Please share the following with your students as you deem appropriate. I have met this family and they are truly remarkable and would provide a great experience for any student.
Experiential Volunteer Opportunity Available:
Looking for ways to gain meaningful, hands-on experiences with a special needs youth this summer? A collaboration between the Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Family & Children First Council and Miami University is underway to ensure families in Butler County can have access to respite and supportive services provided by Miami students across multiple disciplines.
This particular opportunity will allow one or two students the chance to work with a family who lives on a local farm in West Chester, Ohio in order to support various needs of a nine-year-old girl. The guardians have extensive background in developmental disabilities and mental health and are looking to provide a student with opportunities to enhance the social skills, occupational therapy needs, and developmental expectations. Students will work with the family to create activities around these goals, practice formal documentation of progress monitoring, create picture schedules and social stories, and help support IEP initiatives over the summer and in preparation for fall.
Here is some background information from the family:
“She is somewhat shy at first but very social after she warms up to someone. She is intellectually disabled and functions more at the age of 5. She is independent, but needs one-on-one to keep her tending to the tasks she needs to accomplish. She is very pleasant, no aggression, no tantrums, no attitudes. Her issues center more on becoming independent, staying on task, learning to work on things without others, OT issues, PT issues, and personal hygiene. She functions best when she knows what is going to happen and can rely on the same routine/schedule she is use to. She is obedient and easy to interact with, but requires prompting and other behavioral modifications in order to be successful.”
The family is looking for up to 20 hour a week of supportive services so this endeavor may align well with an internship or experiential requirement. The family is open to working with one student for all 20 hours or split the hours between two students. In addition, a stipend of up to $500.00, courtesy of the Family & Children First Council, has also been allocated to offset travel costs for interested parties.
If interested or for more information, please contact Sharon Custer, FSW Partnership Coordinator at [log in to unmask] or 529-3425.
Sharon L. Custer, MSW, LISW-S
Field and Partnership Coordinator, Family Studies & Social Work
College of Education, Health, and Society
124 McGuffey Hall, Oxford OH 45056