Garrett Redman

Personal Resource Guide

What key websites or other resources will be helpful to you?
Course Textbook:
Writing Measurable Functional and Transition IEP Goals - by: Cynthia Herr and Barbara
Bateman
Websites:
Age Appropriate Transition Assessment Toolkit (3rd Edition):
http://nsttac.org/content/age-appropriate-transition-assessment-toolkit-3rd-edition

DPI - Special Education Home:

http://dpi.wi.gov/sped?old=sped.dpi.wi.gov/sped_spp-transition#TA

What key discussion forums should be copied to here?

Ways to Collaborate with Parents (Raena Housker)
Be professional and consistent with the parents. Prepare for meetings, call when you
say you'll call, build rapport with parents but keep in mind they are parents and not close
friends. Treat them as an equal who knows their child (as teachers know their child too,
just in a different way maybe) and can help them successfully navigate their school
years. Help lay the foundations of trust, empathy, and respect with the parents.
Age Appropriate Transition Toolkit (Christopher Ries)
The Independent Living Scale is an assessment used to evaluate the skills needed for
an individual to live independently, and identify areas where support may be needed.
There is a focus on domestic skills with this assessment. Areas evaluated include
hygiene and grooming, dressing, meal preparation, safety skills while in the community.
This can be appropriate for intellectually lower functioning students like those with
cognitive disabilities, and those who have difficulty performing fine and gross motor
tasks such as cerebral palsy. A teacher may use this to identify areas in daily living
skills where a student may need either skills to be taught, or to identify changes to an
environment that would facilitate independence. I would use this with my student with
CP in order to identify how his home environment could be modified to facilitate
independence.

The Brigance Transition Skills Inventory is similar. There are sections for independent
living skills, but the TSI brings in a broader set of skills as well. There are a number of
sections related to job skills, ranging from completing a job application to computer skills
and how to read a pay stub. There is also a great section on community resources that
assesses an individuals ability to find and use public resources from job centers to the
local library. With my current caseload a lot of these skills may not be achievable, but
this is definitely a good assessment for students who have the capacity to live
independent lives once they leave high school.
Transition Philosophy (Rachel Fritz)
Parents have given us the best they have to give. Students are now ending their time
with us. The goal is to enable each student to utilize the potential that he/she possesses
to become a well-adjusted, contributing member of society. Transitioning from school to
adult life is not only challenging but scary for most. We as teachers must guide students
in answering this essential question: What level of independence do you want and how
do we get there? Transition services offer students with disabilities optimistic and
realistic paths for their future.
Transition services promote movement from school to adult life and are a set of
coordinated activities for a student with a disability, designed within an ultimate outcome
in mind. Transition services must be based on individual student needs, in addition to
student preferences and interests. Through both formal and informal assessments,
student interests and skill level are identified. Transition provides a way to assist
students in successfully moving from school to adult life, while gaining life skills, building
self-esteem, and becoming as independent as they can be.
The essence of the transition planning process incorporates school professionals
working together with individual families and students to determine their individualized
transition process and outcomes. During our time with students in an academic setting
we need to help them become masters WITH content and not OF content. We need to
encourage cooperative behavior, strategic reading, critical thinking, problem solving,
research writing using technology, and communication skills so they can explore and
prepare for a 21st century integrated, digital world. We start with a strong
FOUNDATION of standards-based, integrated curriculums; using content to teach skills.
We create courses where students can EXPLORE different careers. We help them
develop a sense of self, purpose and direction for their lives. We then construct real
world opportunities for students to APPLY their knowledge and skills (internships,
community service projects, PLTW, etc.).

Transition affects everyone involved. In order to meet the needs of the student, we must
work together as a team in support of their goals for the future. Assisting them in any
way we can in answering that essential question is our responsibility.
DPI - PTP (Jacquelyn Frost)
PTP Form - Allison (Attachment)
Sample Functional Goal Reflection and Sharing
Entire Forum had a lot of good ideas and sharing.
What personal reflections have you made that should be noted here for future
reference?
As a special education teacher, our job is to be actively engaged in the transition
process and help the student lead a happy, meaningful life while in school and beyond.
How students and their families decide to define meaningful is up to them. We should
work with agencies as appropriate to apply for services, develop transition plans, and
complete activities and courses that will help students make progress towards these
post-school plans. Some students seek employment, postsecondary education, and/or
volunteering.
We need to do a better job of working on transition from elementary to middle school,
from middle school to high school, and from high school to the workforce/postsecondary education. All these different milestones having different expectations,
requirements, and rules. Collaboration amongst teachers and administration,
comprehensive curriculum for common core classes, communication between parents,
students, and teachers, and continuously developing life skills will help students
transition more effectively as they grow and develop. Parents need to be supportive of
what teachers are doing at school and teachers need to support parents. Expectations
need to be similar at home and school and students need to be held accountable.
Students need to also hold teachers and parents accountable when they are not doing
their part. Working together is the only way this transition process can be smooth and
effective.

What points that seem obvious to you now should be recorded, since you may
forget them a year after this class?
The process of writing measurable goals for functional skills is no different than writing
goals for academic skills. In the academic arena we typically have to operationalize, that
is, clearly define, what we want the student to understand or appreciate or
recognize. This operationalization is often difficult to accomplish. In functional areas, it
is usually easier to focus immediately on what we want the student to be able to do,
such as make a sandwich, sort laundry, or wash dishes (Herr, 2012).
We develop functional goals by focusing on the function skills a student needs to learn.
Functional skills range from teeth brushing to money management, from showering to
completing job applications. Some IEPs contain only functional goals interspersed with
primarily academic goals. Our concern is with the functional skills involved in everyday
activities (Herr, 2012).
At least two years prior to graduation, help the student identify who else may be able to
help him/her reach my goals, learn about their services, help him/her invite them to the
IEP meeting, and then apply for the services.
Obtain written consent to invite these identified outside agencies.
Encourage students and their families to become familiar with DVR services and
representatives.
For eligible students, coordinate services for the IEP, IPE, and Long Term Care and
Mental Health person-centered plan as appropriate, and encourage participation of all
stakeholders in IEP meetings.
Evaluate my childs progress annually with all appropriate stakeholders, provide me with
a summary of my childs performance (SoP) his/her last year of high school and make
recommendations to assist him/her in achieving his/her goals.
Encourage students and their parents/guardians to contact the ADRC when the student
is 17 years 6 months to determine eligibility for Adult Long Term Care services.
Obtain the proper consent to discuss the students transition with DVR and DHS
programs.