Transitions, What Should I
Expect?
by Carla Albert, PT

The Bitterroot Special Education Cooperative is a partner in Project WISER. This article reflects one of their staff member’s goals for the impact of the project on transition in the Bitterroot Valley schools.

Parent: What is Transition?
Answer: Transition refers to the process of preparing your child for adult life. It is referring to the process of leaving the educational system and entering the adult world. It is preparing for life after school is over. In the school system, the transition process should include employment opportunities, ideas for living arrangements and maximum independence, recreation and leisure activities, and community involvement options to name a few.

Parent: That’s a lot of stuff to deal with. When should transition start?
Answer: Hopefully your child’s education is preparing them for adulthood from the start, maximizing independence, discovering your child’s strengths, and developing skills. Federal law states transition has to start at the age of 14. We recommend it start in junior high or earlier.

Parent: How do I know if it has started for my child?
Answer: Your child’s case manager (usually his/her special education teacher) is responsible for overseeing this process. There is a page of the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) devoted to transition. This is fairly new and teachers are just learning how to use this and how to put it into action. They are required to fill it out for all students in the special education program.

Parent: Great! You’re telling me that teachers are just learning about transition. I want my child supported and to benefit from this transition process. What can I do?
Answer: Be an advocate for your child, ask questions, and monitor results. Get involved with the WISER Task Force on transitions to figure out ways to help teachers, students, parents, and paraeducators alike to do the best job possible.

Parent: OK, some more fluff. I want something concrete to take place. What’s the first step?
Answer: We recommend you ask for a Vocational Profile to be compiled.

Parent: A what?
Answer: The Vocational Profile is the result of a process known as “Discovery” – used for career planning for students or adults with significant barriers to employment. A document is created to learn about the student so the transition team can focus on job development and supported employment. We are piloting the use of the Vocational Profile beginning around the age of fourteen which is added to and refined throughout the remainder of the student’s education. It is very student specific: gathering information about his/her family, community, interests, learning styles, life activities and experiences, to name a few areas addressed. It is a process that involves meeting with the family and student, interviewing various people involved with the student, observations of different situations and a written description of all the areas looked at. The result is an extensive fourteen page document which captures who the student is and then summarizes the ideal characteristics of work or activities, the student’s possible contributions, special interests, and expected benefits to the student.

Parent: Wow, who is going to do this? Is it really necessary?
Answer: We’re hoping someone in every District will be a “Profiler”. It is a collaborative process between the family and all of the school personnel, but there needs to be a point person and author to collect and write down the findings. The Vocational Profile is a very useful document in planning each student’s high school career. It will help give IEP teams direction and goal ideas to be worked on in preparation for the future. It’s really not making much more work for anyone but rather helping to give everyone better student specific direction. The idea is to cooperatively plan the remainder of your child’s education according to their interests, skills, and support needs. You can request this as an evaluation for the CST (Child Study Team) which is done every three years to determine your child’s eligibility for special education and which services will be provided. By the time your child is in junior high you may feel you have been focusing on your child’s deficiencies and working on the same goals year after year. Participating in the Vocational Profile process is an opportunity to gain some positive information about your child and use it to guide his or her future.

Parent: What do you mean?
Answer: The Profile is a very positive process. It explores the child in settings where they are “at their best”, performing natural tasks. It looks at what they like to do and how they do it. It is very descriptive of their current function and mentions the support systems that work for them. It tries to figure out what characteristics make your child successful.

Parent: I’m not so sure about this vocational part...you’re talking about employment?
Answer: Yes. It is our belief that everyone can work. Every individual can meaningfully contribute to an employer somewhere who is willing to pay regular wages for the service. It is up to the team (including the student and family) to try and figure out what that contribution might be and to shape that vision into reality.

Parent: WHOA. What world are you living in? I figure my child will be safe and supported at a sheltered workshop. Those are the opportunities I’ve heard about.
Answer: Sheltered workshops work under the premise of training their workers for jobs and they pay well below minimum wage. They are closing all over the country in an effort to get individuals more involved in the community. A Supreme Court Decision, Olmstead v. L.C.1999, was a case involving institutional vs. community living and mandated that all state and local programs are integrated (part of the community). Studies show that people working in the community are far more productive and happy, and they make more money. Adult services can offer supports of varying degree to your child to help them be gainfully employed in the community.

Parent: OK. You’ve lost me. How does all this stuff fit together with this Vocational Profile and adult services?
Answer: It is our hope that the Vocational Profile paves the way to employment before your child graduates. That this job is one that your child likes, that we’ve had the chance to work out all of the kinks and that the adult service world will pick up the supports your young adult needs to stay gainfully employed. It can actually make the adult service provider’s job easier.

DISCLAIMER: This is a fictitious question and answer scenario thought of by an optimistic Physical Therapist wanting to make a difference in peoples’ lives. I work in the schools and am eager to make the students I work with have meaning in their lives and something to work towards. It is a way to break down barriers into the community and give me something concrete to work on in the schools with my older children. It has been a privilege to be a “profiler” and begin the transition process with a handful of students this summer and I am eager to see how it all unfolds... Carla Albert, P.T.

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