Specialized Community Integration Skills Program
Introduction to the Program
Community Connections Program (CCP) is a community-based, a nonprofit, 501©3 program for young adults with developmental disabilities with significant social communication and behavioral support, such as autism spectrum disorder. The CCP program focuses on reinforcing safe and functional community behaviors, community-appropriate communication and integrative social skills. At CCP, we offer a low, individualized staff to participant support ratio and enhanced behavioral support in order for participants to safely and successfully access a multitude of naturally inclusive community environments. Our goal is to be able to fade the support needed for a safe, successful journey into their
community, having a bigger voice in choosing their own life paths.
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Community Opportunities & Inclusive Options Exploration
● Community Navigation Training - Riding public transportation such as the MTS bus, trolley, coaster, ferry, etc.
to get to some community locations and promote independence.
● Eating in a variety of restaurants and cafes to practice dining skills.
● Attending museums, zoos, amusement parks and other educational San Diego venues.
● Volunteering in community outreach venues to work on social and vocational skills such as food pantries, beach and park clean-ups, gardening projects, computer recycling programs, and many more.
● Shopping, cooking, and activities that build daily living skills.
● Accessing inclusive social, recreational, educational, and cultural venues.
● Building safety and community navigation skills in a variety of inclusive community settings.
● Participating in integrated recreational activities with neurotypical adults (clubs, community centers,
recreation programs, libraries, YMCA, etc.)
● Visiting college and community college campuses, college sporting events, or other venues.
● Attending busy, integrative community festivals, sporting, and artistic events.
Community Access, Connection, and Inclusion
The Community Connections Program creates a unique and powerfully positive impact on not only the participant’s quality of life, but also brings years of experience to bear on the training of naturally occurring community networks. We provide the higher staff to participant ratios in environments that can be challenging and hard for our participants to access without the level of enhanced support and supervision. However, our goal is always to fade the intensity of support and lower whenever possible to promote the most authentic and inclusive community interactions possible.
The CCP team assesses, identifies, and trains participants on individual self-management and support strategies, seeks a multitude of inclusion opportunities, cooperatively discovers natural and meaningful community partners and friendship networks that could be relevant components and resources for the next stage of their lives. These components and resources may include but not be limited support in inclusive educational, volunteer/vocational training, cultural, and recreational and social opportunities in a variety of natural, relevant community settings.
The Community Connections Program believes that every individual has the right to live his or her life with the dignity, respect, and security afforded as a human being. Community access, accommodation, and inclusion are critical cornerstones for our unique young adults. Therefore, our program focuses on creating an environment of success for individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities by bridging transition-gaps and supporting the step forward into adult living. Through the Community Connections Program’s adults with developmental disabilities will be afforded opportunities to access the community and engage in the same activities in which their typically developing peers participate. Emphasis will be set on providing access to the least restrictive environments and fading back the amount of support needed for success while ensuring a safe and meaningful community activity.
This remarkable component of the CCP program is what sets it apart from other programs – the Community Connections Program recognizes that authentic inclusion requires training of all stakeholders to facilitate the highest quality of life and meaningful participation in their own communities.
Training – Natural Community & Adult Life Supports
Our participants require additional attention to current skills, introduction to, and training of new skills and individualized programming in a peer group setting to acquire life skills to live their life on their terms. Skill generalization across multiple community environments and people are emphasized.
All program participants have Community Independence and Skills Strategies (goals) that we work on and take data on that are all based on how much support/prompting a program participant needs for success. Fading the prompt/support level is ALWAYS our main goal so that our program participants can one day ideally move to a less restrictive program with a lower level of support.