Secondary Transition: Person-Centered Transition Planning

Transcript: Challenge

Secondary Transition: Person-Centered Transition Planning

For the past seven years, Mr. Longoria has been a special education teacher at Central High School. During that time, he has seen many students make the transition to employment or further education. He has always invited his students to attend their IEP meetings and encouraged them to participate if they wanted to. Recently, however, Mr. Longoria attended a training on person-centered transition planning and now recognizes the importance of students being involved in planning their own futures. He is convinced that, with assistance, some of his students could take on a more prominent role in their IEP meetings and the overall planning process.

This said, Mr. Longoria is a bit skeptical that all of his students could handle this added responsibility. In particular, he wonders about two of his students, Nia and Jeremy.

Nia is an eleventh grader with dyslexia and a speech impairment. She has strong math and organizational skills and wants to attend college and pursue a career in fashion design. Currently, Nia works at a fabric store after school, an experience she believes might help her learn more about fashion design. Mr. Longoria knows that Nia does not like to initiate conversation or talk in front of groups because of her speech differences. Because of this, he assumes that she would not be comfortable addressing a group of adults in her IEP meeting.

Jeremy is a ninth grader who has an intellectual disability and extensive support needs. Jeremy has limited verbal communication skills and primarily communicates using an augmentative communication app on a tablet. Jeremy loves socializing with his peers and teachers, but many of his peers struggle to communicate with him. Though he enjoys school, he works significantly below grade level in all academic subjects. He tends to have difficulty staying focused and shows little interest in discussing school subjects. When he finishes high school, Jeremy wants to work with animals and live independently. Mr. Longoria is unsure how much Jeremy knows about the nature of his disability. He wonders how Jeremy will react when the IEP team starts discussing his disability and his academic needs.

Mr. Longoria is committed to helping all his students take more control of their lives as they prepare for adulthood. However, he questions what supports need to be in place to facilitate Nia’s and Jeremy’s participation in IEP meetings and the transition planning process.

Here’s your challenge:

What is person-centered transition planning?

How can students be actively engaged in transition planning?

How can educators facilitate person-centered transition planning?