Oklahoma
This bill requires foster parents to complete training related to (among other topics) learning disabilities and transition to successful adulthood skills, which can include completing an education or vocational training and obtaining employment.
This bill requires all state agencies to coordinate and collaborate (including through data sharing) to ensure that state programs, policies, procedures and funding support competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities.
This bill requires each public high school student to complete and annually update an Individual Career Academic Plan (ICAP) in order to graduate with a standard diploma. The ICAP process includes taking career- and college-interest surveys, developing postsecondary and workforce goals, choosing an intentional sequence of courses that reflect progress toward postsecondary goals and experiencing in-service learning and/or work environment activities. The bill requires that ICAPs for students with disabilities take into account and work in cooperation with students' IEPs or Section 504 Plans.
This bill creates a state income tax deduction for those who wish to contribute to the State Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act program (up to $10,000 per individual taxpayer or $20,000 for taxpayers filing a joint return).
This bill stipulates that children who have IEPs and who satisfy the graduation requirements through their IEPs shall be awarded a standard high school diploma.
This program enables individuals with disabilities, service providers and others to learn about, access, and acquire assistive technology needed for education, employment, and community living. Services include device demonstrations, reutilization, loans, and financing.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State University, Department of Wellness, Oklahoma ABLE Tech
Entity Type: College / University
The Business Enterprise Program helps people who are blind become food service or vending operators.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS)
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
CAP helps individuals who experience problems when applying for or receiving vocational rehabilitation or independent living services. This includes advising and informing individuals of their rights and providing advocacy services.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Office of Disability Concerns
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This program promotes independence for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities through paid work and training activities in the community. Services include assessment, individual and group job placement training, and ongoing supports by a certified job coach in a community business.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Developmental Disabilities Service Division (DDSD)
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This program helps ensure underserved parents of children with disabilities, including low-income parents, parents of children who are English learners, and parents with disabilities, have the training and information they need to enable them to participate effectively in helping their children.
Operating Entity: Pervasive Parenting Center
Entity Type: Non-Profit / Community Organization
This program supports people of working age who have developmental disabilities to achieve competitive integrated employment. Services include assessment, job development and placement, as well as on the job training and supports.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Developmental Disabilities Service Division (DDSD)
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This two-day workshop was designed to increase expectations for competitive employment and increase knowledge of local, state, and federal resources to support the employment of the youth and young adults who have disabilities. It is offered to self-advocates, families, and professionals.
Operating Entity: Developmental Disabilities Council of Oklahoma
Entity Type: Other
This program is designed to build the competence and confidence of young adults with disabilities to access independent living and employment services so they can more successfully transition to adulthood. It also helps family members and professionals improve their capacity to support these young adults with disabilities on their journey. It is a joint effort between the Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
This program provides a range of independent living services to people with disabilities at Centers for Independent Living across the state. Services include help connecting to local services, assistance with job searches, local transit skills training, assistive technology help, peer mentoring support, assistance with school-to-career transitions, self-advocacy help, and more.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
This program provides technical assistance and training to families and service providers to meet the unique needs of children and youth who are deaf-blind in rural and suburban areas, including supporting youth preparing to transition to postsecondary education and employment.
Operating Entity: The University of Oklahoma, Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education
Entity Type: College / University
The Oklahoma Family Leadership Network is a group of family advocates working to improve the lives of Oklahomans with disabilities. Family Mentors provide an opportunity for future professionals to learn more about family advocacy and the impact of family professional partnership for advocacy and systems change.
Operating Entity: The University of Oklahoma, The Center for Learning and Leadership
Entity Type: College / University
This program enables eligible individuals with disabilities to save money in a tax-exempt account that may be used for qualified disability expenses while keeping their eligibility for federally-funded, means-tested public benefits. Eligible expenses include education, employment training and support, and assistive technology.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Treasurer
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This program promotes systems change in the content and delivery of professional development for educators and parents aimed at ensuring better academic and social outcomes for students with disabilities.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This annual program convenes regional transition teams from across the state to learn about innovative practices and programs and to develop a plan for how to improve transition in their local areas. It is run by the Oklahoma Transition Council - comprised of 34 members from various agencies and organizations - as well as the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
This program supports Parent Training and Information Centers and Community Parent Resource Centers in 12 southern states. Services include one-to-one consultations, trainings and webinars, peer-to-peer mentoring, site visits, non-profit management tools, and more.
Operating Entity: Parent to Parent of Georgia
Entity Type: Non-Profit / Community Organization
This program provides a variety of direct services for children and youth with disabilities, families, professionals, and other organizations that support them. This includes helping parents participate effectively in their children’s education and development and partnering with professionals and policymakers to improve outcomes for children with disabilities.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Parents Center
Entity Type: Non-Profit / Community Organization
These programs offer students with intellectual disabilities an opportunity to take college classes, engage in career development and independent living activities, and participate in the social life of a college campus.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
Pre-ETS assist students with disabilities in identifying career interests and developing skills to be successful in the workplace. This includes five required activities: job exploration counseling, work-based learning experiences, workplace readiness training, counseling on comprehensive transition or postsecondary educational programs, and instruction in self-advocacy.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
Project SEARCH is a one-year transition-to-work program for students with significant disabilities that includes classroom instruction, career exploration, and internship rotations. It is a collaboration between local businesses, state agencies, local school systems, and other entities, and is offered at several locations.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
This program protects individuals with disabilities by empowering them and advocating on their behalf. This includes providing information and referrals, providing training and technical assistance to service providers, and conducting self-advocacy training.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Disability Law Center, Inc.
Entity Type: Non-Profit / Community Organization
This program allows individuals with disabilities to work and receive training in a controlled environment with other people with disabilities. Workers are paid in accordance with individual production and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Services include assessment, training, and transitional services leading to community job placement if the individual chooses.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Developmental Disabilities Service Division (DDSD)
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This program provides a paid work experience program for high school transition students. Students participate in a week of in-house training on employability and independent living skills (such as how to apply for a job, interview, perform the job, budget, and use public transportation), then work part-time on jobs throughout the summer (with support from staff).
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS)
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This program is designed to increase the quantity and quality of transition education knowledgeable personnel to address the shortage of secondary special education professionals in Oklahoma and surrounding states. Scholars obtain either a Masters of Special Education or a Masters of Social Work degree and can also receive a Graduate College certificate for Transition Strategies for Diverse Adolescent Youth.
Operating Entity: The University of Oklahoma, Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education
Entity Type: College / University
This program helps students with disabilities prepare for employment and life after high school. Services include vocational counseling and guidance, assessment and evaluation, school work study, work adjustment training, on-the-job training, supported employment, and job development and placement.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS)
Entity Type: State Agency / Office
This program provides culturally relevant vocational rehabilitation services to assist Alaska Native and American Indian individuals with disabilities residing on or near reservations in the state to prepare for and engage in gainful employment. Program services are provided under an individualized plan for employment.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
This program help out-of-school and in-school youth with one or more barriers to employment (including having a disability) prepare for and secure employment and postsecondary education opportunities. Services include tutoring; work experiences; occupational skills training; leadership development opportunities; and postsecondary education and training preparation activities.
Operating Entity: --
Entity Type: Multi-Stakeholder Project
This program helps individuals with disabilities who are receiving Social Security Disability benefits make informed choices about work and make a successful transition to self-sufficiency.
Operating Entity: University of Oklahoma Board of Regents
Entity Type: College / University
YLF offers students with disabilities the opportunity to spend a week on a college campus with other students from Oklahoma. Students participate in activities to help improve leadership and advocacy skills, explore career options, meet with state legislators, and create a leadership plan to reach employment and educational goals.
Operating Entity: Developmental Disabilities Council of Oklahoma
Entity Type: Other
The Oklahoma Parent Center (OPC) provides one-on-one assistance to youth with disabilities, including around available resources, their rights and responsibilities, participating in IEPs, and making decisions.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Parents Center
Entity Type: Non-Profit / Community Organization
This Emotional Support Telephone Line from Family and Children's Services of Oklahoma was started as a part of their free and confidential telephone crisis line to address stress and mental health during the pandemic.
Operating Entity: Family and Children's Services
Topic(s): Mental Health
This resource page addresses mental health needs in response to the pandemic. It first references an all-access line to help callers deal with stress management and emotional support while offering counseling services and referrals to relevant resources. There is also information and tips about anxiety, social isolation, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other behavioral health needs.
Operating Entity: Family and Children's Services
Topic(s): Mental Health
This page provides links for students with Long-COVID to request accommodations or make an appointment with Student Disability Services.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State University
Topic(s): Long-COVID
This webpage was created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to update students and staff with news and guidance. It contains links to resources such as the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service's guide, and information about mental health, stress management and self-care.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
Topic(s): Mental Health
This list of resources focuses on COVID-19 fatigue and burn out and how to address it.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Museums Association
Topic(s): Mental Health
This webpage contains links to information about dealing with COVID-19 stress, mental health services, podcasts on mental health issues during the pandemic and national resources on about how to take care of one's mental health during the pandemic.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Museums Association
Topic(s): Mental Health
This webpage for the Oklahoma Office of Disability Concerns has information about COVID-19, including resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Council for Behavioral Health and crisis helplines to support mental health during the pandemic.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Office of Disability Concerns
Topic(s): Mental Health
This webpage contains mental health information and links to Oklahoma University Student Counseling Services crisis teams and hotlines.
Operating Entity: Schuster Library
Topic(s): Mental Health
This document created by the Department of Education is comprehensive for all school services. The guide has a section for students with disabilities, which includes resources on distance learning. It also contains a "checklist" for IEP teams participating in a virtual IEP meeting.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Education
This document outlines the four step process by which Oklahoma schools are instructed to engage with families during the COVID-19 pandemic. It emphasizes clear communication of reopening plans, responding to parental concerns, engaging both the immediate and extended family, and utilizing multiple communication methods to ensure that schools are as accessible as possible to families.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
This program from Family and Children's Services of Oklahoma provides free myStrength accounts for people ages 13 and older as a way to address mental health needs in response to the pandemic. The app provides clinically-proven resources to help manage stress as well post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, chronic pain, depression, nicotine recovery, opioid use, early parenting and sleep disorders.
Operating Entity: Family and Children's Services
Topic(s): Mental Health
This program from the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma provides virtual support groups, including a group specifically to address pandemic-related stress.
Operating Entity: Mental Health Association Oklahoma
Topic(s): Mental Health
This webpage contains general information on common emotional responses to the pandemic and ways to support the mental health, with links to relevant resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including crisis lines. There are categories for Teens and Parents of Teens, Adults, Parents/Caregivers of Youth, Child Care Providers and School and Higher Education Communities. The categories provide resources from mental health organizations and apps that help develop mindfulness habits and track moods. There also is information about virtual trainings to address mental and emotional distress and improve resilience.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Topic(s): Mental Health
This document provides guidance for updating and supplementing IEPs due to circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides sample COVID-19-related IEP adjustments, provides step-by-step instructions for using Oklahoma's IEP adjustment system, discusses contingencies regarding whether students on IEPs should participate in distance or in-person learning, and describes the process by which IEP teams can request assistive technology for students.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
This webpage includes guidance sheets about creating a positive school climate, social-emotional learning, summer learning and physical activity and how these are linked to supporting mental health in students. This page is part of Oklahoma's Ready Together initiative, an action plan developed to support schools in reopening.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
Topic(s): Mental Health
Oklahoma's plan to return to in-person learning emphasizes the need to address mental health concerns quickly to prevent the long-term exacerbation of cognitive disabilities. It provides resources for schools determining whether a student is "at risk" for mental trauma, notes that schools must provide counseling services both in-person and online, and mandates the creation of "crisis response teams" for student mental health crises. It also requires schools to consistently communicate with families over multiple mediums (newsletters, social media, and so on) to increase family engagement.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
This web page provides countless mental health resources for educators and parents helping students cope with COVID-19-related mental health concerns. Multiple resources are directed toward assisting educators adjust to mental health concerns in the classroom and parents seeking to speak to their child about mental health
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
Topic(s): Mental Health
The Oklahoma State Department of Education awarded grants to school districts to hire more school counselors and school-based mental health professionals in response to the pandemic. This is part of their broader Ready Together Oklahoma initiative aimed at reopening schools.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
Topic(s): Mental Health
This document provides a comprehensive review of Oklahoma special education policy updates in response to COVID-19. The document states that IEP teams must consider whether an immediate IEP plan review is necessary to adjust for COVID-19-related complications, such as additional distance learning requirements or compensatory educational services. It emphasizes connecting with the families of students on an IEP over multiple mediums. It further outlines necessary changes to transition services for students with disabilities, requiring the implementation of online transition services.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education
This info doc discusses various strategies for parents seeking to help with the distance learning process. These strategies include scheduling tips and teaching assistance. The document also provides resources for parents struggling with distance learning.
Operating Entity: Oklahoma State Department of Education