Down Syndrome Students Get a Taste of College Life

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Like students everywhere, those in Luanne Goldsby’s Employment Readiness course pack their bags well before class is over. But their reaction when Goldsby assigns them homework is a little different. They cheer, said Goldsby, an associate professor at Jefferson Community & Technical College.

“And you don’t see that in regular classrooms,” she said.

Of course, this isn’t a “regular” classroom. The six students in Goldsby’s class have Down syndrome and are not receiving college credit for their work, but instead get a continuing education unit. Their peers may see community college as a second choice, but Goldsby’s students are proud of where they are and they wear JCTC shirts to prove it.

The shirts are like uniforms for Emily McCullum, 24, who makes sure to wear one to class every Wednesday. Since she was in high school, Emily has asked her parents where she would go to college, said her mother, Trish.

“We were always in a pickle because I didn’t have a response,” she said.

Now the McCullums do: Down Syndrome of Louisville’s new College Connections program, which enables students with the chromosomal disorder to experience college. The program is part of a nationwide trend toward providing post-secondary education for people with intellectual disabilities. In 2008, Congress approved a bill which made higher education more affordable and available for these students.

“Every day we hear about more programs starting around the country,” said Stephanie Smith Lee, a senior policy adviser for the National Down Syndrome Society’s Policy Center.

Although research is limited, early studies show that students who participate in these programs are more likely to have paying jobs in the community and to live more independently, said Lee, who served as director of the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education from 2002 to March 2005.

“I think that’s what we want for all of our children,” she said.

In the classroom Goldsby holds up a piece of paper.

“Remember what this is?” she asks.

Emily raises her hand: “A syllabus.”

“Very good,” says Goldsby, handing a copy to each student. “Every college class you go to, you’re going to get a syllabus, OK? This shows how to get another A.”

Amber Taylor, 24, looks over the piece of paper and giggles: “This is cool.”

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It is the first day of the second five-week CEU class the College Connections students are taking. Both the first course, Career Exploration, and this one, Employment Readiness, are designed to prepare them for college classes and employment. Most of the students are in their mid-20s and have already been working for several years. But Goldsby wants them to understand their options and uses a role-playing game to get them interested. Once they guess what skill Goldsby has asked a particular student to demonstrate, Goldsby helps them come up with a list of places where they could perform that job. For sweeping, she suggests a baseball stadium.

“You may say, ‘Well, I don’t want to be a janitor, but boy, if I could work at the baseball stadium, I’d do anything,’” says Goldsby.

Taylor, who works in returns at a clothing store, seems to agree. But when Goldsby asks the students to list their dream job, she writes down “cook.” Classmate Jackie Nalley writes “maid,” but at a hotel she likes. Their choices do not require a college degree, which is good, because that is not what College Connections is about, said Missy Rowe, who co-founded the program with Goldsby.

“There’s so much more to gain from college than just that piece of paper,” said Rowe, director of adolescent/adult programming for Down Syndrome of Louisville. “It’s the social experience, it’s the independence, the freedom, the maturity all those things.”

In essence, it’s being able to say “I’m in college.” something Emily likes to repeat.

“The goal isn’t to get an A in a typical class,” said Rowe. “The goal is to be integrated, to be included, to learn.”

Just a little more than 30 years ago, educational options for those with Down syndrome were bleak. Many children were institutionalized and those who weren’t were sometimes prohibited from attending school by state law, said Lee.

All that changed with passage of the first federal special education law in 1975, which required all children be educated. At first, children with disabilities were kept separate, said Lee, but as time wore on, they were integrated into regular classrooms and it became clear they could do more than had been originally thought.

As these children grew and watched their peers head off to college, they began to question why they couldn’t do the same. For Emily, “It was the natural progression of things, and she thought that was what she was supposed to do,” said Trish McCullum.

In Louisville, and across the nation, students like Emily and parents like Trish started to push for changes and slowly, more programs became available, said Lee; from about a dozen at the beginning of the decade to more than 250 today.

Lee’s daughter, Laura, who also has Down syndrome, was one of the first students to attend a pilot program at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Va., and is now taking part in a vocational program there that has her performing office and clerical work at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

“She is so proud of her World Bank ID and getting on the Metro and going downtown to Washington, D.C., and doing a real job,” said Lee. “She is very proud that she got a raise, too.”

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Megan Hawk has only been in College Connections a few months and is still washing dishes at a restaurant, but Goldsby said she already has noted a difference in her school work.

Goldsby began tutoring Hawk a year ago through a Down Syndrome of Louisville program for young adults. It was there that Goldsby met Rowe, and the two put together College Connections. Since Hawk, 22, enrolled in the program, her father, Paul, also said he has noticed a change. In high school, his daughter didn’t care much for homework, he said, but now she gets it done right away.

Trish McCullum said she has noted an increase in her daughter Emily’s self-esteem.

“Because she’s in college she feels like she’s equal to her peers,” she said.

This can lead to more independence, said Janet Gora, head of Post Secondary Education Collaborative and executive director of Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati.

A sort of “I’m a college student; I figured this out; I can live on my own,” attitude that, coupled with the fact that more education usually equals more pay, makes it easier for these young adults to live on their own, said Gora.

Through her work with the collaborative, which is dedicated to promoting post-secondary education for people with intellectual disabilities, Gora said she has come across many programs and has noted several in Kentucky. Those programs include one at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green for students with autism, a pilot project at UK in Lexington for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities and a program at UofL for those with various disabilities under the age of 21.

Emily earlier had applied for one of 10 spots at the UofL program, but was not accepted. Instead, she took part in a work-transition program through Jefferson County Public Schools that helped her find employment and learn how to use public transportation. Amber took part in the same program and currently takes the bus to work, college and most other places she needs to go.

On the first day of class, Amber placed her bus pass on the corner of her desk. But when she leaves the classroom, she finds her mother, Pam, has decided to pick her up. While Pam says she worries about Amber’s safety on the downtown campus, she is quick to add that she also worries about the safety of her other two children. When she talks with parents whose babies have Down syndrome, she advises them to treat their children like they’re normal, because, Pam says, they are normal.

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