Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Mr. Waltman
English Composition
03/29/2019
Crossing Points is essentially a transition program consisting of two tiers; tier one is designed to
help high school students cope with significant intellectual disabilities such as down syndrome,
high-functioning autism, and speech impairments among others. The second tier is exclusively a
summer program for college-age students, in a structured environment, that helps them develop
skills for pursing post-secondary education at an institution of their choice. Tier one is a
collorbation between UA and the Tuscaloosa City Schools, while tier two mostly recruits
students in from predominantly poor rural counties, particularly those in the Black Belt region of
the state. Students in this tier attend UA’s two summer terms (June and July, respectively). The
students then participate in classes sponsored by Crossing Points and the university.
Students involved in the tier one program follow a structured curriculum that focuses on daily
living skills, occupational guidance, and social skills. The main goal of the tier one program is
being able to have the skills necessary to find a stable job. As Reese Grantham, one of the senior
rehabilitation counselors puts it; “it’s a holistic approach to students with the end goal being
employment.” Students are placed at specialty-selected job sites on the UA campus or local
businesses. Jobs are placed in the program based on a student’s direct interest based on the
feedback they gave to the program directors. Students involved in the program participate in this
employment practicum to help them gain valuable experience in the workforce. Lamarcus
Stokes, one of the program’s graduates, obtained a job as a prep cook at one of the fraternity
houses on campus. He says that he has learned many valuable lessons from being a student in the
Crossing Points program. “They taught us how to be independent. They taught us how to clean
up after ourselves. They taught us how to be independent- how to get ready for life,” Stokes says.
Four days a week, students like Stokes participate in their placed jobs, honing their skills for
participating in the workforce. Other examples of jobs students take our cashiers, delivery
drivers, custodians, among many others. The vast majority of these jobs are part-time, the focus
When the students involved in the tier one program aren’t working on in their placed jobs, they
receive classroom instruction in many areas including; daily living skills and academics focusing
on literacy and basic mathematics and arithmetic. Lamarcus Stokes describes specifically what
areas the instructors at Crossing Points taught them, “they taught us about how to pay bills, how
to pay car notes, they taught us a whole bunch of stuff, it was definitely a wonderful experience.”
The program’s director, Dr. Kagendo Mutua describes why employment is the hallmark of their
program, “employment is one of the markers that really can allow other things to take place. if
your employed you go out and participate. You can pay your own way to doing leisure. You can
also pay your own way to getting an apartment and paying for your own rent.” In summary, it
takes the burden off of students with intellectual disabilities who probably didn’t have the
Just as employment is the main focus of the tier one program, the tier two’s primary goal is to
develop the skills necessary to graduate from college. Also known as the Summer Bridge
Program, participants reside in UA dorms during the summer terms and take two UA courses
that interest them personally. In addition to the support the students receive academically,
students are assigned an undergraduate mentor who assists them with developing social skills
throughout the course of the summer term. These mentors are almost always upperclassman who
specialize in a variety of disciplines, however most of them are either education or psychology
majors. To further assist the students’ social skills, they work alongside their mentors, organizing
outings sponsored by the university. In collaboration with the university recreation centers, the
program allows students to take specialized classes for physical activity. The university’s
fraternities and sororities also sponsor parities that the students attend on a weekly basis.
The Crossing Points program helps those with significant intellectual disabilities give them the
skills they need to succeed in the realities of the everyday world. The tier one program assists
students with securing employment, while simultaneously giving them skills to look for a job.
Those in the summer-based tier two program receive academic support so that they have a higher
change of getting a solid post-secondary education experience. Those who live with the day to
day realities of having an intellectual disability are not intellectually inferior in any way towards
other people in society. It is quite the opposite in fact, many of them are intellectually gifted.
They simply need to find different ways of developing their academic, social, and daily living
skills and unfortunately these days it is quite difficult to find how to get that kind of support,
particularly those who come from financially underprivileged backgrounds. Programs like
Crossing Points provide that extra layer of support needed to guide those with cognitive
1. ADRS Consumer Success Stories. The Crossing Points Story, YouTube, 8 Apr 2016,