The 18+ program, also known as ACCESS, is designed to support recent Liberty Hill ISD graduates who have a wide range of disabilities and received a modified curriculum while in high school. The program is designed to assist recent LHISD graduates and their families to build an adult schedule and begin putting it in place while still having support from the school. Currently, 18+ has 25 students and nine staff, including one teacher and eight paraprofessionals. They follow the same innovative calendar as the rest of the school district and have classes from 7:55 a.m. - 2:55 p.m. 

Kelly Bailey, Student Support Services Coordinator, who oversees the 18+ program, explained that state law requires that school districts provide services for students through their 21st birthday. “Students are coming out of a classroom where the curriculum was modified to meet their individual needs and have a very wide range of student ability levels," explained Bailey. “For some students, the long-term goal is being able to function inside their home, so the program works on daily living skills like bathing and personal hygiene, cooking and nutrition, laundry, making their bed, and finding hobbies.”

Their new school building is uniquely designed, thanks to a recent Bond, to provide daily living stations for students to practice these skills. They have a full working kitchen where students learn to plan a meal, make a grocery list, shop their ingredients, organize their items, cook, eat together, and then clean their dishes. One of their classrooms is designed like a grocery store so they can practice pulling ingredients they need, using the cash register, and then restocking the shelves. They recently took a field trip to H-E-B to practice these skills and made quesadillas together for lunch.

A current 18+ student needs a special shake each morning to give them the necessary nutrition for the day and their blender is now in the school kitchen where they are learning to independently take care of themself by preparing their daily shake.

Other stations they visit in rotations include a social area where they learn to play games and practice socially appropriate behaviors, a technology area where they also receive job coaching, and a laundry room where they are able to learn how to wash, dry and fold laundry.

Jami Culp, another staff member in 18+ said, “We pave the road to individual success one hurdle at a time for our young adults. I keep this in mind each day as all our young adults enter our doors with their own hurdles to jump. We all think outside the box in order to help them be the best version of themselves!” 

Long term, Bailey hopes to establish community partnerships with local businesses so that students can rotate and learn new skills at each stop. The goal is for the student's last day of school to be a day of celebration, not a day of fear and uncertainty for the student and their families.

For the Sandlin family, their daughter’s graduation in 2021 was mixed with excitement, but also worry. Cassidy graduated from Liberty Hill High School and entered the 18+ program. She had been in special education (SPED) with the district for many years. Her father Wesley Sandlin shared, “As Cassidy was progressing through school and graduation was coming into view, my wife and I often wondered what the next step would be. We didn't want Cassidy to graduate then sit at home and do nothing. We also didn't want her in a remedial job that was akin to daycare; we wanted her to be challenged and to be taught how to rise to those challenges. The program and the SPED staff at LHISD exceeded all expectations. They gave Cassidy the platform she needed to launch her life from and she has risen to the challenge.” 

While in the 18+ program she spent time as a Kindergarten intern and it helped blossom her desire to help children. Now, in her role as a bus monitor, she is able to “offer insight and assistance with special education students that few people can,” said her father. “She also gives hope to parents who see her as a contributing member of society. It brings them hope for the future of their own special education kids. Without 18+ I don't know if she would be where she is today, from life skills, to job skills, to just learning how to coexist with others, it all helped to make Cassidy the successful adult we know today.”