Transitioning Times

Since its origin in 2007, Transitions’ Internet Safety program for Middle and High School students has been presented in nearly 2,000 classrooms to more than 40,000 students.  The program summarizes a number of safety issues and concerns related to teens being online through social media sites and chat rooms, talking to others they don’t know.   The Internet Safety program is just one key program included in the sizable collection of programs for students in our local schools.  Classroom discussions include; domestic violence, sexual assault prevention, sexual harassment, and healthy relationships to name a few.  The curriculums are created to build on each other grade by grade, year after year, with age appropriate dialogue and media.  Several schools have arranged their schedules for the students to participate in multi-session programs within the school year.  This style of programming is more primary prevention based.  Other schools still...

Individuals with disabilities experience sexual violence at alarming rates.  Victims of sexual violence who have intellectual/developmental disabilities are often overlooked because they may not be able to speak for themselves.  Many times, these individuals are completely physically and emotionally dependent on someone else and may have a difficult time communicating. Individuals with disabilities are not always taught how to set specific boundaries for themselves, and they are encouraged to be compliant with others.  Some victims are not capable of  giving consent to a sexual relationship. More than 90 percent of people with developmental disabilities will experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives. Forty-nine percent will experience 10 or more abusive incidents (Valenti-Hein & Schwartz, 1995). There are many different ways to help individuals with developmental disabilities that have disclosed sexual violence. ·     ...