Transition Toolkit for Parents and Students

Why

Every parent is anxious about their child’s future; this is especially true when their child experiences a life-long disability. Post-secondary success is dependent upon careful preparation that should begin when transition planning first becomes part of a student’s special education program. To aid parents and students with this process, the Family Resource Center, in partnership with key stakeholders, will develop and distribute a Transition Toolkit to parents and students in Berkeley, Dorchester, and Charleston Counties. This resource will help families identify realistic and achievable post-secondary goals and assist in planning the education program that will help students attain them.

Parents must obtain a solid working knowledge on the array of post-secondary options that relate to education, employment, housing, health services, recreation, disability entitlements, and community access. The Transition Toolkit is a resource tool for families that may be effectively utilized to maximize their contribution to transition planning. Parents (and students to the greatest extent possible) must consider all aspects of transition as they work with the IEP team to assure programming that accurately addresses the student competencies necessary to reach identified post-secondary goals.

What

The Transition Toolkit has been developed and reviewed by a Steering Committee composed of parents, students, school district personnel, adult service providers, advocacy agencies, individuals with disabilities, and representatives from higher education. This team considered materials that focus on the key areas of Education, Employment, and Independent Living that include (but not limited to):

• Education: Diploma Options, GED, Adult Education, Post-secondary Education, SATs
• Housing: Independent Living, Supported/Supervised Living, Olmstead Act
• Employment: Competitive Employment, Supported Employment, Sheltered Workshops
• Support Agencies: DSN Boards, Voc Rehab, Social Security Administration
• Transportation: Drivers License, Public Transportation, Transportation-for-Hire
• Recreation: Special Olympics, Unified Sports, Community Parks, Summer Camps
• Legal/Civic: IEP Mandates, Voting, Age of Majority, Guardianship, Special Trusts

Where

Through collaboration with the tri-county school districts, the Transition Toolkit will be disseminated to students and parents during key IEP Transition planning meetings. Soon the Toolkit will be available on-line, on cds, and at other sites within the community. To introduce the Transition Toolkit to parents, students, and educators, the Family Resource Center will provide a workshop in each county and at the Family Resource Center’s annual conference.

When

The Transition Toolkit is available for download by clicking one of the links on this page. For more information, please contact the Family Resource Center (843-266-1318).

Helping South Carolina

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act was reauthorized in December of 2004 and its regulations were issued in August of 2006, performance plan requirements were included for State Education Agencies (SEAs). Each state must prepare a State Performance Plan (SPP) to guide in their implementation of IDEA and in how they report their progress and performance to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the US Department of Education. In turn, this allows OSEP to report concrete data back to Congress and to monitor and supervise State implementation in twenty specific areas. (For more information on the 20 OSEP Indicators please visit: http://nichcy.org/laws/idea/partb/indicators-partb).

The Family Resource Center is pleased to support South Carolina’s SSP by addressing two key Indicators: Indicator 8: Parental Involvement (Percent of parents with a child receiving special education services who report that schools facilitated parent involvement as a means of improving services and results for children with disabilities) and Indicator 13: Post School Transition Goals in IEP (Percent of youth aged 16 and above with an IEP that includes coordinated, measurable, annual IEP goals and transition services that will reasonably enable the child to meet the post-secondary goals).

Programs

Parent Training

Resources