Citation

Malloy JAM, Cheney D, Cormier GM. Educ. Treat. Child. 1998; 21(3): 303-320.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, West Virginia University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Service delivery to youth and young adults with emotional or behavioral disabilities (EBD) has been viewed as disconnected, inefficient and associated with ineffective outcomes. Many communities are now using coordinated, interagency systems of support with youth with EBD to help them attain their personal, education, and vocational goals. This paper presents initial outcomes from Project RENEW, a demonstration project funded by the US Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services under a priority of the Rehabilitation Services Administration to improve transition outcomes for students with emotional disturbance or young adults with mental illness. In its first eighteen months, Project RENEW served seventeen youth and young adults with EBD. RENEW provided comprehensive case coordination for the participants' ongoing education, employment, social/emotional development, and community adjustment. Three features of interagency collaboration, gaining consensus on beliefs and goals, developing positive relationships between and among the team members and participants, and working to obtain flexible, individualized resources were emphasized. Outcome data from the first eighteen months of RENEW indicated that interagency collaboration improved on a pre-posttest measure of agency representative's perceptions of collaboration, and youth and young adults participating improved in high school completion, enrollment in postsecondary education programs, hours worked per week, and in their hourly wages. The approach shows promise as a model of effective transition services for youth with EBD.

Language: en