transition planning

Transition planning should be for both college bound & other. What is being done to help him develop these organization & focus skills (besides writing goals for him that say he’ll get them)? What about self-advocacy? How independent a learner is he (andhow willing to accept what kinds of help?)

Sue,
Nothing is being done. There are written goals in an iep, but nothing really happens, other than the school stating that he needs to be more responsible-just blaming him and saying “your in high school now”.

OK, sounds like most schools — they realize they’re required to Have A Transition Component and hey, they want to be legal so they do it. Like the rest of the IEP goals, they’ll have nothing to do with preparing the kid for the transition, and everything to do with not interfering with the daily school routine.
How bad is it? Is he making it? These college-ability kids get shoved off hte college-bound conveyor belt pretty easily and decide its more fun to hang out with the party animals (and the ones that start college have a pretty dismal record for graduation). A real key is his perception of the whole process — whether or not he believes he’s college material and intellectually able even if he doesn’t fit the school’s model of that.
Their transition goals will be things like “will explore career choices that match his specific strengths and weaknesses.” If somebody is paying attention then they’ll get some “read these pages about this career and answer the questions” exercises that may or may not teach him anything.
Does he have a career goal, vague or specific? Or should he really be beginning to explore this? Some kiddos can *really* benefit by real exposure to the “working” world in various settings so they realize that there *is* life after that absurdity known as school. The “work ethic” students learn in high school can be some of the worst preparation for success in the work world (basically, endure what you’re told to do and find the easiest possible way to look like you’ve done what you were supposed to do).
I’m hoping that this *isn’t* the picture where you are and these seem like the ramblings of someone who should drink her tea and get to work :)

Sue,
Some of your comments sounds right on target. He is entering 9th grade. He has observed how kids find the easiest route to get through school and look like they’ve done what they should. He has not fully participated in these behaviors but has discussed them w me to see if I think it cheating or if he has my approval (he would feel guilty minus my go ahead). The behaviors going on are such things as reading only book synopses, using essays posted on the internet (he is not aware of anyone using these but knows kids talk about these websites). They have not even done a transition plan which is why I am asking what should be in it. I assume from the comments above it is useless. Making it is all relative. He struggles with Cs in 2 classes and has As and Bs in the rest. He has gotten 2 Fs on finals in the past, but passed the courses with B in one and A- in the other. Notebooks, and locker are both a disaster. Since his grades do not reflect out and out failure and other kids have worse grades, they ignore his issues. He has no idea about what is required for college and it is 4 years away still, so he is not afraid (he always appears confident even when he should not be). He does not know what he wants to be and is not particularly far stronger in any one subject. He does attend what is considered a good high school by the public. I know he needs a small college with small classes and supports for time management and organization. He currently has no work ethic as most boys in his school try to slide by, as I described above. There seem to me more girls with study skills, but they do not influence my son. If I stand over him, he will apply himself after first resisting. Organizing and study skills are lacking the most, not basic skills or knowledge. Any transition suggestions that would be worthwhile in or out of school?

Sounds like you’ve got a workable relationship going htere ;)
WHat does he have to say about his future, about college? (He may have serious, if hidden, self-doubts and be fundamentally afraid to even think about it, sticking to getting through this year or this week or this assignment.)
Here’s a key question: Why did he get F’s on those finals? If he’s a kiddo who works hard, behaves himself, but really hasn’t learned the stuff well enough to retain it for the final, and has pretty much forgotten it all, that’s a real red flag for a kiddo in survival mode who will need to make huge changes to succeed in college. (It is not too late to make that change though.) In a way, if reading a synopsis means he gets the main points of a story into the old long-term memory instead of having to plow through four times as many words and remember none of it, then that’s not cheating — though if there’s time he *should* read the synopsis and *then* read the whole book (or listen to it on tape) because there really is a lot more to books than any synopsis. Requiring him to find something *not* in the synopsis is a good idea. Realizing that yes, it’s more work to read the synopsis and then the book is part of realizing that yes, succeeding academically with LDS is more work.

The very best transition skill he can acquire is getting real background knowledge and a sense for knowing when he knows something, and real confidence that he knows something. This means looking at learning tasks with that in mind and it often flies directly in the face of most middle & high school boys’ fervent desire to LOOK LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE at all costs, so it may take a few heart-to-heart talks. Because in my experience, accommodations are often necessary so that a kiddo doesn’t have to spend 4 hours on homework, *not* learning what the 10 most important terms mean, *not* learnign good study strategies that work for *him* because there’s this “answer the 30 questions” assignment that may be perfectly suitable for other kids but aren’t for him. You can also have more discreet accommodations — giving him serious help including dictation or finding the answers for the long part, practically doing that part for him — on the terms that after that you’ll go back to the critical concepts and *learn* ‘em.
I’d recommend spending some time talking about the realities and fears about academics and college and the future. Of course, *listen* and listen well for dreams and fears. Ask him what his wildest dreams are if he didn’t have any trouble in school, etc… and talk honestly about what it would take to reach those dreams.

I just got my IDA Perspectives yesterday, and the theme is Postsecondary Education and students with learning disabilities. I’m at the scanner now, zipping back & forth between computers (IDA has a generous permissions policy) so these emails are probably a little choppy — but some of th is will be going on my website soon :)

Got my Dyslexia Assoc. quarterly last week and postsecondary ed. was the feature. If you can find a copy it’s worth a browse (though the “transition IEP” article was a disappointment to me — stopped short of suggstions for what to focus on and how to teach things like academic independence and self-advocacy, just emphasized that it’s important, duh.)

Transition planning is for “what am I going to do next” living. That might be college and could be the world of work, it’s just - how are they going to get there. I would suggest your student list everything they think they will need to be successful at the next level and develop a plan to get there. He may find that college isn’t where he wants to go and can plan accordingly. This involves the classes he takes to the visits of institutions he takes between now and graduation. It’s just a plan and can be altered along the way

thought of something else - I had my son, who is a senior, do some searching on the internet for schools. He looked at requirements for admission, costs, programs, and then requested information about the school. Having your son take an ACT/SAT at an early point in his high school career will give him a very good idea where his strengths and weaknesses are as far as college admission is concerned. Additionally, if he is going to have some financial responsibility for his college education, he might want to get involved. Most of the kids I work with are thinking this next level is going to be easy but what they don’t realize is that mom and dad are not going to bail them out - it is up to them. Community colleges are the best place for services and class sizes.

I had a chance to read and reread the posts. Very helpful. Thanks