Bonnie Kraemer was fresh out of college when she got a position teaching at a state residential facility for people with developmental disabilities. It was an eye-opening experience. The more she interacted with her students — all of whom were older than her — the more she started thinking about the restrictive setting in which they lived.
That led her to an uncomfortable question: Did it have to be this way?
“I was always thinking about what could have been done differently when they were in school,” Kraemer said. “Maybe they wouldn't have ended up here. That got me really interested in secondary transition.”
In the field of special education, secondary transition refers to the movement from school to adulthood for individuals with autism and severe disabilities. Kraemer, now an associate professor and board certified behavior analyst in San Diego State University’s Department of Special Education, has made secondary transition her professional passion.
The goal? Help people with autism and other severe disabilities attain as much independence and fulfillment as possible.
She strives to do so through both her teaching of future special educators and through her research. Kraemer and Laura Hall, professor and chair in the Department of Special Education, are wrapping up an Institute of Education Sciences-funded project to implement evidenced-based interventions for high school students with autism. The study, conducted in partnership with the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the University of Wisconsin, is the largest randomized control trial for youth with autism in the country.
Kraemer recently started work on another large-scale collaboration between UNC and SDSU to implement social skills and executive functioning interventions for middle school students with autism. She has also managed two Office of Special Education Programs grants that helped train nearly 100 masters candidates with a specialization in autism and transition.
Learn more about Kraemer’s work, in her own words:
On how she got into special education
“I did my undergrad at UCLA in psychology and we had to do an internship — a practicum. I did mine at the Neuropsychiatric Institute. I worked at the school there and it was my first experience working with individuals with severe disabilities and autism. I fell in love with the population, and I got feedback that I was good at it. This turned into a career.”
On the importance of secondary transition
“It's incredibly pivotal. If you look at outcome data for individuals with autism in particular, their post-school outcomes are poor, even in comparison to other students with disabilities. We're looking at low rates of employment, low rates of living independently in the community, and low rates of attending postsecondary education. So it's a tremendous need, and families are often not prepared to support their young adult son or daughter for this transition away from the school system to adult life.”
On making sure voices are heard
“One of the things we really try to emphasize in the program is to try to connect with families to make sure they feel involved. And that’s also important for the young person themselves. In the curriculum for our teacher candidates, we focus on self-determination and self-advocacy. Let's make sure students and young adults with autism have the opportunity to have a voice. And we need to engage their families in the process. I think that's really important.”
On the most important lesson she imparts to students
“Give everyone an equal chance. Just because somebody has autism or an intellectual disability, don't assume that they can't go to college, get their driver's license or live independently. There are so many misnomers, stereotypes and assumptions about individuals with disabilities. You need to go into it with an open mind and do everything you can to help them have the most success in life as possible.”