Many students with learning disabilities graduate from high school without the independent living skills that they will need as they move toward independence. To help these young adults, the Frostig Center offers a one-month, hands-on summer program: The Graduates’ Summer Program. This program is for young adults who have graduated from high school during the past few years and are no older than 22 as of the start date.

The Graduates’ Summer Program is a day program, which runs during the month of July. The goal of the program is to help each participant develop and expand his/her skills in:

·Cooking including menu planning, shopping, food preparation, clean up, and nutrition.

·Household cleaning including learning how to do laundry, make a bed, clean a room or apartment.

·Money management including setting up a bank account, ATM usage (including deposits), using debit cards, paying bills, reconciling an account, cost estimation, and making change.

·Public transportation including understanding bus schedules and bus routes, riding the bus, and calling for a taxi if required.

·Reading including reading newspapers, bus schedules, menus, and being able to understand instructions for food prep.

·Math relating to banking, money management, cost estimating, splitting a bill, and tipping.

The program meets five days per week, Monday through Friday, from 8:30a.m.to 3:00p.m. It is run by two qualified staff serving a maximum of 10 young adults. The program’s home is a one bedroom apartment next to Old Town, Pasadena, in a short-stay suite hotel. The apartment includes a kitchen/dining area, living room, and bedroom. There is no room service available to the members of the Graduates’ Summer Program. With the help of the program staff, the Graduates are on their own!

Knowing that “doing” is the best way to learn, the entire program is built around living in an apartment. The Graduates plan their own meals, shop and cook for themselves, pay for things independently, clean the apartment themselves, and do their own laundry for the month. They work as small teams with close support by the staff. The cost for the one month program is $3,000. In addition students will need about $300 for the month to cover their expenses: setting up a bank account, their share of the food, money for the washers/dryers, bus fares, etc.

Graduates may use the Frostig bus service in the mornings (for a fee). There is no bus service available in the afternoon.

For more information contact chris@frostig.org or call 626-791-1255.