5456 TRANSITIONS ASSGN
Candyy31
5456RESPONSE1.docxRESPONSE 1
SaturdayJul 2 at 11:20am
Transition planning is a very important component to the IEP process. Although, typically all of the students I work with at the high school level already have a transition plan in place, it must be updated each year. At my current school, we usually give the students on our caseload at least two transition assessments to survey their interests, skills, and abilities. I also like to informally ask the student questions about their interests, hobbies, and strengths/weaknesses to gain a better understanding of how to develop their transition goals and activities. For as long as I have been a special education teacher, it has been incredibly difficult to find time in the busy daily schedule to pull students to work on these activities along with monthly progress monitoring of IEP goals. I try to pull students during my planning block, but typically try to avoid pulling them if it interferes with an academic core content area class. If I do not see that student in a class during the day, then I have also asked one of their other inclusion teachers that is with them during a class to have them work on some of the activities if there is downtime in a class. Sometimes, you just have to get creative with the time you are given.
If a transition activity is for them to do research on a career of their choice, then I may ask them to work on it at home with their parents. This allows parents to get involved in the transition process. Also, if a student is interested in the career their parent has chosen, then a possible activity could be to job shadow their parent. If the student has independent living skill goals, that is a great way to have parents help the student accomplish them and be involved. Typically, in an IEP meeting, I describe the transition plan as a way for us to plan and prepare the student for life after high school. I also let the parent know that their input is very important and the transition plan is not "set in stone." It is fluid and can change from year to year depending upon the student's current interests and life goals.
IRIS Center. (n.d.). IRIS | page 1: An overview of secondary transition. Retrieved July 2, 2022, from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/cou2/cresource/q1/p01/#content
Polloway, E., Patton, J., Serna, L., & Bailey, J. (2021). Strategies for teaching learners with special needs (2-downloads) (12th ed.) [E-book]. Pearson.
RESPONSE 2
MondayJul 4 at 8:59am
Secondary teachers play a huge role in helping to make sure students receive transition services. While pulling students from class may not be an option, there are several things an educator can do to ensure that students receive transition services. Ensuring that students have the necessary accommodations for college entrance exams, finding colleges that provide educational programs that align with the students ideal career, identifying types of accommodations the students will need and targeting schools that can provide those accommodations, assisting in the application process for colleges, and assisting in preparing documents that the student would be required to have for college are all things a secondary teacher could do without even taking the student from class (Mellard, 2005).
Including the student and parents in transition planning is very important in ensuring that students are successful in postsecondary or workforce settings upon graduation. Having students fill out a career interest inventory is one way to get students involved in the transition process. As a follow-up to this, it would also be important to provide information about possible careers (Polloway et al., 2018). Providing students with information on study skills and learning strategies could help the student identify areas of current strengths and weaknesses (Mellard, 2005). Another way to get the student involved is to have the student come up with their own transition goals and to help them think through their goals for their entire life. Getting the parents involved could include providing transitional brochures, getting the parents involved in the IEP early on, and planning a futures night where parents can get information on things like careers, vocational rehabilitation, guardianship, and anything else that would be important to their child (Kellem & Morningstar, 2010).
In an IEP meeting, I would describe transition as a process to help the student go from a secondary setting to a post-secondary setting or into the workforce. I would explain to the parent the importance of planning these goals out now, so that way we can make sure we are preparing the student adequately for what they want to do with their life.
References
Kellems, R. O., & Morningstar, M. E. (2010). Tips for transition. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 43(2), 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/004005991004300206
Mellard, D. (2005). Strategies for transition to postsecondary educational settings. Focus on Exceptional Children, 37(9), 1–20.
Polloway, E. A., Patton, J. M., Serna, L., & Bailey, J. W. (2018). Strategies for Teaching Learners with Special Needs (11th ed.). Pearson
