The information sessions are scheduled! Please share widely for those interested in learning more about TOPS. Sessions are virtual.

Are you considering postsecondary education for your child with a disability? Here are some strategies to help work toward this goal!

20PowerfulStrategies

Nine students are on campus for our Campus Orientation and Transition Assessment (COTA) program. So far, students have done a ton in a few short days. They worked on navigating campus using the Ohio State app on their phones. On a campus this size, navigating will always be a work in progress. Students are eating in one of the university cafeterias and on-campus restaurants. These locations are all-you-can-eat so students have an opportunity to make choices about the food they consume both in type and amount. Today, students rode the campus bus, CABS for the first time. Students have accessed their student accounts and email using their OSU logins. This isn’t always the easiest.

Students have met alumni and current students, as well as a mentor, James. James helped students with the assessments they were completing with the program this week. Students started to think about career potentials but before that how would they learn more about working at Ohio State. Students learned about classes they can take. They were able to make choices about specific classes they were interested in taking.

Students attended the Orientation Resource Fair. This event was very busy and a bit overwhelming. While there students were able to find out about different resources on campus. These resources include dining services, health insurance at OSU, recreational sport, wellness, and so many more.

TOPS 2022 graduate Alex has been involved with the Ohio State University Chapter of Best Buddies since before she started at OSU. She was recently featured on their website as one of the 2022 graduates! Check her out!

Join us on May 15, 2022 to celebrate Inclusive Postsecondary Education Day (IPSE) Day!

IPSE Day is a day to raise awareness and spread the word about inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) options for students with intellectual disability. IPSE means that students with intellectual disability can go to college, regardless of their test scores and high school diplomas, just like their peers and siblings.

Students with and without intellectual disability can go to college together. All students learn more academically and socially when taught together in inclusive classrooms (Taylor et al., 2021). “Faculty observed that the inclusion of college students with ID benefited the students themselves, but also benefited other college students, the classroom environment, and the instructors” (p. 6-7).

Today, there are about 5,300 colleges and universities in the U.S., and just over 300 have options for students with intellectual disability. While there are more options now than ever before, we still have work to do. So many students, parents, teachers, and college staff don’t know that college is an option for students with intellectual disability.

IPSE gives students with intellectual disability the opportunity to dream bigger. On May 15, help us tell a new story about inclusive postsecondary education! Share your #IPSEDay2022 story on social media.

Visit Think College to learn more about what you can do to expand inclusive postsecondary education options for students with intellectual disability.

Today, May 3rd, is Ohio State’s Day of Giving. Join our Buckeye community as we create pathways to an affordable, accessible education on Day of Giving. TOPS provides scholarships annually to students, helping them to succeed while at Ohio State. Give now at: Give To OSU. Search for the TOPS Fund (#313451).

Help us celebrate our 2022 graduates!

Goals were scored! Jacks were attacked! Limits were reached!

Thanks to the Adventure Center hosting, fun was had by all.  Two great programs united to “serve up” an evening of adaptive soccer, bocce and volleyball. We had a huge turn out and lots of fun! My personal highlight was the seated volleyball.  The TOPS staff joined the students, approximately 25 in all!

We had two speakers,  Rae Nutter, an adaptive swim and hockey coach for the adventure center told the group about the adaptive fitness center and all the adaptive sports programs that are held there and me, Jason Turner shared my experience of interning  there and  how excited I am to keep working at the Adventure Center after graduating in May!  Thank you all for coming!

Plans were discussed for more events next year. Stay tuned! Jason rolling  out.

Drs. Andy Persch and Dennis Cleary (former Buckeyes) are conducting 2 research studies looking for students with intellectual disability. Learn more by watching the videos.

On Sunday afternoon, The Center for Disability Empowerment and Endeavor Defense and Fitness in Hilliard, Ohio provide an Emergency Readiness Self defense training presentation for people with disabilities. Finn, Nick and Sheri from the TOPS program had a great day learning about how to keep themselves and those around them safe and how to observe the environment around us.  We learned how to find exit points, how to  barricade and evade, hide and to get away if need be .

Now, we hope we would never have to use these tools in our daily lives but knowing what to do and how to do it will help us prepared if we should ever face a situation.

Our instructor Aaron Jannetti and Brooke Hughes with host Marley Saade put on a great presentation which included our own emergency kits to take home with us!