Transition Planning Tips From a Parent Mentor

Parents and teachers can work together with a student to achieve transition planning goals.

1. Begin to incorporate functional skills throughout the day, not just at school. Parents may need assistance in brainstorming ways to incorporate functional skills, such as comparing prices at the grocery store.
2. Work toward more independence. Carefully analyze times throughout the day when students can be more independent. This often builds students’ self-esteem leading to more successes.
3. Provide increasing amounts of responsibility. Students should be given chores from an early age. When they are older, students should be encouraged to obtain a part time job, such as babysitting or lawn work. If this is not possible, students should be encouraged to volunteer in the community.
4. Incorporate decision-making into all aspects of a student’s life. Students should be making choices. Start out with only two choices. Making choices helps students to accept ownership and realize there are positive and negative consequences that follow our actions.
5. Address social skills throughout the day. Students need to know what is expected in various situations and be given the opportunity to practice at school, home, and in the community.
6.  Express high expectation for life after high school. Expose students to various careers and opportunities in the community.
7. Promote self-advocacy in the school, home, and community. Students need to be able to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as be able to explain strengths and weaknesses to people. Parents and teachers should not hide weaknesses but rather TEACH students that EVERYONE is different. Students should have a toolbox of strategies to compensate for weaknesses and highlight strengths.
8. Complete applications for post-secondary resources, such as SSI and Medicaid waivers. These resources often have lengthy waiting list, so these should be completed early in the student’s high school years.
9. Research financial resources for students looking to further their education after high school.
10. EMPOWER your child to be the best they can be and CELEBRATE every accomplishment.

Kim Chester, Bartow County Parent Mentor