The transition
process is mandated by law, but the family needs to
take several important steps:
1. Begin preparation for transitioning
of your child to adult life early on
Having special educational needs, IA
children may have a specific mental and psychosomatic
"profile" that needs to be taken into consideration
when preparing for transitioning.
- They may have a distinct neurologically
based disorder related to their pre- and post-birth
adverse conditions, such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
or Autism. In most cases, however, this is a generalized
(undifferentiated) weakness of Central Nervous System
that reveals itself in sensory-motor disintegration,
emotional reactivity and rigidity, dis-regulated
attention and concentration, and host of "soft"
neurological signs.
- The children might have an exposure
to severe neglect, abuse, and deprivation in early,
most formative years of their life, which mediated
their development and lead to what is known as Developmental
Trauma Disorder. Among most prominent characteristics
of children affected with DTD are "mixed maturity"
(delays in self-regulation of emotions and behavior),
hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal, emotional fragility/oversensitivity,
and cumulative delays in cognitive/ academic functioning
in comparison with age norms and expectations.
- The children who were adopted at
school age, had to overcome a range of atypical
problems, such as an abrupt loss of their first
language; a specific mode of the English language
learning, a social/cultural/educational deprivation
that resulted in adjustment difficulties to the
new social/cultural environment and more advanced
educational system.
- And, finally, IA children have
to deal with the specific adoption issues (abandonment
syndrome, attachment difficulties, negative self-perception,
etc.), which create an overall negative emotional
background for learning and socialization.
The overall consequence of the adverse
conditions that IA children have to overcome is the
need to begin the transition planning for them much
earlier than at the mandated 16: they need more time
to prepare; they are intimidated by the unknowns of
the future; often have low self-esteem and motivation
to achieve. The parents must set the stage for transition,
working on developing the necessary and applicable
skills from the time when their child is young. Self-confidence
develops only when there are actual achievements to
base it on, and those, no matter how small, come through
consistent and intense learning, training, and the
acknowledgment of success. Early on the IA children
need to be led into activities where they will be
reasonably capable to succeed and stay in; they can't
be left with the task of selecting such activities
by themselves later - that is the responsibility of
the family.
By 16 the student's IEP must include
measurable post-secondary goals and transitional services.
At this point, your teenagers need already have some
ideas about what they are good at, what they want
and can do, and which college or vocational training
institution they need to go to accomplish their goals.
The years of previous training and skill development
are the basis for this decision - do not rely on school
in directing your child towards certain occupations:
there were 168 hours in a week; 35 hours were spent
in school and 133 hours at home, and they should not
have been wasted.
2. Understand and manage educational
documentation
All students with special needs are
getting either a standard diploma or a certificate
that has different titles in different states. Work
with your child to avoid having a certificate if you
have in mind a post-secondary occupational training
or college. HS diploma is needed practically for all
forms of after-school training or education.
Depending of your child's level of functioning,
you may develop Plan A (college) and Plan B (occupational
training). You need to be informed that more than
80% of 2-year and 4-year colleges in the US have offices
for students with learning disabilities requiring
different levels of accommodations for educational
and physical handicaps. Moreover, there are two post-secondary
educational institutions (Beacon College in Florida
or Landmark College in Vermont) that specialize on
working with students with different learning disabilities.
Your selection of college, among other
things, will depend on the "fit" between
your child's need for support and accommodations the
college is able to provide. Understand the difference
between IEP and 504 Plan: IEP contains a designation
of disability, the methodologies to remediate disability,
and the management procedures for addressing it through
remedial instructions, accommodations, and related
support services, while 504 Plan is just a range of
accommodations suitable for post-secondary education
(or occupational training). However, IEP ends with
the graduation ceremony at High School, and colleges
and trade schools accept only 504 Plan.
Assuming that your child graduates with
regular diploma, carefully examine their most recent
IEP to see how to convert it into a 504 plan. This
is your way to insure that the accommodations continue
in the post-secondary environment under the protection
of the Americans with Disability Act. Remember, this
is to be done while your child is still in high school,
prior to graduation. Before taking your child off
the IEP, you should request the document called Summary
of Performance (SOP). This document is a comprehensive
presentation analysis of your child's academic and
cognitive strengths and weaknesses at the moment when
the IEP ends and the accommodation plan of the 504
begins. In a college of your choice, visit the office
of disability and confirm with a counselor there that
your child's 504 Plan is consistent with the college
requirements. Make revisions in the plan if necessary.
3. Teach the child self-advocacy
In high school your teenager should
concentrate on a set of skills called "self-advocacy".
Again, do not rely completely on the school even when
self-advocacy is a written goal in your child's IEP
- you have to do your part in building of this skill.
Ask yourself: does my child fully understand his/her
disability, is he/she able to explain it and request
due help and support? Talk with your teenagers about
their strengths (what do they do well) and the extent
of their disability (what is difficult for them to
do). You need to teach (direct instructions, role
playing, etc.) your youngster the words to use about
what they can and cannot do. With enough practice,
they will learn to speak from the position of strength,
not embarrassment, and they will communicate with
confidence.
