On the Legislative Front
Transition Planning: Is it Happening for Your Child?
by Eva Nichols
In the last issue of Communique, I wrote about the importance
of the IEP standards as delineated by the Ministry of Education.
During the next couple of months, school board staff and members
of the Special Education Advisory Committees will receive some training
on developing suitable IEPs, based on the students' strengths and
needs. Later this year, IEP audits will take place around the Province.
What we do not yet know is:
-
how the IEPs will be selected for audit;
-
will anybody check whether the components of the IEP are actually
delivered to the student in terms of programming;
-
what will be the consequences if the IEP is poorly written
and/or is not implemented?
The focus of this issue of Communique is learning disabilities
as an invisible disability. A key part of parent advocacy, including
promoting the development and implementation of an effective transition
plan, is to ensure that neither the disability nor the students
who have it are invisible. It is up to us to make the invisible
become visible.
There has been very little said about the Ministry's expectations
for transition planning in all the discussions about IEPs. Let us
look at the written standard for transition planning (page 16 of
the standards document):
Purpose of the standard:
To ensure that the student is well prepared to meet post-secondary
goals that are appropriate to his or her strengths, needs and interests
and that he or she receives the assistance necessary for making
a smooth transition.
This section of the IEP standard goes on to say that every student
who has a disability and who is 14 years of age or older must have
a written transition plan. The principal is responsible for the
existence of the plan, but he or she must consult with the student,
the parents, post-secondary educational institutions and/or community
agencies in developing the transition plan. The plan must contain
specific educational goals, both short term and long term, a list
of realistic and appropriate actions required to achieve those goals,
time lines and a list of individuals responsible for each step.
The intent is to ensure that appropriate choices are made by the
student for the student's post-secondary activities, including education,
training, work and community living.
Does your child have such a written transition plan in his or her
IEP?
If not, now is the time for parents to ask about transition planning,
before the schools begin the spring IPRC review meetings. If yes,
then you are lucky! But please make sure tha, at the time of your
annual review, you also discuss in detail all the components of
the IEP including the transition plan. Is it still appropriate?
Does it still reflect your child's current strengths, needs, interests?
Does it help the student to avoid having to face the barriers created
by having learning disabilities, through the use of coping skills,
compensatory strategies and accommodations?
Among the students who entered the learning disabilities pilot
projects funded through the Learning Opportunities Task Force, less
than 15% identified that they had received any transition related
guidance, help or support during the last couple of years of their
high school years. The majority of these students graduated from
secondary school in either 1999 or 2000, i.e. since the requirement
for transition planning went into effect. And yet, they did not
have this kind of help available to them.
I suppose it is possible that some students just do not recognize
a transition plan or a transition related activity, even if it were
happening. But since every exceptional student is expected to have
a significant role in developing, monitoring and implementing his
or her own transition plan, this would be hard to believe. The fact
is that the vast majority of students do not have a transition plan
in place and the only transition-related activity that they are
exposed to is the selection of the credit courses for the following
academic year.
This is not enough! As parents, we have to step into the breach
and insist that our children's legislated rights be met in this
regard. Because if transition plans are not happening, how likely
is it that the other parts of the IEP are implemented? And how likely
is it that they will find the right place for their future success.
School boards must be held accountable to ensure that their transition
planning process includes all the necessary learning disabilities-specific
components that will ensure that this large group of exceptional
students is effectively supported in their transition planning.
Essential components of transition plans for all students with learning
disabilities must include:
-
academic preparation, including literacy, metacognitive, problem
solving, communication and future goal specific skills;
-
personal skills development, including future independence,
life planning, social skills and self-advocacy skills development;
-
destination-specific preparation, including such things as
learning about adaptive technology, necessary and appropriate
accommodations in both educational and employment settings and
appropriate career choice related guidance services.
As a parent of a student with learning disabilities, it is up to
you to ensure that this happens for your child. A suitable transition
plan will not only assist your child now, but will also ensure that
he or she is not invisible as he or she goes on to higher levels
of education and later on into the workforce.
People often ignore that which they cannot see. But if they cannot
see learning disabilities, just like they cannot see electricity
or magnetic force or gravity or a virus, then they must be told
about these invisible things and we must conclusively demonstrate
their existence. We must also show the positive results that can
be obtained from positive action. The following model sets out what
needs to be done:
Person-centred transition planning:
-
Personal Profile
-
Future Lifestyle Preferences
-
Action Steps and Responsible Parties
-
Necessary Changes in the Service Delivery System
In Alice in Wonderland we learned that "if you don't know where
you are going, any road will take you there." Just "any road" was
not good enough for my children and I am sure that it is not good
enough for yours either! Effective transition planning is the first
step on the right road to a positive future.
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