Individualized transition services are a vital piece of the process when it comes to the post-secondary success of young adults with disabilities. Planning the implementation of those transition services for your students starts with being very familiar with your students’ strengths and interests. 

Some resources can assist you in helping your students research their career interests. When students are just starting in the transition process, there are some available resources, including the Charting the LifeCourse Focus on Transition to Adulthood document, that can help you with discussion starters on transition topics. Another resource, the Charting the LifeCourse Trajectory for Exploring, can help students list life experiences that are leading them to or moving them away from their vision for the future. There is also a Charting the LifeCourse Life Trajectory Tip Sheet for teachers or parents/guardians to review when assisting students.  Earlier this year, the IDOE Office of Special Education shared the Transition Planning Resource Guide 2020-2021. This document shares a variety of links to information on transition services. If you have a student who is beginning their career research the mySkills myFuture website is a great source for career exploration, training, and jobs that are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. This is a searchable resource with information on careers, including general description, details on salary and projected openings, typical training information, job duties, tools and technology required, etc. However, if you have a student who answers “I don’t know” to your question about what their career interests are, I would suggest looking at the My Next Move website. This is another searchable resource, but it also includes an interest survey, the O*Net Interest Profiler, that might help the students match a career to their interests.  

Ultimately, no matter what resource or tool you use, the goal of any of these resources is to assist you in having meaningful conversations with your students about their future. The Transition Planning Resource Guide has links to other interesting resources that are not highlighted here.  

Misty Crouch, Special Education Coordinator

The Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS) provides an array of “services for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities that enable them to live as independently as possible in their communities. BDDS assists individuals in receiving community supports using a person-centered approach to help determine which services are needed and who can best provide them.”   Individuals and families complete an application to determine eligibility for these services.  Information on the various services, available in English, Spanish, and Burmese, can be found on the BDDS website at this link: https://www.in.gov/fssa/ddrs/developmental-disability-services/

Last month, Earlywood hosted two virtual Medicaid Waiver Information Sessions, one for teachers and one for parents.  Our presenter, Kate McGill from Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS), shared a variety of information on various waiver topics and was able to answer specific questions about the process for teachers and parents at the end of each session.  Some of the one page fact sheets that were shared are linked below.  

If you have questions about the waiver, our presenter Kate, has shared her contact information and encouraged both parents and teachers to contact her if you have additional questions.  

BDDS Presenter Contact Information 

Kate McGill: Email: kathleen.mcgill@fssa.in.gov, Phone: 317-205-0102

BDDS Informational Links

FACT SHEET: About the Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services

FACT SHEET: About the Family Supports Waiver

CHECKLIST: Family Supports Waiver

FACT SHEET: Waiver Renewal

FACT SHEET: Supervised Group Living

If you have any questions after reviewing these materials and would like additional presentation information that was shared during our teacher/parent information sessions, please email me at: mcrouch@earlywood.org.

Misty Crouch, Special Education Coordinator

How many of you receive a newsletter in your inbox, but don’t ever get to read it?  I have many emails that I receive everyday from newsletters that I save because I “might” use it at a later date and I also  have the ones that I  still receive because I click delete it before even thinking it would be best to just unsubscribe from it.   However, among all of those messages, I get the weekly newsletter from the National Transition Technical Assistance Center (NTACT) and always find something that I can share with others working with students of transition age. 

This week, NTACT shared information on a five part webinar series on pre-employment transition services they co-hosted with The Workforce Innovation Technical Assistance Center (WINTAC).  This five part Webinar Series on Pre-Employment Transition Services is linked through the George Washington University Center for Rehabilitation Counseling Research and Education at this website: https://gwcrcre.org/pre-employment-transition-webinars/  This series features: curricula/activities, state spotlights, examples of expected outcomes and ways to identify student progress, tips for successful service delivery, and additional supports and resources that may be used.  

If you are looking to increase your knowledge of Pre-ETS and stay up to date on this topic, this is a way for you to learn or get a refresher at your own pace.  From the entire series, I found the Self-Advocacy one the most interesting.  It even included information related to the transition guide I shared in my last article in September.

If you have a transition topic that you need more resources for or another topic you would like covered in this year’s transition articles, please email me at mcrouch@earlywood.org.

Misty Crouch, Special Education Coordinator

Last month, I was reviewing the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services’ newly updated A Transition Guide To Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students and Youth with Disabilities and the something really caught my eye.  On page 22, there is a sample flowchart of key points in the transition process with details on the coordination of the process between schools and vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency processes.  

A little backstory on why this caught my attention.   When I was in the classroom, I taught middle school essential skills.  At different points in my time with the students, I would encourage parents to review the information concerning VR, but with everything that I was responsible for as a classroom teacher, paperwork to complete, and other school responsibilities, I never felt 100% sure of how much or how to best explain the ins and outs of VR services.  This information would have been so helpful to me when I was trying to do my best to explain how it was all interconnected.

There is so much more information in this document that is highly valuable to teachers responsible for the transition process. Check this out and see if there are any other information gems that you find helpful.

If you have a transition topic that you need more resources for or another topic you would like covered in this year’s transition articles, please email me at mcrouch@earlywood.org.

Misty Crouch, Special Education Coordinator