Our mission is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests...
Westchester Arc
Herbert Katzenberg Center
121 Westmoreland Avenue
White Plains, NY 10606
(914) 949-9300
info@westchesterarc.org
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(914) 949-8200
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Frequently Asked Questions
This section contains answers to questions asked in the following categories:
New Name/Logo/Slogan
Language Choices
What We Do
Under-Funded Programs
Early Education
Career and Employment
Guardianship
Life Planning
· Residential
Service Coordination
S.T.A.R. (Students in Transition Accessing Resources)
New Name/Logo/Slogan
Q: What prompted Westchester Arc to change its name?
A: In 2003, we conducted a survey among the people we serve, their families, donors, staff, board members and other interested individuals. That study found that most people continued to believe that "ARC" was an acronym. We also learned that the word retarded developed many negative connotations and that people with developmental disabilities had come to feel stigmatized by that label.
The new name signals our evolving mission. Westchester Arc now serves individuals with disabilities other than mental retardation. In addition, people with developmental disabilities and their families now have greater expectations concerning self-advocacy, inclusion and personal fulfillment. Westchester Arc must respond to those changing needs.
Q: What is the significance of the word "Arc"?
A: “Arc” echoes our continuing relationships with NYSARC (the statewide organization of which we are a chapter) and The Arc of the U.S. (the national organization with which we are affiliated). It also symbolizes our mission, which is to bridge gaps and build supportive connections between those we serve and their communities.
Q: Why have you changed your logo?
A: The logo change signals the name change. In addition, research indicated that the former design was similar to logos currently used by many other organizations. The logo illustrates “reaching for opportunities and journeying towards a wider world.”
Q: Why did you change your slogan/tagline?
A: We believed that the former slogan, “Serving the lifelong needs of people with developmental disabilities,” did not capture our commitment to empowerment of the people we serve. “Envision Possibilities, Explore Choices” captures the heart of our mission. We are committed to person-centered planning and customized services. The slogan also invites the greater community to enrich itself by welcoming people with developmental disabilities as students, employees and neighbors.
Language Choices
Q: Are there any guidelines for language choice when writing or speaking about people with developmental disabilities?
A: Many people with developmental disabilities feel that the term "mental retardation" has been stigmatized and they prefer the term "developmental disabilities." We also suggest the use of "person-first" language, which emphasizes the individual rather than the disability. "She has developmental disabilities," rather than "She is developmentally disabled." People with disabilities also do not wish to be described as victims, as "handicapped, "crippled" or "disadvantaged."
Please click here to view more detailed guidelines, developed by more than 100 national disability organizations.
What We Do
Q: What is Westchester Arc?
A: Westchester Arc is the largest agency in Westchester County serving people of all ages having intellectual and developmental disabilities. Established over 50 years ago, Westchester Arc is a family-focused agency offering opportunities to individuals who have disabilities such as autistic spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and learning disabilities. The agency has long advocated educational and social inclusion for people with disabilities because of its wide-ranging benefits to the entire community. The agency is funded through both public and private means.
Q: What is Westchester Arc's mission?
A: To empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests. This is accomplished through person-centered services, support to families, advocacy and leadership, which together inspire the community to value the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities.
Q: What is The Westchester Arc Foundation?
A: The Westchester Arc Foundation raises funds to support Westchester Arc programs that require private charitable giving to supplement public support. The Foundation concentrates on major and planned gifts at the same time that it sponsors special events, launches direct mail appeals and authors grant proposals.
Under-Funded Programs
Q: How do you use the funds that you raise?
A: Westchester Arc has long been an innovator in the delivery of services to individuals with developmental disabilities. Because of that, our programs are often ahead of public funding initiatives. The money raised through special events, as well as through other Foundation activities, is intended to ensure the long-term viability of these services.
Q: What are some of these unfunded or under-funded programs?
A: Perhaps the most dramatic example involves our guardianship program. Advances in healthcare mean that individuals with developmental disabilities are outliving their parents. We provide a "surrogate family" to individuals whose relatives are no longer able to help them with life's daily decisions. We help them with medical issues, monitor their living situations, celebrate their birthdays and take them to the movies. This very personal attention shapes their quality of life and is completely unfunded by government monies.
Another example is person-centered planning, which lies at the heart of our agency's philosophy. We help our consumers map their preferences concerning work, social life and living arrangements. Then, along with family, friends and other professional caregivers, we help them develop a plan to achieve their goals. It's an extremely innovative approach to service delivery, and while various social agencies have espoused it, the funding is poorly handled. Except for a limited number of stringently defined cases, there are no public funds specifically earmarked for this very resource-intensive process.
Other examples include:
Job coaching - We work with 250 organizations within the county to place our consumers in jobs. Once someone is on-the-job, we have coaches visit on an ongoing basis to monitor performance and morale and to ensure that both employer and employee are pleased with the relationship. There is no public funding for this activity.
Training for our pre-school professionals-This is key, given the innovative techniques we use to address developmental delays in young children.
Recreation -We design an array of leisure activities, such as summer camp, travel opportunities and art classes. These programs are important in developing participants' self-esteem, broadening their exposure to the world and affording families the opportunity to "take a break" from the demands of caretaking. We probably offer the fullest menu of such recreational services available in the county and public funding never covers all of our costs.
Early Education
Q: What types of developmental disabilities does the Children's School address?
A: The Children's School offers services to children from birth to five years of age who have speech and language delays, mental retardation, PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorders)/autism, Down syndrome, as well as other developmental delays.
Q: How many children have graduated from The Children's School?
A: Over 575 children have graduated from our pre-school since we established our first inclusion class in 1994.
Q: What services does your pre-school provide?
A: We provide early intervention, one-to-one offsite education and both self-contained and in-community classes to children with developmental disabilities from birth to five years of age. Ninety percent of our students attend community schools and learn alongside typical children.
Q: When was The Children's School for Early Development established?
A: The Children's School's first inclusion program dates from 1994, although Westchester Arc has been providing educational services to pre-schoolers with developmental disabilities since 1956. In those early years, before the legislative advances of the seventies and eighties, the activist parents who created Westchester Arc set up small, self-contained classes in church basements and other available spaces. There were few public supports for children with special needs.
Q: What do you mean by "early intervention"?
A: Early intervention focuses on the needs of infants and toddlers up to three years of age. We offer evaluations, service coordination, speech and other therapies, as well as parent-child support groups and a toddler developmental group. Most early intervention services are delivered in the home. Our parent-child and toddler groups take place within the community and include typical children and their families.
Q: How is your pre-school different?
A: We are the largest provider of community-based services for children with developmental disabilities in Westchester County. We are also the only pre-school in Westchester County that offers in-community, full-day sessions using ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) and VB (Verbal Behavior) to treat children with PDD/autism. We have been recognized by the New York State Education Department's Board of Regents as a model for inclusionary placements in collaboration with community early childhood education settings.
Q: What is ABA?
A: Applied Behavioral Analysis is an educational technique that integrates home and school experiences. Targeted skills are broken down into small, discrete tasks that are taught in a highly structured manner and systematically reinforced. This system of education focuses on communications, social skills and behavior management.
Q: What is VB?
A: Verbal Behavior is an innovative technique that has been shown to effectively stimulate the development and use of language in difficult-to-reach children who have been diagnosed with PDD/autism. VB incorporates a naturalistic style of communication, interaction and instruction. It allows natural conversational exchanges to take place and encourages students to use this style of communication and interaction in their lives outside school.
Q: Why is inclusion good for children with developmental disabilities?
A: Attending community schools enables children with developmental disabilities to observe and model the learning and social behaviors of typically developing pre-schoolers. Every day becomes a practice session in how to communicate and make friends. It provides a real-world laboratory that explodes the isolation that can threaten a child's potential.
Q: Why is inclusion good for typical children?
A: Inclusion teaches typical children important life lessons concerning compassion, tolerance and the range of individual differences. In addition, they benefit from the increased professional staffing provided to special classes held in integrated settings. The Children's School provides such classes with New York State-certified teachers with graduate degrees, as well as psychologists, speech, occupational and physical therapists, and clinical social workers. We have actually had the parents of typical children ask to have their kids included in our classes after observing them in action.
Q: How many inclusion schools have you established?
A: We currently have 17 inclusion settings in Westchester County.
Q: How successful are your programs?
A: Our favorite way of measuring success is looking at the smiles on children's faces when they use the new skills they have learned or parents' faces when seeing their children's latest accomplishments. We also use standardized assessments, along with teacher and parent observations, to document progress toward achieving the cognitive and early learning, speech and language, motor, self-help and social goals in the child's individual education plan. These goals are shaped to include each family's priorities and build on the child's strengths. Success is further measured by seeing a child progress to a less restrictive environment when graduating to kindergarten. Many of the children leaving our program no longer require the degree of support that they received in pre-school, which we view as a tremendous success.
Q: Do you charge fees for any of your services?
A: No.
Q: What kind of funding does the pre-school get from the government?
A: We receive support from local school districts, as well as from state and federal government. Despite that aid, however, we require supplemental funding in order to maintain the quality of our services.
Q: What is the process for obtaining services from The Children's School?
A: Call your school district CPSE and arrange for an evaluation at an approved evaluation site. If you child is transitioning from early intervention, your school district will need copies of your child's previous evaluations before deciding if new evaluations are needed. Once the necessary evaluations are completed, your school district will schedule a CPSE meeting to determine your child's needs and develop an Individualized Education Program. If you are interested in one of our programs, please call 914-347-3227, ext. 106, or e-mail fporcaro@westchesterarc.org.
Career and Employment
Q: What career-related services does Westchester Arc offer?
A: Westchester Arc offers career services to high school students (15 years and older), as well as adults seeking to enter the workforce.
Our S.T.A.R. (Students in Transition Accessing Resources) program delivers a combination of pre-vocational training, summer internships and post-graduation career opportunities.
Westchester Arc Employment Resources is the leader in the field of supported employment services for individuals with developmental disabilities. After assessing the needs of an employer, our job development team matches the skills and interests of our consumers with the employer's requirements.
Westchester Arc Employment Resources utilizes two different supported employment models; both provide intensive job training at the worksite at no cost to the employer. With the individual placement model, a job coach gradually spends less time onsite as the consumer builds skills to master the job, though the coach is never completely removed. With the group placement model , four or more consumers work as a team under the full-time supervision of a job coach.
Q: What types of jobs does Westchester Arc obtain for the people it serves?
A: Our consumers work in a wide variety of environments, including offices, restaurants, retail outlets and maintenance departments. Examples include a recycling center, a printing company, a frame shop, a bicycle repair shop and a law firm.
Q: What are your Business Services?
A: At Westchester Arc sites, people with developmental disabilities perform a variety of outsourced services for the business community. They offer microfilming and digital imaging, document storage and destruction, labeling and mail preparation, packaging and assembly.
Q: What topics are covered by Westchester Arc's vocational training?
A: Whether classes are conducted in partnership with a school system or on Westchester Arc premises, our training covers such topics as work ethic, punctuality, collaborating with fellow employees, meeting deadlines, resume writing and interviewing. We teach our consumers how to find, obtain and retain a job.
Q: What is job carving?
A: Job carving is a technique used by our job developers as they probe the needs of prospective employers. We analyze an organization's operations in order to identify repetitive tasks that do not make the best use of a current employee's time. We then work with the employer to combine such tasks into a position matching the skills of our consumers. This is a win-win approach that increases the productivity of all concerned.
Q: What is person-centered planning and how does it relate to Westchester Arc's career services?
A: Person-centered planning is a structured approach to identifying the aspirations and abilities of our consumers, then to developing a strategy for attaining agreed-upon life goals. A team of caregivers, family members and friends is formed to address issues relating to career, residential options, guardianship and social life. Person-centered planning lies at the heart of Westchester Arc's service delivery philosophy and is key to our career services.
Q: What are the benefits of hiring an individual with developmental disabilities?
A: Individuals with developmental disabilities make committed and productive employees. Westchester Arc provides onsite job coaching-in effect, an extension of an employer's management team-free of charge. And by hiring a person with a disability, a business may be eligible for state and federal tax credits, as well as wage reimbursements.
Guardianship
Q: What is guardianship?
A: In New York State, any person over the age of 18 is presumed to have the capacity to make his or her own decisions. If an individual does not have that capacity, another person can be given the authority to make decisions for them. This person is known as a guardian.
Parents, siblings, or other interested parties can be named as guardian. Westchester Arc, as the local chapter of NYSARC, Inc., can serve as guardian of a person with developmental disabilities. It is the largest agency in the county with the ability to do so.
Q: How does Westchester Arc help a family member become guardian?
A: Westchester Arc offers educational programs that help family members understand the guardianship process and plan for the future. We also offer technical assistance in completing and filing necessary petitions with the Westchester Surrogate’s Court, located in White Plains.
Q: What does it mean if Westchester Arc becomes someone’s legal guardian?
A: From planning a birthday party to establishing a home, Westchester Arc assists individuals with all aspects of their lives. The agency helps an individual live as fully and independently as possible, while providing a network of support that encourages intellectual, social, and vocational growth. Westchester Arc staff members share a special, family-like relationship with individuals in the guardianship program. Staff members are always available, no matter the day or time, to share in a meal, take someone to a medical appointment or visit a person in his or her residence.
Life Planning
Q: What is life planning?
A: There are many important decisions to be made throughout a lifetime. Where to live? What kind of job to pursue? What kind of social activities will be most satisfying? How to fill your day with meaningful activity?
Westchester Arc’s life planning works with an individual, family members, friends, teachers and important service providers to identify, capabilities, resources and preferences so that people with developmental disabilities can live the lives they choose.
Q: When should someone start life planning?
A: It is never too early or too late to start life planning, but in most cases, someone will start between the ages of 14 and 15.
Q: How does the life planning center work with other Westchester Arc and community services?
A: The life planning center works with all other Westchester Arc services to help an individual achieve his or her personal goals. Through the agency’s service coordinators, the center helps an individual obtain government entitlements and benefits that support the plan, as well as health insurance and medical assistance. Consumer choice is always respected, and if the family opts for a service outside of the scope of Westchester Arc, we will help them obtain that service.
The center works closely with Choices, a new agency service that combines supported employment with community experience. This is available to both high school students and recent graduates.
The center partners with the S.T.A.R. program (Students in Transition Accessing Resources) to provide high school students with job training and part-time internships that match their interests and skills. Staff help students utilize the skills and work experience obtained through S.T.A.R. to find a full-time job upon graduation.
Working with the agency’s recreational department, the center identifies leisure activities designed to help young adults learn social skills, experience life in the community and transition from school to work. The center also taps into the agency’s residential services to identify suitable places to live. If clinical services are required, referrals are made for the relevant supports.
The center works with the agency’s guardianship services to establish a legal guardian for individuals who are 18 years of age or older and unable to make their own decisions. When estate planning is needed, referrals are made to attorneys who specialize in establishing trusts.
Q: Is there a charge for creating a life plan?
A: Certain fees will be applied for services, but financial assistance is available. Appointments can be made by contacting Ralph Szur,
914-949-9300, ext. 3002, rszur@westchesterarc.org.
Residential
Q: What types of residential arrangements are available through Westchester Arc?
A. Westchester Arc offers a wide spectrum of residential choices, based upon the level of support and supervision required by an individual. Options range from highly staffed homes, supervised 24 hours per day, to supportive living situations, where staff assistance is typically provided from 15 to 20 hours per week. The average supervised residence has six residents.
Q. How does someone apply for Westchester Arc-supported housing?
A. In order to be considered for publicly supported housing, a person with developmental disabilities must be 18 or older and must be placed on the Westchester County residential waiting list. In cases where Westchester Arc is approached directly by interested families, we direct them to the Westchester County Office of Mental Health, which establishes eligibility and maintains that list. Once an individual has been designated a “priority candidate” by the county, the family is free to request residential services from nearly three dozen organizations—such as Westchester Arc—that provide such services.
Q. Where does Westchester Arc maintain residences?
A. The agency currently operates 43 residences throughout Westchester County, including areas such as Armonk, Bedford, Bronxville, Briarcliff Manor, Croton, Cortlandt Manor, Greenburgh, Peekskill, Pound Ridge, Scarsdale, White Plains, Yonkers and Yorktown.
Residences are located in safe residential neighborhoods and are convenient to community shops, restaurants and businesses.
Q. What’s it like living in a Westchester Arc community-based residence?
A. Westchester Arc residences provide a safe, family-like environment that encourages community inclusion and fosters independence. Each residence plans activities based on personal needs and desires. Residents lead quality, well-rounded lives. They shop at the mall, participate in book clubs, work out at the gym and go on vacation. Many also work in the community.
Westchester Arc has a long history of becoming part of the neighborhood fabric. Residents often invite neighbors over for barbeques, movie nights and birthday parties. Some of our residents have even welcomed new neighbors with a cake.
Service Coordination
Q. What is service coordination?
A. Service coordination assists individuals with developmental disabilities and their families gain access to resources and services throughout Westchester County, whether they are provided by Westchester Arc or another organization. An individualized service plan is developed, based on personal needs and preferences.
Q. Who is eligible for these services?
A. In order to receive service coordination, an individual (1) must have documentation confirming the existence of a developmental disability prior to the age of 22 and (2) must not permanently live in an intermediate care facility, developmental center, psychiatric hospital, small residential unit, nursing home facility or hospital.
Q. What is the difference between Medicaid and
non-Medicaid-funded service coordination?
A. There is no difference in the service. Typically, service coordination is funded through Medicaid. If, however, an individual isn’t eligible for Medicaid, services may be funded through OMRDD (Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities) or private means.
Q. How does service coordination work with other agency services and the community?
A. Service coordinators work closely with both Westchester Arc staff and staff from other agencies to identify employment opportunities, residential options, recreational activities and other community-based services that support a quality, well-rounded lifestyle.
For example, one person told his service coordinator he was interested in travel, so she referred him to Club Echo, a travel program sponsored by Westchester Arc’s recreational services. Another individual required speech therapy services, so she was referred to the agency’s clinic.
S.T.A.R. Students in Transition Accessing Resources
Q: What is the S.T.A.R. program?
A: S.T.A.R. stands for Students in Transition Accessing Resources. The program partners with local high schools to help students aged 15 and over, prepare for the working world.
Q: How does the program work?
A: The program brings together family, school faculty and the Charles R. Kingsley Life Planning Center to develop a personalized career plan for each student.
Q: How many schools is S.T.A.R. currently partnered with?
A: S.T.A.R. currently works with seven high schools throughout the county.
Q: What kind of career training does S.T.A.R. provide?
A: The program offers an eight-week pre-employment course, held on campus. The class teaches students how to field interview questions, dress for work, meet deadlines and employer expectations, work with others and much more.
Q: How does S.T.A.R. match students with internships?
A: Students work one-on-one with a S.T.A.R. career planner to find internships that match their needs, skills, and abilities.
Q: Does S.T.A.R. provide on-the-job training?
A: S.T.A.R. provides three months of intensive on-the-job coaching to ensure students and employers get off to a good start. Job coaching is followed up with bi-weekly visits to help students stay on track.
Q: Have internships led to full time employment?
A: Yes, there have been several cases when an employer has offered a student full time work upon graduation.