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What tin can school personnel practice to help students in the transition planning process?

Page 7: Family unit Engagement

Program construction

Student-focused planning

Student development

Family engagement

Interagency collaboration

Family engagement, another component of the taxonomy, refers to a family unit'south efforts at helping their kid plan for the future and in supporting him or her during the transition procedure. Other than the students themselves, parents are oftentimes the but people who remain part of the transition planning process and their kid's IEP squad throughout the school years. Because transition planning includes areas other than academics—for example, planning for healthcare needs or living arrangements—parents often serve as the span between school and community interest for their child. As such, educators should ensure that families are active participants and that their input is valued.

Paula Kohler discusses the contributions that families tin can make to the transition planning process (time: 1:22).

Paula Kohler

Paula Kohler, PhD
Managing director, Career Connections Research Centre
Western Michigan Academy

View Transcript

Transcript: Paula Kohler, PhD

All parents can't be there for field trips, and all parents can't bake goods for the Halloween auction or whatever information technology is. But there are some roles supporting students in community based enterprises or community based experiences or, importantly, reinforcing educational IEP goals at home. Nosotros need to recognize that families have actually of import roles. Families volition implement those roles differently. We limit them based on our perceptions of what they should be doing, and that's something that we should actually try to avoid. The idea is that parents have so much information that's going to be useful to planning real relevant, meaningful educational programs. If we leave that out, we're making a huge fault considering we but have a part of a picture. And so if we're non including parents in that process of looking at the secondary goals or looking at opportunities for students in the communities, either in recreational opportunities or any of those things that build educatee confidence exterior of schoolhouse, again we're missing opportunities to further our children's evolution.

Although parents tin can serve as a bridge between the school and the community, they are frequently not actively involved in the transition process. There are many reasons for this. They might have had a negative experience with the school at some point in the past. Or their opportunities to interact with school personnel might be limited for one reason or another. Or at that place might be differences between what families and schools consider important for a given educatee. Additionally, families of culturally and linguistically various students ofttimes have difficulty participating in the transition planning process. To assistance families exist more engaged, schoolhouse personnel should:

  • teacher and student readingSchedule meetings at times when parents are bachelor
  • Provide families with information about transition planning in their dwelling language
  • Educate parents about how mail-school activities, such as obtaining a task, can affect the student's quality of life
  • Value family input:
    • Invite parents to provide information about their child's strengths, mail service-secondary interests (e.k., career, education, living), and areas of need
    • Brainstorm and collaborate about the transition plan rather than dictating it
    • Listen and make sure the transition program reflects the preferences of the student and the family
    • Ask parents to identify potential supports (e.g., church, neighbors, community) for their kid
  • Encourage parents and family unit members to participate in transition planning outside of schoolhouse by recommending they:
    • Assist their child sympathize his or her disability and disability related needs, including how to ask for assistance when needed
    • Promote their child's independence outside of school by encouraging him or her to be more involved in making decisions and by assuming more than responsibilities
    • Visit agencies that might offer services or supports for postal service-secondary planning and transition (e.g., vocational rehabilitation, Social Security Inability Office, transit accessibility)

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vocational rehabilitation

Any of a number of programs designed to help adults with disabilities to obtain and hold employment.

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Social Security Disability Part

The office that houses federal programs that provide benefits to individuals with disabilities who qualify and come across medical criteria.

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transit accessibility

Transportation programs that operate to provide a door-to-door service for people whose inability prevents them from using standard transportation (e.m., urban center jitney, metro rail). These programs operate under varying names. They are eligibility-based—though eligibility might vary from metropolis to city—and they more often than not require that the person meet some or all of the criteria below:

  • Has a inability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Human activity (ADA)
  • Cannot travel to a regular bus, track, or subway stop because of his or her inability
  • Requires a wheelchair ramp or lift to access the vehicle

For Your Data

  • Parents frequently report that their participation in transition meetings is improved or enhanced when they have a stiff personal relationship within the educational environment, such every bit with a teacher with whom they experience connected.
  • Although school personnel should encourage family date in the transition planning process, they should proceed in mind that students should be assuming more responsibilities and making more than decisions regarding their future. Click here to learn about rules related to the age of majority for students with disabilities.

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historic period of majority

Historic period at which students are considered legal adults and at which legal rights are transferred to them. These rights include the responsibilities of making decisions in the IEP meeting, as well every bit other informed decisions, such as those related to medical treatment, fiscal arrangements, and housing needs. A educatee served under Idea '04 must be notified of this transfer of rights by the IEP team a year prior to his or her historic period of majority. Parents should as well exist notified as they will need to recollect about their child's needs and abilities in guild to programme appropriately if their child is not able to brand informed decisions on his or her ain. In almost states the historic period of majority is eighteen.

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