Ridge Caples

Mr. Waltman

English Composition

03/29/2019

Crossing Points: Assisting those with Intellectual Disabilities

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

of them being served as a “stepping-stone” towards higher-skilled occupations.

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

resources they needed before to succeed in the modern-day workforce.

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

recreational activities for the students to participate in as well as attending community-based

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

disabilities towards a successful future.

 Work Cited Page

1. ADRS Consumer Success Stories. The Crossing Points Story, YouTube, 8 Apr 2016,

https://www.youtube.com. 18 Apr 2019.