A Story about Me and NYU Skills that just got published

Samantha Myers, Distinguished Alum

 and FD Advocate

Graduate of Mary McDowell Learning Center is 

featured in an article about the transition from 

high school to the "real" world
 

 http://www.familialdysautonomia.org/news/NYU-Skills.htm

What happens to young people with disabilities after they leave the structured and supportive environment of high school? As many families with FD have found out, there are precious few mandated resources for assisting with the transition from school, and there are very few programs for helping individuals find productive employment and internship opportunities. 

Samantha Myers is featured in an article that describes her experience with a program that seeks to address this all too familiar problem with a new approach. Her mother, Faye Ginsburg, spearheaded an effort to establish improved transition services for Samantha and others like her.  Samantha has benefited from an innovative program, Skills @ NYU, recently developed by her mother with the Cooke Center Academy and Winston Preparatory School, on the NYU campus.  As the article states:

The program provides a combination of academic courses, along with internships that enable the students to explore various career paths … For now, the goal is to provide a supportive environment for the high school grads while they figure out what’s realistic for them. That’s where the internships come into play – a pathway into the “real world” when the transition is completed. Job coaches work with the students to match their talents with appropriate assignments that will lead to a positive experience that will bolster their confidence.