Focus area 01

AI Summer Camps & Year-Round Programs

A camp only works if the accommodation plan is written into the schedule before the first day, not improvised on Tuesday afternoon. We run project-based AI cohorts for learners roughly 14 to 22, and we plan staffing, materials, and pacing from the supports the group actually needs. The planner below produces the same session outline our instructors work from.

Volunteers working together to load and sort supply boxes

Materials and staffing planned before enrollment opens.

Program setting

Pre-ETS reserve

15%

Minimum federal VR funds reserved

34 CFR 361.65(a)(3)

Typical cohort

learners per session

Illustrative

Session length

5 days

most common format

Illustrative

Supports declared

2.4

average per cohort

Illustrative

Why camp design is a transition-services question

Under WIOA Title IV, state vocational rehabilitation agencies must reserve at least 15 percent of their federal VR funds for pre-employment transition services, and the five required activities include job exploration counseling, work-based learning experiences, counseling on postsecondary programs, workplace readiness training, and instruction in self-advocacy. A summer AI cohort can deliver four of the five at once, which is why districts and VR agencies increasingly fund them as transition services rather than as enrichment.

The failure mode is predictable. A program advertises that it welcomes students with disabilities, then discovers in week one that the interpreter was never booked, the build platform is not keyboard operable, and one instructor is supervising twenty-two learners across three support profiles. Accommodation planning is a scheduling and budgeting activity, and it has to happen while the session is still on paper. The planner treats supports as inputs that change staffing ratio, materials cost, and how much curriculum fits in the available contact hours.

Age band

Session format

Cohort size Total enrolled learners

Accessibility supports needed Blind or low vision (screen reader, braille, magnification) Deaf or hard of hearing (interpreting, captioning) Motor or dexterity (switch access, alternative input) Cognitive and processing (chunking, extended time) Sensory regulation (noise, lighting, break space) Communication support (AAC device, extra response time)

Session plan

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Summer AI camps are enrichment, so vocational rehabilitation funds cannot pay for them.

Myth or fact? Select to check.

Myth. When a cohort delivers job exploration counseling, workplace readiness training, work-based learning, or instruction in self-advocacy, it is providing pre-employment transition services and can be funded from the reserved 15 percent. What matters is the content and documentation of the activity, not whether it is labeled a camp. Source: WIOA Title IV, Rehabilitation Act Sec. 113; 34 CFR 361.48(a)

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Pre-employment transition services can be delivered to a student who is not yet an applicant for VR services.

Myth or fact? Select to check.

Fact. A student with a disability who is eligible for or receiving services under IDEA, or who is an individual with a disability for purposes of Section 504, may receive pre-employment transition services without first applying for or being determined eligible for the VR program. This is what makes group camp delivery workable. Source: 34 CFR 361.48(a); RSA Frequently Asked Questions on Pre-ETS

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If the camp uses a mainstream coding platform, accessibility is the platform vendor's problem.

Myth or fact? Select to check.

Myth. The program is responsible for the accessibility of the learning experience it delivers. If a chosen build tool cannot be operated by keyboard alone or breaks under a screen reader, the program has to select a different tool or provide an equally effective alternative. Vendor conformance claims are a starting point for procurement, not a defense. Source: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, 36 CFR Part 1194; DOL ODEP guidance on accessible technology

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Lower learner-to-staff ratios are a design requirement, not a luxury, when several support profiles are in one room.

Myth or fact? Select to check.

Fact. Each additional support profile adds setup, prompting, and troubleshooting time that competes directly with instruction. Programs that hold ratio constant while adding support profiles lose curriculum minutes rather than gaining efficiency, which is why the planner reduces the ratio and the module count together. Source: CAPE-Youth practice guidance on inclusive work-based learning program design

External

CAPE-Youth

Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth. Practice guides on transition program design and work-based learning.

External

Rehabilitation Services Administration

Federal guidance on pre-employment transition services, the 15 percent reserve, and RSA-911 reporting.

External

IDEA — U.S. Department of Education

Statute and regulations governing secondary transition planning, including transition services in the IEP.

External

PEAT — Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology

Guidance for evaluating whether a technology platform is usable before you commit a cohort to it.