Transition Services for Students with Disabilities

Hi J,

Thanks for your question.  I am sorry you haven't gotten a response.  Let's put your question out again and ask our group members to respond.

I am interested in youth transition and the kinds of services and supports that can be provided to youth while they are in middle and high school to facilitate their interest in career paths and adult education. I am interested in learning about the relationships between adult education and transition professionals in K12 settings. Also, I would love to learn about any suggestions you have regarding particular programs and practices that support student’s success in adult and career-related programs.

Do you use the Kohler Taxonomy for any of your work?

Rochelle Kenyon, SME

Hi J, and all,

I think the answer to your question may have several parts. Let’s try! Part I –Transition services and supports to facilitate interests in career paths. Part II- Transition services and supports to facilitate interests in Adult Ed. Part III- relationships between K12 and adult ed. Part IV- program and practices for adult and career –related programs.

Part I-Many school systems have transition and career exploration services built into their curriculum either as stand alone classes and or as internet services similar to what Pam discussed in Florida.  There are  internet products that are built specifically for career exploration/transition  for k-12 students with disabilities.  ( some free, some not) You may want to check out contracts that your local system may have in place already. The Department of Labor has a good internet based system for career exploration  for k12 and adults with disabilities:

http://www.dol.gov/odep/

 http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/youth/

 http://www.bls.gov/k12/

 There are also some great guides available on the Florida Department of Education web site. Dr. Marty Beech has authored several good ones.  

Project 10 in Florida, and in many states is an excellent resource. http://www.project10.info/

Often, if local systems do not have an organized career exploration system for youth, teachers and administrators can research and customize resources for their schools using existing offerings.

Part II-Transition services that support interest in adult ed and or CTE are a relatively new concept.  They are formalized in some states, not in others. Most of the products and services mentioned above reference, at least ,in general, post-secondary education.  Some are very specific. If systems do not have formal adult ed transition processes, usually one of the counseling staff on either the k-12 side, adult ed side or both, take it upon themselves to be that bridge for students.  K-12 programs such as duel enrollment and the building of post-secondary options into k-12 curriculum are encouraging students to consider post-secondary adult or CTE as options.   The transition process for students with disabilities is unique and has processes that need to take place for success. Those details need their own section. (part IV)

Part III –Relationships between k-12 and adult ed staffs are changing. Because system function often follows funding, lack of formal funding for transition encouraged system policies to ignore the process.  Transition funding has encouraged policies and practices in communication and relationship building.  That is probably the shortest answer I have every given to that question. (lol) From a practitioners stand point, I would find an adult ed counselors who usually deals with the issues anyway,  and ask them to advise k-12 students by being a guest lecturer or by getting the students passes to visit adult ed programs and visit the counselor.

Part IV-Programs and practices that support adult ed success are advertised in many forms from programmatic approaches to teacher resources. Not many of them, in my opinion, include comprehensive resources for adult students with disabilities.  You can check out the LINCS resources for some that do. I would highly suggest the State of Florida resources as a good start.  The most significant adult ed practice that has good results is simply to create a way for adult students to self-disclose and get accommodations that effect testing and instruction. That process is not simple but can be done in both systemic and in individual classroom settings.  Adult ed students need to have been taught appropriate post-secondary self-advocacy skills before they leave the k-12 system.  As adult ed staff  you may not have control over the k-12 curriculum, but self-advocacy is a great conversation starter with k-12.  There are documents about setting up both systemic and individual student accommodation programs in the docs. mentioned above.  We have used the info. from Marty Beech( mentioned above) as well as the  University of Kansas ( I can’t find the web reference at this point. If anyone wants just the document, let me know) as a simple set of docs for students to identify how disabilities can effect adult ed participation and accompanying accommodations. Knowing what your disability will effect in your adult ed life, potential accommodations and how to tell some one is the best individual student support for adults with disabilities success.  Hopefully this will add some  resources and perspective to your inquiry.

Thanks, Robin. This link may be the one you were looking for for University of Kansas materials: http://das.kucrl.org/materials

Hi All: There is an international conference taking place in CT in October that deals with understanding why some of our students have difficulty understanding information form an executive functioning perspective. These deficits effect them in all areas of their lives not just in the classroom as you all know. The conference is called Innovative Partnerships and Practices: The Path to Success for Parents with Learning Difficulties and Other CognitiveLimitations.While the title suggests that the primary issue is parenting in reality the conference looks at all  the areas in which these adults struggle. Check it out at www.achancetoparent.net.