. Our county specifically has ones like service coordination, who we've spoken with a CCS, Jamie Brodnax, from another one that sat that serves our county is MMARS, which stands for Medical Management and Rehabilitation Services, Inc. The Coordinating Center, Optimal, Beatrice Loving Heart just to name a few. So those will differ. Like I said, from county to county, you may have more, you may have less you may have not, you know, not ones that you've heard of before, but that is where your Coordinator of Community Service will come from.

Patrick Cadigan: 4:10

This actually kind of plays off into something that happened with us over the weekend. As we have mentioned before, both Meghan and I participate with Facebook groups, and there was actually a family on one of them that had commented that they had received their letter, and I got so ex... I mean, you have to remember, I nerd out on this stuff, right. But I got so excited because this this, the family was kind of asking questions like, "Well, hey, I just got the letter. What does that mean?" You know, and so I kind of jumped in. And I answered it, and I was very confident until I hit the send button. And I was like, and I called, called...

Meghan Smallwood: 4:46

...then I get a phone call. Hey, can you double check this before..?

Patrick Cadigan: 4:49

Just read what I said, read what I said and tell me if I'm not like just out of whack. And luckily, I knew that what I was talking about, but I will say that one of the things that I was doing as I sat down was is that I went through the transcript of the discussion that we had about DDA. So again, if you have not had an opportunity, please go check out. But it was actually two parts; part one and part two. Yeah. So there's good information there. And it was really helpful for me, but I, you know, I could do that. So I just wanted to throw that out there. Now, as we are fast forwarding now to this conversation, how do families pick an agency? And is there any advice that we can throw their way?

Meghan Smallwood: 5:36

I know, it does seem like this daunting task, like I have to pick the agency for my coordinator. And like Patrick said, you know, talking to other parents, going to those Facebook groups, that's a huge option, a huge resource for you to access, there was another group to over the weekend, by the way, that I saw a similar question that listed, you know, a couple agencies. And so does anyone have any experience and parents did comment, you know, mine was through this, and I had, you know, good experience. So I also threw in a couple comments. But just also remember, everyone's experience is different, because every individual is different. Plus, every coordinator is different. So just because one parent had a bad experience with an agency, don't write the agency off completely, you know, or just because they had a great experience, just make sure to make your own opinion, but gather as much information as you can, you can always research their websites. But I will tell you a lot of times, that's pretty, pretty generic. So I don't want to say it's just a, you know, a shot in the dark. But really, what happens is it comes down to the coordinator more than the agency, the coordinators going to make all the difference with the level of communication, their knowledge base. So that's really just important to know. But also, and I hate to be the negative Nelly, just constantly throwing in the "but wait!" There is a big turnover with the coordinators, unfortunately. So don't be surprised if you start out with one, when you're young adult is 18. And you have like your 10th. One, by the time they were exiting it at 21. Unfortunately, it happens. Not to say that's always the case, I know, there's some really good ones out there that stick it through. But just I think that's an important thing to recognize. And remember that you are that constant person. And you are going to have to be the advocate to make sure that the coordinator is following through and on top of it and communicating with you and answering any question you may have. So someone else you can lean on for support is that transition coordinator, if you have one in your school, because they also can be another constant in the process to help you keep track of information and to reach out to that coordinator to make sure that they have all the information they need. They're caught up on things and also they know your the transaction coordinator knows your student maybe a little better than the coordinator does, because they see them at school every day. So just a few things to remember as you make your your selection.

Patrick Cadigan: 8:05

Alright, so I feel like we've gotten some of the some of the intro stuff out of the way. So what does a Coordinator of Community Service actually do?

Meghan Smallwood: 8:17

So, they are like your middleman to DDA, you're kind of your lifeline at times, the most important time I think that the CCS is going to be like, top priority is during that transition year, when you are signed one at 18, you're probably not going to hear much from them. I think their their requirements are, you know, a couple times a year just to check in maybe once a year just to say hi, I'm your coordinator, anything new, you know, that kind of thing. But there's not much going on until that exit year. That's when you really should hear from them a lot. And if you're not reach out to them, if they're not responding, it's okay to go to someone else, a supervisor in the agency just to be like, Hey, is it still my coordinator? First of all, and I really have a lot of questions, I really need some help just to make sure you're getting the support you need. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to reach out. That's what they're there. They're helped. They're there to help make things run smoothly. So the CCS the Coordinator of Community Service, is really going to help with a lot of the paperwork side of things in terms of applying to the waiver with DDA for that exit YR, which I know that's also what is that waiver, going back to our podcast on DDA that'll explain a lot more detail about that. But there's going to be a lot of things on the paperwork side that they have to collect, keep track of submit on your behalf. So that's that's why that communication piece is so important. They're also going to be the ones who can help provide information on adult agencies in the area you can visit. college programs if you're Thinking about that self-direction information, if that's a route that you're planning on taking, I know that the transition coordinators can also provide more information on that, especially if it's more specific to the area since they work closely to one area, whereas the the CCS is might have a couple of different counties. But again, the CCS should be able to provide you with some of that information and answer questions specifically about what you might be looking for. And then lastly, one important, one more important thing they help with is writing that Person Centered Plan or the PCP for your young adult when it's time for exit. So like we've talked about before, in podcasts, you know, that's kind of your replacement for the IEP when you exit. So they're really going to be talking thoroughly with you about what kind of goals you have for them moving forward, and just how to update that, you know, year after year. So like I said, that transition year is really the most important timeframe to get everything in place. And then after that, they will be there as a support if you ever need to change something they check in, you know, regularly if there's any questions, if a crisis was there ever come up there, the person you want to talk to about additional supports. But that transition year is very important. So I know that they have large caseload we've spoken with CCS before, who has shared they have maybe 35 - 40 on their caseload. So it is important for them to be aware of those that are transitioning, because they might require a little more time and paperwork. And I know as a transition coordinator, I've helped some families reach out just to gently nudge and say, hey, you know, don't forget, you know, Johnny's exiting in June. So, you know, let me know, if you need anything, anything I can help with, just to put them on top of mine.

Patrick Cadigan: 11:48

Yeah, it's funny listening to hear, you know, talk about all this stuff, especially as you had commented about, you are going to hear from the Coordinator of Community Service, mostly towards the exit year, because, again, you and I've had this conversation before, right about exit year. So I'll keep a link in the show notes about that. If you get a shot, go and listen to that discussion that we had about exit year, because there is quite a stuff, quite a lot of stuff that happens. And you know, big changes are out and about. So...

Meghan Smallwood: 12:20

Yeah, for sure. I know, I like when we can refer back to one. Oh, yeah. Remember, we talked about that? We talked about that.

Patrick Cadigan: 12:27

And we have even still more to come. But right now, I'm going to transition us into our Well That's Helpful resource. Now. I, this one's on me. And I will say that I actually have been doing a little bit of a mia culpa lately. For anyone who's been listening to us for a while they know that, you know, we've always said we're the ONLY transition podcast out there. Well, as it turns out, we're not. And...

Meghan Smallwood: 12:59

What?!

Patrick Cadigan: 13:02

Yeah, I was really excited to have figured this out. But I'm gonna throw out...Obviously, Megan and I are in a particular area, right. And so when you're in a particular area, you kind of focus on what, you know, one thing that we have discussed behind the scenes is opening it up and we, you know, we've reached out to people, we're pretty soon we're going to have a discussion with some friends that we made up in Wisconsin, there's another family that I had reached out to that I have through a personal contact, who they have a fascinating story that they're going to talk about. And so I mean, again, branching it out. So getting back to this week. The other podcast that I'm going to throw out there is the Oregon Transition Podcast, they this is a group they have been doing this, they are going on their third season, when I found their website, I mean, again, I nerd out on this stuff. And so I'm going through and I'm like, "Oh, they talked about SSI" and "oh, look, they talked about ABLE accounts" and oh, look at all these things that we if we haven't directly talked about it, we've referenced it. So they were just speaking our language and I really appreciated it and the fact that they were going into their third season, so I was really, really excited to know about that because honestly, we thought that you know, we were the only one so it's nice that that there is another one so if you get a shot, go to www.oregontransition.podbean.com. That is the website for their show. You can find them on all the major podcast apps like Apple or Spotify, but definitely give them a listen. It is a very different podcast than the one that we do. And I have already I'm a few episodes deep and it's just, they are really, really doing a nice job. And I, you know, like I said, I don't live in Oregon, but I still I was listening to it and I was learning some stuff. So I thought it was really good. So go check them out when you have a chance.

Meghan Smallwood: 15:14

Awesome.

Patrick Cadigan: 15:15

So with that being said, I think that we can bring this particular conversation to a close, Meghan, you want to sign us out?

Meghan Smallwood: 15:24

Absolutely. As always, please follow this information, and other conversations in our show notes, like follow and please share out the podcast with anyone and everyone. And check out our YouTube channel. We have videos of all our conversations, including doing some of the legwork for you by curating videos of topics that revolve around transition. We've created playlists that cover guardianship, alternatives to guardianship, ABLE accounts, and still more to come. So be sure to subscribe there as well. And finally, check out our website, which is chock full of information around the transition process. You'll find our contact information there too. So go to www.postsecondarytransition.com.

Patrick Cadigan: 16:06

Score. Nicely done.

Meghan Smallwood: 16:10

And I think that's all we wrote.

Patrick Cadigan: 16:11

Yeah, I definitely think that that is all we wrote. All right, but as we've said before, and as we're gonna say, again, we have a lot of conversations to be had. So keep coming back and we'll keep pushing them. Thanks, guys.

Meghan Smallwood: 16:26

Thank you.