Comprehensive Transition Planning

1
Comprehensive Transition Planning

• Module 1 Introduction to Transition

2
Ground Rules

• Turn off cell-phones (includes text messaging).
  
• Use the post-it-notes on your tables to write
  down questions.
• The Parking Lot will be used to note topics
  that will be covered later in the presentation.
• Share your experiences and ideas. Everyone can
  learn from each other.
• Be open to new ways of doing things. Keep a can
  do attitude.
• Make productive use of activities to practice and
  fine-tune new skills.

3
OutcomesFollowing this training you will

• Understand the legal and operational definition
  of transition
• Understand the history and evolution of
  transition
• Recognize how transition can address many of the
  post-school barriers to success experienced by
  graduates with disabilities.

4
Handouts

• Introduction to Transition PowerPoint
• Kohlers Taxonomy of Transition Planning
• IDEA Key Provisions on Transition
• Personal Perspective Worksheet

5
Personal Perspective
What does transition mean to you? Write your
own personal definition of transition.
6
Best Practices in Transition

• Student Self-Determination
• Ecological Approaches
• Individualized Backward Planning
• Interagency Collaboration

• Assistive Technology and Related Services
• postsecondary Education supports
• Systems Change Strategies
• Family Involvement

• (Flexer, Simmons, Luft, and Baer, 2001)

7
Where Did This Idea of Transition Come From?
8
Personal Perspective
What do you see as some of the major barriers
faced by special education graduates?
9
Post-21 Studies

• Employment
• Employment Benefits
• Postsecondary Education/Training
• Independence
• Community Participation
• Poverty
• Transportation and
• Healthcare
• Life Satisfaction

10
What Goes On In High School?

• School Attendance
• Academic Performance
• Suspensions
• Drop-Outs
• High School Completion
• Work-Study Employment

11
What Happens After Graduation Without Effective
Transition Planning?

• Unemployment/Underemployment
• Dependent living arrangements
• Limited recreational and leisure opportunities
• Limited access to postsecondary education
• Inadequate social engagement
• Dependence on governmental agencies/services

12
But Transition HAS Made a Difference!!!

• Almost all students are involved in some form of
  transition planning
• Greater emphasis on interagency collaboration
• Higher employment rates for 18 to 25 year olds
• Increased focus on self-determination
• Increase in academic course-taking
• Higher expectations and more accountability for
  post-school success
• Drop-out rates are lower

13
Old Wine In a New Bottle

• 1960s Cooperative Work Study programs
• 1970s Career Education
• 1980s Transition

14
Madeline Will (1984)

• Transition is an outcome oriented process
  encompassing a broad array of services and
  experiences that lead to employment. Transition
  is a period that includes high school, the point
  of graduation, additional postsecondary education
  or adult services, and the initial years of
  employment. Transition is the bridge between the
  security and structure offered by the school and
  the risks of adult life.

15
(No Transcript)
16
Halperns View

• Established living successfully in the community
  as the primary goal of transition.

Transition is period of floundering that occurs
for at least the first several years after
leaving school as adolescents attempt to assume a
variety of adult roles in their communities
(Halpern,1992)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Kohlers Model of Transition (1996)

• A model for planning, organizing and evaluating
  transition education, services, and programs
• Views transition programming as the basis of all
  secondary education rather than as an additional
  activity or requirement
• Provides a Transition Perspective of Education

19
(No Transcript)
20
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Original Purpose A free and appropriate public
education designed to meet the unique needs of
the students and prepare them for further
education, employment, and independent
living. Shift in Emphasis to Results-oriented
approach and focus on improved results
Ed OLeary (2005)
21
IDEA 1990

• Requirement to address the transition service
  needs of students through coordinated planning
• Focused movement from school to post-school
  activities.
• Emphasized the role of families and adult service
  agencies in the transition planning process
• Implicitly required increased collaboration
  across service delivery systems to improve the
  quality and extent of available transition
  services
• (Ward, 2006).

22
IDEA 1997

• Shifted intent of the legislation from providing
  access to education services to a focus on
  improving results.
• Challenge became to ensure that all students
  gain skills needed to achieve their desired
  post-schools goals and assume adult
  responsibilities in the community.
• Major component is to link students with needed
  supports and services prior to leaving school
  (Storms, OLeary and Williams, 2000)

23
IDEA 2004 - Definition of Transition Services
A coordinated set of activities for a student
with a disability that is designed to be within a
results-oriented process that is focused on
improving the academic and functional achievement
of the child with a disability to facilitate the
childs movement from school to post-school
activities, including postsecondary education,
vocational education, integrated employment
(including supported employment), continuing and
adult education, adult services, independent
living, or community participation (300.42(a)(1).

24
IDEA 2004 - The coordinated set of activities
must be

• based on the individual students needs, taking
  into account the students strengths, preferences
  and interests and includes
• Instruction
• Related services
• Community experiences
• The development of employment and other
  post-school adult living objectives and
• If appropriate, acquisition of daily living
  skills and provision of a functional vocational
  evaluation.

25
When Does Transition Planning Begin for North
Carolina Students?
Age 14 Postsecondary Goals and Course of
Study Age 16 Postsecondary Goals, Course of
Study, Transition Activities, Responsible Persons
and Timelines
26
IDEA 2004
Beginning not later than the first IEP to be in
effect when the child turns 16, or younger if
determined appropriate by the IEP Team, and
updated annually, thereafter, the IEP must
include (1) Appropriate measurable postsecondary
goals based upon age appropriate transition
assessments related to training, education,
employment, and, where appropriate, independent
living skills and (2) The transition services
(including courses of study) needed to assist the
child in reaching those goals.
27
Who Is Involved in Transition Planning?

• the parents of a child with a disability not
  less thaa at the discretion of the parent or the
  agency, other

28
What is Transition Planning?

• A cooperative partnership involving students,
  their families, school and post-school personnel,
  local community representatives, employers,
  friends, and neighbors that allows students to
  choose a living arrangement, obtain a career,
  develop independent and community living skills
  and access postsecondary education ultimately
  moving from school to the adult world.

29
Barriers to Transition

• Lack of self-advocacy training Youth
• Insufficient information about the Transition
  Process Parents
• Insufficient vocational education and
  work-related experiences Researchers
• Lack of transportation after high school to work
  or postsecondary school Federal, state and
  local officials
• Absence of linkages between school systems and
  adult service providers Teachers

Ed OLeary, 2005
30
Personal Perspective
What are some of the strategies used in our
schools and community to overcome the barriers to
transition?
31
The Future of Transition

• Increasing high school completion rate
• Reducing the drop-out rate
• Enhancing student involvement
• Students with healthcare issues and low incidence
  populations
• Work incentives and supports
• Communities of Practice

32
Steps in the Transition Planning Process

• Step 1 Facilitate student, family and adult
  service provider involvement
• Step 2 Identify postsecondary goals based on
  age-appropriate transition
  assessments
• Step 3 Determine present level of
  performance as it relates to post-
  secondary goals
• Step 4 Choose a course of study
• Step 5 Identify needed transition activities and
  services
• Step 6 Determine responsible persons and
• timelines for transition
  activities/services
• Step 7 Develop IEP goals/objectives that are
  linked to the postsecondary goals

33
Transition Oath

• First do no harm
• Never do it alone
• Put the student first
• Expand the boundaries
• Play Monday morning quarterback
• Never give up

34
Questions?