Question:
If it weren't a serious endeavor that people work so hard at, I would call it a joke. There is some idea that at the end of their public school career, all our kids need is for a few adults to sit down and plan an almost trivial amount of training to make them ready for life.
The idea is right. At the end of high school, our kids generally are not ready for jobs, independent living, etc. It's usually true of our NDA kids as well, but they are better equipped to cope if we turn them out and we often give them four years more schooling anyway. Our kids with downs all take a little longer to learn things (at least all that I know). Most transitions programs (even when they start within high school) assume that our kids need just a little touching-up before they enter the world. The truth is that they usually have extensive needs.
What's your ideas/opinions???
Answer:
I think that the type of transition program Rick has described may, unfortunately, be all too common. However, this is an area where (1) students with disabilities and family members can have considerable influence in both changing the status quo and in creating a transition program that actually prepares that student for the transition from secondary education to adult life and (2) there actually are exemplary models out there showing that transition programming can work.
Students and family members can have influence in the process for the simple reason that in the 1990 amendments to the federal law which funds special education (now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA), there were a set of "transition mandates" included in the law that requires that every student receiving special education services who is 16 or older must have a statement of needed transition services in their IEP. The law defines transition services as:
"a coordinated set of activities for a student, designed within an outcome-oriented process, that promotes movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living or community participation."
