At Community Connections, every day is something new working with students with special needs, and for transition teacher Allison Aue, that’s exactly why she loves her career.
“Working with this population, no days are ever the same,” Allison says. “There’s no standard we have to meet; we are just making sure the families feel supported. We get to focus on what they’re good at.”
Community Connections is a Thompson School District program serving students who have already completed their four years of academic instruction in a TSD high school but could benefit from additional support for various reasons. Through Community Connections, these students can work on different life skills based on their ability level, learning everything from cooking to money management to community access and vocational skills.
In the state of Colorado, public school education ends for most students when they graduate from high school. But for some students who might need additional support, the state provides funding for districts to educate them through age 21. Community Connections students can stay in the program until the end of the semester they turn 21.
“We provide [a] transition for when they lose that regular school day support of the district,” Allison explains. “We are really just here to make sure they are set up for the future.”
Allison says the program is designed to individualize education based on each student’s needs and abilities.
“The instruction here is functional. It’s very specific to them and what they will use in their life,” she says.
This might mean finding a job or managing more complex household tasks for some. For others, it might mean making a simple meal for themselves or learning to be responsible for their belongings.
Since Allison started working at Community Connections three years ago, the program has grown significantly, doubling in size to almost 40 students. Allison credits the effective program and an extremely strong staff for the growth.
“I am very lucky to work with my teaching partners. Our [paraprofessionals] are also amazing. Everything that happens here is because we work so seamlessly as a team,” Allison says of the three teachers, six paraprofessionals, and administrative staff tasked with working with the Community Connections students.
For Allison, working at Community Connections was a surprising but natural career path that evolved from needing additional credits when she was working toward becoming a math teacher. She became a peer buddy and earned a bachelor’s degree in special education.
“I had never even considered working in this field, never even knew it existed,” says Allison, who has a master’s degree in Special Education Administration and Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. “My goal is to support each student in being as independent as possible – vocationally, socially, and in the community. We want them to have purpose and happiness.”
While the Community Connections students do not have a strict rubric or set of goals that have to be met, each of the students does have an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, which sets goals and provides structure for a student’s educational team to measure how well those goals are being met. “We’re not giving grades and credits,” Allison says. “Our focus is making sure that we’re meeting the needs of the students.”
Supporting students and families takes many forms, with one example being that each student has a cooking day where they plan a meal, shop for ingredients, and prepare the meal. Other programs include working with the Loveland Youth Gardeners to grow and sell produce and running Thompson Clothing Closet, which provides clothing items for TSD students in need. As Allison sees it, the students in Community Connections have just as much to contribute to their community as the community has to give back to them.
“So many of them have never been seen for what they can do,” she says. “That’s what we do, we see them for what they can do, and it gives them a place to fit in. I just want all of these families to feel like their student is the most important one to someone. Someone cares.”
