Transition Planning for Students with Special Needs

1. Transition Planning for Students with Special Needs Department of Research and Evaluation AISD 3/27/2012

2. First, the legal info • Every child receiving special education services is legally required to have a transition plan for life after high school. • This plan is recommended by age 14 and required by age 16

3. Age of Majority & SPED • Beginning at least one year before a student reaches the age of majority under State law, the student’s individualized education program (IEP) must include a statement that the student has been informed of his or her rights, if any, under Part B of IDEA , that will transfer to the student upon reaching the age of majority. • Alternatives: guardianship, conservatorship

4. Age of majority • …is the legal age established under state law at which an individual is no longer a minor and, as a young adult, has the right and responsibility to make certain legal choices that adults make. • Rights that transfer in most states— • In states that transfer educational rights at the age of majority, all of the educational rights provided to the parents transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of majority. These educational rights may include the right to. . . • receive notice of and attend individual education program (IEP) meetings. • consent to reevaluation. • consent to change in placement. • request for mediation or a due process hearing to resolve a dispute about evaluation, identification, eligibility, IEP, placement, or other aspects of a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

5. Graduation • Regular DiplomaIf a student with a disability graduates with a regular diploma, the student loses eligibility for a free appropriate public education (FAPE). However, if a student graduates with any other type of diploma or certificate, the student may retain eligibility for education services. • Timely NoticeSchools must notify parents before proposing to graduate a student with disabilities because it is considered a change in placement. This notice must be given within a reasonable time before graduation to ensure that parents and students have the opportunity to plan for, or challenge, the pending graduation.

6. Next, the practical info The 411 on Disability Disclosure: A Workbook for Youth with Disabilities is designed for youth and adults working with them to learn about disability disclosure. This workbook helps young people make informed decisions about whether or not to disclose their disability and understand how that decision may impact their education, employment, and social lives. Based on the premise that disclosure is a very personal decision, the Workbook helps young people think about and practice disclosing their disability. The workbook does not tell a young person what to do. Rather, it helps them make informed decisions about disclosing their disability, decisions that will affect their educational, employment, and social lives. http://www.ncwd-youth.info/411-on-disability-disclosure#download

7. Career Guidance • …should provide students with information about the postsecondary requirements of their chosen career options. Since this type of career preparation tends to be a long process, students will also need to break it down into steps and consider how to prepare for each step while still in secondary school. • The Occupational Outlook Handbook, available on the BLS website, is a nationally recognized source of career information. The Handbook describes worker tasks, working conditions, necessary training and education, earnings, and expected job prospects for a wide range of occupations. http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm • Students should ask the following questions: • What are the requirements to enter these programs and schools? • What secondary curriculum changes need to be made to meet these requirements and prepare for the program (e.g., some programs require a specific number of years of foreign language or a certain level of mathematical knowledge)? • What kinds of student disability services are provided? • What are my realistic support needs? • What other programs during high school might supplement postsecondary education in preparation for a chosen career (e.g., internships or work-study programs)?

8. Differences between HS and College • There is a class of supports that are offered in secondary environments but not at postsecondary schools. Secondary schools are often required to provide "related services," which may include physical therapy, transportation, provision of assistive technology and training for its use, speech therapy, tutoring, and classroom aides. • Also offered at the secondary level are "transition services," including career education, life-skills and/or job-skills training, mentoring, and supported employment. • Once students go to postsecondary school, related services, transition services, and services of a personal nature (such as personal aides or tutors) are no longer required by law and typically not available (U.S. Department of Education & Office for Civil Rights, 2002). • Students with disabilities will usually have to look elsewhere for these services, in places like Vocational Rehabilitation, Independent living centers, or local accessible transportation services. College campuses do tend to have some type of career, counseling, and tutoring services available to all students, but these offices do not have expertise in disability issues, technologies, rights, or opportunities.

9. Differences, continued • In postsecondary school, the student is responsible for • (a) identifying themselves as having a disability, • (b) documenting their disability, and • (c) requesting specific supports, services and accommodations to meet their needs. • Students are expected to know what supports they need in order to succeed in their classes. • Their parents are no longer part of the decision-making process, so it is important for students to know the why and how of the decisions their IEP teams previously made for them. • They need to understand their own disability, the types of supports that help them, and their right to request support.

10. Most postsecondary support offices require documentation of the disability before they will provide services. • Policies on documentation typically vary, but usually students' last IEP report is not accepted. Many schools require a professional assessment, i.e., by a psychologist or medical doctor, which can be very expensive, and often at the expense of the student. • Some students have a very difficult time their first semester of college when they discover they need to get an assessment and find the means to pay for it, while at the same time adjusting to postsecondary coursework without accommodations.

11. Differences, continued (2) • Postsecondary support services also tend to be more temporary than secondary support services. • IEP teams in secondary school usually make a year-long plan for students' supports. • In postsecondary school, students with disabilities need to stay on top of things so that they can request the accommodations they need early, every semester or quarter. • Students with disabilities often need to decide before other students what classes they will attend, so that disability support services can acquire the necessary books-on-tape, Braille, or sign-language interpreter services in time for everything to be in place when the new semester begins.

12. What kinds of supports are currently offered or available to students with disabilities in postsecondary education? • There is a wide range of supports that can be offered to students with disabilities. Broadly categorized, they include: • provision of architectural access (i.e., wheelchair accessible ramps, space for wheelchairs in an auditorium, Braille labeling in elevators, and visible smoke alarm devices) • provision of communication aids and services (i.e., sign language interpreters, Braille materials, taped textbooks, assistive listening devices, and adapted computer terminals) • modification of policies, practices, and procedures (i.e., rescheduling classes in an accessible location, early enrollment, and alternative test taking arrangements) • other supports (i.e., tutoring, learning skills classes, advocacy work, mentoring, and career guidance)

13. However, the frequency with which these supports are offered varies greatly from institution to institution (National Center for the Study of Postsecondary Educational Supports, 2000). Students with disabilities who are not prepared for these differences may find the transition to postsecondary school distressing. • See handout on job accommodations and on college campus tours

14. College Funding Through Other Agencies (for SPED) • Supplemental Security Income (SSI):A federal program that provides financial assistance to people who are aged, blind, or disabled and who have little or no income and resources. • Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): SSDI program allows workers and eligible dependents to receive monthly cash benefits because of a period of disability. • A Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS): As defined in PASSplan.org, a PASS “allows a person with a disability to set aside otherwise countable income and/or resources for a specific period of time in order to achieve a work goal. Any person who receives SSI benefits, or who might qualify for SSI, or any person receives SSDI (or a similar benefit) and could qualify for SSI, may be able to have a PASS. There is no limit to the number of successful PASS plans a person may use in a lifetime.” (www.passplan.org) • Vocational Rehabilitation (VR):Individuals with disabilities who have an impairment that results in a substantial impediment to employment and he/she must require VR services for employment may be eligible for assistance from VR to attend college, university or other vocational training programs. • Individual Development Accounts (IDAs): IDAs matched savings accounts are similar to an employer match for 401(k) contributions that enable low-income families to save towards purchasing an asset - most commonly buying their first home, paying for post-secondary education, or starting a small business.

15. Encouraging Careers in STEM • The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Programhttp://www.washington.edu/doit/ • DO-IT Scholars: DO-IT Scholars is a program for high school students with disabilities who have an interest and aptitude in science, engineering, or math, and who have a desire to attend college. The students are brought together with mentors (college students, faculty, practicing scientists) through electronic communication and project using the Internet. http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Programs/scholars.html

16. National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability • http://www.ncwd-youth.info/411-on-disability-disclosure • Workbook for Youth to prepare them for deciding when, how and to whom they will disclose their disabilities after high school. • EXTREMELY important and rarely addressed.

17. Your Employment Selections (YES) • http://www.trisped.org/transition/ Your Employment Selections (YES) is a reading-free, job preference, and career exploration program that shows tasks related to 120 different jobs using motion video on CD-ROM. YES was designed for youth in transition, adults with disabilities, and individuals with limited reading skills. YES can be completed at a computer in 60-90 minutes. With the assistance of a teacher, transition specialist, employment specialist, or other facilitator, participants view a number of two- or four-minute narrated videos. After viewing the videos, participants select their preferred jobs. Those selected are compiled into a list, which may be used to guide the Individual Transition Program, job sampling, or training. YES includes recommendations for modifying jobs if the participant does not possess all of the skills represented in the video. The program includes: One 300-page Facilitator’s Manual, Seven CD-ROMs showing 120 jobs, and 20 Job Preference Summary Forms.

18. National Transition Resources • National Center on Secondary Education and Transition Institute on Community IntegrationUniversity of Minnesotancset@umn.edu612-624-2097 (phone)AHEAD Association on Higher Ed and Disability http://www.ahead.org/

19. Transition Services • Division of IDEA CoordinationTexas Education Agency1701 N. Congress AvenueAustin , TX , 78701 (512) 463-9414 http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cte/index.html

20. Resources • A National Gateway to Self-Determination • The Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment • National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability http://www.ncwd-youth.info/ • Transition Center http://transcen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=48&Itemid=50 • Federal Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment http://www.dol.gov/odep/ • NEXTStep Transition Planning http://interact.uoregon.edu/NEXTStep/NextSTEPintroduction.html • Texas Center for adults with disabilities http://www.abilityconnectiontexas.org