TRANSITION PROGRAM: PHILIPPINE MODEL

Yolanda S. Quijano, ED.D.

Director III, Bureau of Elementary Education
Department of Education, Pasig City, PHILIPPINES

Introduction

The task of choosing a job and preparing for work for all youths, with or without
disabilities is a complex decision. Parents and professionals are particularly interested in
helping young persons with mental retardation make this decision but they lack the basic
knowledge on how this could be done. The project “Transition Program for Children
with Mental Retardation in the Philippines” initiated by the Special Education Division,
Bureau of Elementary Education, Dept. of Education with financial assistance from
Christoffel Blindenmission Inc. addresses this problem.

The program is anchored on the traditional context of transition. It viewed transition as

coordinated set of activities for a student designed within an outcome oriented process
that promotes movement from school to out-of-school activities. The program includes
vocational training, integrated employment, continuing and adult education, adult
services, independent living or community participation. The coordinated activities must
be based on the individual needs, taking into account the students preferences and
interests. It includes activities in the areas of functional academics, daily living skills,
community experiences, the development of employment and other adult living
objectives and if appropriate, functional vocational evaluation.

Project Objectives

The project generally aims to develop career awareness and work skills through school-
to-work transition among children with mental retardation. Its specific objectives include:
i) design a transition program model and its curriculum, and i) implement the transition
program model nationwide.

Project Description and Implementation

This project targets children with mental retardation who have completed the elementary
level or those who are over-aged for formal schooling. It has three phases. The first
phase (2005) was the development of the transition program model and its curriculum
by SPED teachers and administrators in both public and private schools, parents and
heads of business establishments who are familiar with the characteristics of persons with
mental retardation. The model is shown on the next page.

The transition program model envisions the full participation, empowerment and
productivity among children with mental retardation. Full participation is described as
involvement of persons with mental retardation in the different activities in the
community. Opportunities for their participation should be made available and support in
terms of assistive devices and assistance from peers, professionals and other people in the
community are accessible, when needed. Empowerment pertains to making choices and
decisions and being able to control one’ life and the demonstration of this skill is an
assurance that person with mental retardation could already live an independent life.
Productivity refers to the ability of a person with mental retardation to engage oneself in
work or any activities that will provide him/her with income to finance his own needs.

Transition Program Model

The curriculum domains for the transition program include: i) daily living skills, ii)
personal and social skills, and iii) occupational guidance and preparation. The daily
living skills include competencies on managing, selecting and maintaining living
environment, caring for personal health, developing and maintaining intimate relationship,
eating at home and in the community, cleaning and purchasing clothing, participating in
leisure or recreational activities, and getting around the community. The competencies
on personal and social skills focus on achieving self-awareness, acquiring self-confidence,
achieving socially responsible behavior, maintaining good interpersonal skills, achieving
independence, making informed and adequate decisions, and communicating with others.
The occupational guidance and preparation domain covers competencies like exploring
and locating occupational training and job placement opportunities, making occupational
training and job placement choices, applying for and maintaining occupational training
and job placements, developing and maintaining appropriate work skills and behavior,
and matching physical and manual skills to occupational training and employment. Each
of the domains has competency rating scale which evaluates mastery of the competencies
learned.

The competencies in the three domains are taught to children with mental retardation by
both the SPED and regular teachers, the parents and skilled volunteers from the local
businesses and industries. The setting for these domain could be in the school, in the
community or in business establishments. The activities offer students opportunities on
career awareness and work skills which will ultimately equip them to live an independent
and productive life.

The model and its curriculum underwent validation by SPED teachers, administrators,
vocational teachers in regular schools, parents and heads of industries or in small scale
businesses. Feedbacks were utilized for the revision of the materials.

The second phase (2006-2007) which is the pilot implementation of the model and its
curriculum is being done in 15 schools located in three major islands, namely, Luzon,
Visayas and Mindanao. Monitoring results and experiences of the service providers are
documented and will serve as the bases for the finalization of the model and its
curriculum. Below are vignettes in the pilot implementation of the program.

Chocolate Cookies Baked by Special Children

The Baguio City SPED Center was a recipient of a complete baking equipment through
the efforts of the Parents Teachers Community Association (PTCA) who worked closely
for its donation by the Rotary Club of the city. Alongside with this equipment were five
skilled persons in baking who trained the ten children with mental retardation who were
assessed by their SPED teachers and found ready for the transition program. The initial
capital was provided by the PTCA and from donations of civic spirited individuals. The
training yielded positive results: happy and productive children who learned to bake
cookies deliciously. They can readily say, “Marunog na kaming mag-luto ng
cookies.”( We already know how to bake cookies.) These cookies were sold in the school
canteen and regular children admired what the special children have done.

The SPED teachers provided the training to the children on how to purchase the
ingredients as well as in selling the baked cookies. The parents, teachers and the
community are motivated to sustain the program.
Rugs for Sale Done by Special Children

Twelve to fifteen years old children with mental retardation of Silahis ng Pag-asa, Bo.
Obrero Elementary School are being taught rug making. The skill is being offered by
parent volunteers who are tailors. The rugs vary in colors, sizes and could be used for
different purposes. Each child learns how to sew together pieces of cloth and fashion
them to different shapes. He/She has a target number of rugs to finish in one day
depending on his/her speed. While making the rugs, the children also learn to combine
colors to achieve beauty. The tailor shops in the community provide them with the
materials while sewing machines are made available by the school. These rugs are sold
in the school and nearby small stores. This experience bolsters self-confidence of the
children and make parents proud of them.

Candle Making Brightens Naga SPED Center

It was on October 8, 2006 when the teachers of Naga City SPED Center attended the
orientation on the pilot implementation of the transition program model for special
children.

Luckily, the executive director of a non-government organization in Camarines Sur

happened to talk to Mr. Meliton Celedonio, the principal of the school and offered
support in any project that the school would like to undertake. Meetings were held
between teachers and the Kalayag Foundation and decision to start the transition program
in candle making was made. The sponsor gave the seed money and provided personnel
to train the teachers and students. One week after the training, the school started the
production of candles on time for All Souls Day and Christmas season. The activity
made profit and the amount was saved for expansion.

Now, five children with mental retardation are engaged in candle making without teacher
supervision. Others do this at home. The candles are packaged in various ways. Some
are put in open bottles, in cans and in boxes.

There are other children who are specifically trained to sell the products since they could
not develop the skill in making candles. Besides selling, they get the orders and
comments from the customers.

The school is presently accepting orders for any occasion. A percentage of the proceeds
are kept as capital while the children get their commission based on their outputs. The
partner organization is now offering additional capital.
Transition Program ….. How Far Has It Gone?

Iriga City Division Integrated Special School has a strong transition program for children
with mental retardation and hearing impairment who are above 12 years old. The school
is offering training in cooking and baking, shoe repair, tailoring and basic building
wiring. Every week, each class has a half day schedule for transition program. Material
and human resources have been tapped for the different activities.

The school established a baking center and six students supply special puto, chocolate
and banana cakes to the nearby university and other schools. The students also act as
leaders and models to other students who are just starting to be trained. These bakers are
also trained to do the marketing for the ingredients, to record sales and supplies and to
determine their gains.

Another field in the transition program is shoe repair. Juver Bribante, after a year of
training has his own shoe repair shop at home. Community people bring their shoes and
sandals for repair to his shop. Every Thursday he goes to the school to coach other
children with mental retardation and repairs shoes of teachers at cost. He is very happy
of his skill at the same time enjoys his earnings.

The trainings on tailoring and shoe repair were made possible through the expertise of a
father of a child who is deaf. He volunteered his services to start of the program.

Regular monitoring is being conducted by the staff of the Special Education Division and
initial results are the following:

1. The program serves its purpose of providing training to adolescents with mental
retardation on career awareness and job placement. The experiences motivated
the children to focus on learning work skills for productive living.

2. The activities offered were very appropriate for the targeted clientele since age,
ability and interest were considered. Teachers and parents felt that skills training
activities for these children at their age are more relevant than academic lessons.

3. The children enjoyed the activities because of the following reasons:

3.1 They learned by doing.
3.2 There was much interaction with their peers.
3.3 They felt they were productive in their own ways.
3.4 They were proud to say: “Kaya ko nang gawin ito” or “Yes I can do it.”
3.5 The activities were interesting.
3.6 They were thrilled to receive their first pay or earning.

4. Transition program needs special support from parents, local government units,
other stakeholders in the community since fund allocation is an important
component to start it.
 5. The schools which will implement this program needs to advocate strongly for
public support and the school staff together with parents should know how to
establish linkages or do networking.

6. The schools had difficulty finding experts or resource persons who could train the
children on the different work skills. They did not have any factories or business
enterprise in the community.

7. Some teachers felt the implementation of the transition program should be

complimented by additional staff and funds.

The last phase of the project is the nationwide implementation which is scheduled next
year (2008). Feedback from the pilot implementation both positive and negative will be
considered to improve the materials as well as the process of implementing the program.