How can educators help support students in the transition planning process?

 Transcript: Clare Papay, PhD

Self-determination is such an important skill to build through the transition planning process. Even just from the point of setting post-school goals, those goals should be based on the student’s desires. And in order for the student to be meaningfully involved in stating those goals, they have to be aware of themselves, they have to have that self-awareness of their skills, their interests, as well as their support needs. So that’s something that can really be worked on as part of the transition process. But students also need to know what is available. They need to know what adult life could look like. So they need to be presented with a range of options. Many times we don’t talk to all students about college, we don’t talk to all students about certain kinds of jobs. We put them into boxes, and we limit the options that we present to them. And so students really do need to have opportunities to learn about the full range of careers and what it takes to pursue those careers so that they can make informed choices about their post-school goals. And then throughout the transition planning process, those self-determination skills need to be worked on consistently because once they become an adult, there’s no more requirement that their college or their employer seek them out to see if they are a person with a disability who needs accommodations. The individual themselves has to go and request accommodations to their college, to their employer. And so that means we need to talk to them about their disability, and we need to talk to them about the supports that we’ve been providing them in school to help them be successful. And many times that’s not something that’s discussed. It’s kept a secret a little bit. But that really does them a disservice once they reach adult life and they have to go out and advocate for themselves. So making sure students can talk about their disability, both in terms of the strengths that disability brings and the supports they need, is really important. And then helping them understand the accommodations that are being provided so that they themselves can have that self-awareness of what it takes for them to be successful. Self-advocacy becomes much more important as an adult, where it’s really on that individual to request the accommodations and supports that they need. And so that transition planning process is where we can build those skills and build the confidence of that individual as they work towards adult life.

Transcript: Myriam Alizo

Veronica’s self-determination has been present, has been visible and tangible since she was very young. We always had high expectations, and we recommend that for any child to be involved in something besides school. She was involved in dance and tae kwon do. She got to be black belt in tae kwon do, and she was very competitive. We never made her feel like she couldn’t do it. She was with the typical peers in dance. She was with the typical peers in martial arts. She belonged in the community. She felt like, “Yes, I can do this! I can do that!” It’s amazing that the sky’s the limit for Veronica in that respect.

There’s a program in every state, and it’s Partners in Policymaking, and Veronica did it. And that program meant that she had to, on her own, travel by train to another city two hours from here one weekend a month for nine months of the year. She was with self-advocates and advocates all learning the same thing, learning that they have rights, the law, self-determination, transition skills. She feels very proud of it, and she learned a lot. She learned a lot about self-determination. And so she knows her rights. She knows what accommodation that she needs. She can ask for accommodations, and she’s not afraid of asking for her rights. For example, when she entered this high school, there was a program for students with disabilities to go to physical education class all together. So it was like a self-contained class. But Veronica said, “I want to be within my typical peers because I’m very good at sports.” So we ask to amend the IEP in the middle of the school year, we met again, and Veronica put, “I want to be with my typical peers in gym class.” That’s how she entered the basketball team, by providing that information. She is very good at sports. So it was a strength and she wanted to bring up her strength because typically when you are in an IEP meeting and you are there for an hour, an hour and a half, they are talking about you and you hear a lot of negative things about what you cannot do. But that was a way to bring what she can do. So she’s very brave, and I think she’s a leader in the community.