On Oct. 2, the Redmond Reporter launched a series of stories about the Lake Washington School District’s (LWSD) Transition Academy, where developmentally disabled young adults learn skills for employment and independence. We began by following three students — Jason Grager, Carly Hursh and Bryan Groscost — to their internships at REI in downtown Redmond.

When we recently returned to the Transition Academy, groups of students had just practiced grocery shopping throughout the community. Before heading home from the academy’s headquarters on Redmond’s Cleveland Street, they reviewed the day’s twists and turns. Grager was especially eager to share his observations.

NO TURNING BACK

While “out and about” that day, Grager saw several Metro buses run red lights.

“Two 545s, a 253 and a 248,” he reported. “And a car went in a place where it wasn’t supposed to,” Grager added.

The driver had gone into a lane marked “exit” instead of “entrance.”

Transition Academy co-director Richard Haines praised Grager for spotting the traffic transgressions. Then he quizzed Grager, “What’s our big theme for the year?”

Grager grinned and shouted, “IT HAPPENS!” His classmates nodded and laughed.

Haines reviewed the importance of being alert, even when you think you know your surroundings. Sometimes buses run red lights, people go the wrong way on a one-way street — or drive “in” through an “out” lane.

Life is full of surprises, Haines concluded.

For Grager, crossing streets is a huge undertaking. But he’s determined to press on toward his goals.

JASON’S JOURNEY

A graduate of Juanita High School (JHS), Grager was born three months premature and is legally blind due to ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). He also has epilepsy and mental retardation.

His days at JHS, mostly in a special education classroom, included some art and music classes with the general student body. The experience was pleasant, but “he needed to be out of the classroom more,” said his mom Lynn Grager, who is a para-educator at Sandburg Elementary School in Kirkland.

That said, when her disabled son entered the Transition Academy — where goals include teaching students how to ride public transit to work — it was “a little scary,” Lynn admitted.

Another adjustment for Jason is that, “He doesn’t like the early hours. He’s more of an evening person,” she said.

Jason’s evenings are busy with soccer, basketball and bowling practices. He also loves watching sports.

“I’ve been following baseball playoffs,” he remarked, as his mom shared his story over coffee.

Michael Goodwill from Provail, an employment agency that partners with the Transition Academy, is exploring a job for Jason at the downtown Seattle REI. Trader Joe’s or Costco are other possibilities.

“He would love to work with the Mariners or the Huskies,” said Lynn. “That would be his ideal fit. Maybe not 40 hours a week. Maybe a couple hours a day, a few days a week.”

For Jason’s family, preparing him for a job isn’t about the money, Lynn emphasized.

“Earning a paycheck gives a sense of satisfaction,” she noted. “But it’s more about having a place for him to go where he feels useful and accepted — a reason to get out of bed and out of the house.”

And social connections are as vital as meaningful work, for Jason and his classmates at the Transition Academy.

Lynn said one of the hardest things about watching Jason’s journey through his school years was noticing the ever-widening maturity gap between Jason and his neurotypical peers.

“When they’re little, kids aren’t all that different,” she pointed out. But around middle school and beyond, it became quite apparent that Jason’s one-time playmates were leaving him behind intellectually. They weren’t unkind to him, said Lynn. But they had moved on, developmentally.

Now, Jason’s best friend is someone he met through Special Olympics, a student from the Northshore School District’s Adult Transition Program.

“It is a real peer relationship with someone at the same level,” said Lynn.

PICTURING THE FUTURE

Besides the talk about the bad bus drivers and other inattentive motorists, Jason showed his classmates, during our latest visit, how his mom helps him make grocery shopping lists using pictures of the foods he wants to buy. He’s also memorizing the aisles where those products can be found, as well as practicing how to ask for help if he can’t find what he wants.

It’s a lot to learn, for someone with serious health challenges. But Haines and Mark Tornquist, co-director of the Transition Academy said they don’t allow students to dwell on what they “can’t do.”

When Haines asked, “What is that we want to do with you guys?,” the students laughed and replied, “Get us out of here!”

Jason expects to graduate from the Transition Academy next June.

In upcoming issues of the Redmond Reporter, we’ll share more about the hopes and dreams of other students from the Lake Washington School District Transition Academy.