This wiki began as a housing for all our workshops from the Vermont DOE and Voc Rehab's (VR) "Conference in the Clouds". In addition to housing workshops and videos pertinent to transition planning for youth with disabilities, we are also going to use this site as a means for getting updates out to the field.
Please take some time to get acquainted with our site. You'll notice folders along the right hand side. Those folders contain a variety of resources including examples of transition assessments, transition plan samples, FAQs and much more. If you scroll further down you'll see the quick links to the other transition resource websites for Vermont.
The popular transition workshop videos are now in a folder along the right hand side.
Feel free to contact me if you have ideas for helpful resources, have questions or would like to set up a training (either face to face or over video conference).john.spinney@state.vt.us
Note- If you don't want to receive email updates everytime a change is made then go to- "account" in upper right; then click "home" then scroll down to preferences and change the setting.
Virtual Technical Assistance:
Click here for video resource tour #1- This 3 minute video goes over the 14 NSTTAC case studies and their corresponding post graduationoutcomes and annual transition goals.
Informal Needs Assessment (High School Special Education)
Please post what technical assistance you would like to see from the VT DOE around transition planning in special education. Post your comments on this page-Special Educator Needs
The U.S. Department of Labor has released "Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success," a collection of career development exercises and activities to help sharpen the communication and other "soft skills" of young workers, including those with disabilities. The curriculum covers communication, networking, enthusiasm and attitude, teamwork, problem-solving, critical thinking and professionalism. It was based on a survey of businesses to figure out the most important skills for young workers.
The Autism Transition Guide website is being developed by the Howard Center through a grant from Developmental Services. The steering committee is seeking photos and videos of young adults with ASD who have transitioned to employment or college and would like to share their story in a video, photos, or writing. If you know of someone who would like to contribute to this please give them the below release form and have them contact Jen Mitchell at the Howard Center at JenM@howardcenter.org
This is a great opportunity for someone with ASD to share their story and help others with ASD through the challenging transition process.
1-3-12 Call for entries: 2012 VSA International Young Soloists Award: Musicians with disabilities and ensembles including one or more musicians with disabilities, ages 14-25, may apply. Four recipients will each receive $5,000 and a chance to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Deadline for entry: January 31, 2012. For guidelines and application information, see www.kennedy-center.org/IYS.
VSAC financial aid training for education professionals
Plan to attend VSAC’s financial aid trainings for education professionals on Friday, December 9. This year’s half-day training will be held at VSAC in Winooski from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Unable to attend? Stay tuned. We understand that with resource limitations you may not be able to travel to the in-person training. We are working on alternate delivery options.
New to high school counseling? We encourage you to attend a Paying for College presentation to learn the basics of financial aid, and to hear about the challenges your students and families face as they think about covering college costs. You can also view this presentation online at www.vsacworkshopsonline.
10-6-11 Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education: Know your rights and Responsibilites produced by U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights
10-4-11 Workshop Series for Families whose Teens and Adults have Developmental Disabilities
What Every Parent Needs to Know as their Teen Approaches Adulthood
Take a deep breath. Your child with special needs is becoming an adult and you need to know where to start planning for the future.
Please join us as we break down the to-do list into 10 digestible bits of information.
Presenter: Claudia I. Pringles, Developmental Disabilities Specialist, Vermont Family Network
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 10:00-11:30 a.m. at Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier
Tuesday, October 25, 2011 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Rutland Mental Health/CAP Education and WellnessCenter, 78 S. Main Street, Rutland
A Discussion on Housing
What are the housing options presently available for adults with developmental disabilities?
What are families concerns about housing?
Tuesday, September 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Chittenden Families Together Meeting
At Vermont Family Network, 600 Blair Park Road, Williston
Wednesday, November 2, 6:00-7:30 p.m. at The Inspire School for Autism, 77 Dyland Road, Brattleboro
What’s Next?
What services are available when my teen transitions to adulthood?
This workshop is presented in collaboration with the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health and the VermontCenter for Independent Living.
Presenters: Claudia I. Pringles, Developmental Disabilities Specialist, Vermont Family Network;
Cindy Marshall, Assistant Director from the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health; and
Mark Kaufman, Advocacy Manager from the VermontCenter for Independent Living.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 10:00-11:30 a.m. at the Second Congregational Church All Purpose Room, 115 Hillside Street, Bennington
Tuesday, November 8, 10:00-11:30 a.m. at the First Congregational Church of Morrisville, 85 Upper Main Street, Morrisville
For more information & to RSVP, email Amy Huckins-Noss at amy.huckins-noss@vtfn.org or call 1-800-800-4005 ext. 225.These workshops are sponsored by the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council.
CTE (Career and Technical Education) and special education guidance documents. This is non-regulatory guidance related to the enrollment of students on IEPs in CTE centers.
Job Path is one vocational rehabilitation vendor demonstrating effective practices for people with ASD. This presentation will focus on Job Path's program design and practices that have helped successfully place consumers in competitive employment.
The audience for the Working with Youth Conference can be broadly defined as anyone whose personal or professional life impacts the lives of youth in some significant way. A broad spectrum of individuals attend including educators, social workers, staff members from teen-centers and out of school time programs, health care professionals and numerous others from fields that involve interaction with young people. Equally important are the parents, community members and volunteers who attend. We work hard to ensure that the content for this conference is broadly applicable, and continues to build a common understanding among Vermont's diverse cadre of youth workers.
Update 5-3-11 Only 30 slots left! Register now if you want to attend.
4-8-11 Registration is now open for the Creating Opportunities: The Future of Education and Work Conference. This FREE career planning event for K – 12 school professionals and their partners is sponsored by VSAC, DOE and VocRehab. New workshops, opportunities to network, free lunch and refreshments and much more!!!
Note that this conference is replacing the Annual Core Transition Team Peer Learning Event for this year.
The CITY Program: Transition Assessment and Planning Based on Career Exploration on a University Campus
Date: April 6, 2011 - 3:00 pm ET (2 pm Central - 12 pm Pacific)
Supported by The HSC Foundation, The George Washington University and Kingsbury School developed a university-school partnership-Career Investigations for Transitioning Youth (C.I.T.Y.)- to develop a community-based transition program. This program demonstrated how partnerships between universities and high schools can result in rich and relevant transition preparation for students with disabilities.
Attention schools and families in need of assistive technology, durable medical equipment or adaptive vans and more: Be sure to check out the community web-site www.getATstuff.com or call Sharon - Toll Free 888-827-2714 for assistance. Schools may also share and access equipment with 31 Supervisory Unions and the UVM I-Team currently participating in www.Vermont.ATschoolswap.com. The Medicaid Equipment Reuse Project, also retrieves Medicaid Equipment no longer needed, as well.
3-17-11- Help us strengthen work based learning opportunities for all students.
Vermont Work Based Learning Survey
Audience: High School Work Based Learning Contact, School based employment specialist, special education directors, High school principals, business teachers
The High School and Adult Division at the VT Department of Education is interested in information on current work-based learning opportunities available in our high schools. This could be employment training experiences for youth with or without disabilities. Your responses will provide valuable feedback in our efforts to strengthen and expand work based learning as part of our flexible/engaged learning opportunities for students, aligned with the State Board’s strategic plan and our ongoing work with the New England Secondary Schools Consortium. To view and complete the survey, go tohttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/vtworkbasedlearning.
Supported by The HSC Foundation, The George Washington University and Kingsbury School developed a university-school partnership –Career Investigations for Transitioning Youth (CITY)– to develop a community-based transition program.This program demonstrated how partnerships between universities and high schools can result in rich and relevant transition preparation for students with disabilities.
Join us on a conversation to explore some strategies for developing school-community partnerships, while establishing opportunities for transitioning youth with disabilities.
Title: Developing School–Community Partnerships for Enhanced Transition Planning and Assessment
Greetings. The Annual Core Transition Team Peer Learning event is morphing this year! The Department of Education and Voc Rehab are collaborating with VSAC to expand their annual Career Planning Conference that will be held on May 23rd at VTC and we hope that you will all plan on attending.
I have attached a Save the Date and we will be sending out more infomation soon.
Hope to see you all there! Please note that the flyer reflects the details prior to the merger of our 2 conferences. The concept is to have a career planning conference focused on postsecondary transition for ALL students.
Webinar - Discovery and Customized Employment presented by Ellen Condon of the Center for Excellence in Disability Education, Research and Service at the University of Montana's Rural Institute will be hosted from 3 - 4:30 PM
2-10-11 Attention students and families! Plan to attend the College Pathways event. This is a series of workshops all about the transition to college put on by our friends at VSAC. Session 2 has a specific focus for students with disabilites who plan to go to college.
The session will address:
* The transition from secondary to post-secondary, specifically the differences between high school advocacy
programs and self-advocacy in college
* Promote the assistance provided by Student Support Services at some colleges
* Questions to ask as you visit colleges and their websites as you decide to apply
* Explanation of federal laws regarding accommodations at the college level
* Highlight the documentation requirements and material to compile
* Consider sharing personal anecdotes of successful transition to college
Here's a link to all the information for this event.
1-25-11 If anyone has students who are interested in Job Corps (free) after graduation you may want to check this out. Kim Collins will be at the Barre VT Dept of Labor office on Thursday February 17th at 2:30pm to give an orientation about Job CORPS.
Please call her at 802-877-0139 to reserve a spot.
Yes you can add anyone who would benefit from knowledge specific to high school youth with disabilities as they transition to post graduation settings. Simply have them request access to join this workspace (upper right hand section) or email me their email address.
This is a pretty sweet site as it is great for bringing folks up to speed with where things are and provieds support and guidance to bring things to the next level.
Thanks, John. You have done a fantastic job with this site. i just veiwed the Transition resource tour video 1 and found it helpful (in spite of the fact that I am still on dial-up and it took a l-o-n-g while before I could actually watch it in its entirety). Also, re: the KU Transition Coalition seminars. I took them (with several colleagues) when offered two years ago and found them to be an excellent source of information. I have been telling other teachers at MAU about them and sharing the info ever since...and am hoping that some folks from MAU will sign up for this year's sessions.
Thanks for the great resources...I'm wondering how to register with startwhereyouarevt.org site. My students are really interested in making comments on the Video Snacks and uploading their own, but I can't seem to figure out how to access a log-in and password to save and make comments on the site. When I try and send a message, I receive an error notice. Thanks so much!
Bonnye Kelman
So glad you are using startwhereyouarevt.org with your students. We would love to have students post! If you would like to contact me so that we can help you with the technical issues you are seeing feel free to give me a call at 1-800-660-3561 ext 364 and we can get you set up!
Thanks, John, for the sample transition plans on Vt. forms posted 10/22. They help immensely!
I've got a couple of questions on Allison's plan: under Education and Training, is the Annual Transition Goal in Math the same as her IEP Goal? Also, under the List Transition Services in E&T, where it says "Visit three university campuses," is that a school, personal, or family responsibility? Similarly, under Employment, whose responsibility is it to arrange "job shadow experiences with children" and "part time employment in a position related to working with children." Since it's in the IEP it looks like it could be the school's responsibility to arrange the three university tours and job shadows. Thanks for your feedback and the great resources contained here!
David
Sorry for the delay in answering your question. Folks- keep the questions coming. That is part of why we have this wiki.
The annual transition goal underneath each post secondary goal is simply an annual IEP goal that relates to the student’s transition service needs. This annual goal should be directly linked to the post secondary goal. Can this annual goal which relates to transition services be a typical annual goal for math (in Allison’s example)? Yes but you don’t need to list it in 2 places. If it is only listed in the annual section it will need to have a clear indication that it is a transition goal. Also in the transition plan in the appropriate section it will need to indicate see annual goal x.
The transition services listed are services that will reasonably enable the student to reach her PS goals. In this example these are community experiences and employment training services.
Regarding the college visits- the LEA could include (where appropriate) web-based college exploration/virtual tours, visiting with college admissions reps (when they are at college “fairs” in VT), and inclusion in school-based college visits in the transition goals, with any actual visit to a campus left to the family.
Hi everyone
Please disregard the spam that came in over the weekend. It was links to some Turkish websites. Please delete the changbot email in your inbox. I also deleted it here on the site. I will contact PBworks about this. It is the first time this has happened since we've had this site.
Twelve voices define self determination and the challenges it faces with current attitudes and policies toward individuals with disabilities who want to take charge of their own lives
Comments (23)
Michael Ferguson said
at 4:02 pm on Jun 26, 2009
Way to go John. Your hard work has made all the difference in the world!! Thanks very much.
Michael
Mary Martineau said
at 11:30 am on Oct 1, 2009
This is great! Thank you so much :)
Kathy Callahan said
at 6:16 pm on Oct 1, 2009
John, these are great resources! Thanks!
tkeating said
at 10:34 am on Oct 6, 2009
21st century communication. This is great!
Erin Maguire said
at 12:04 pm on Oct 6, 2009
I'm doing a transition training for folks today - I can't tell you how helpful it has been to be able to come here and get all my resources!!!!!
Laurie Gossens said
at 11:53 am on Oct 8, 2009
John can we add staff to this wiki?
John Spinney said
at 2:26 pm on Oct 9, 2009
Yes you can add anyone who would benefit from knowledge specific to high school youth with disabilities as they transition to post graduation settings. Simply have them request access to join this workspace (upper right hand section) or email me their email address.
John Spinney said
at 9:43 am on Oct 13, 2009
Transition resource tour video 1 is now up.
Dudley said
at 11:59 am on Oct 13, 2009
Hey John-
This is a pretty sweet site as it is great for bringing folks up to speed with where things are and provieds support and guidance to bring things to the next level.
Janet Palmer said
at 1:17 pm on Oct 13, 2009
Thanks, John. You have done a fantastic job with this site. i just veiwed the Transition resource tour video 1 and found it helpful (in spite of the fact that I am still on dial-up and it took a l-o-n-g while before I could actually watch it in its entirety). Also, re: the KU Transition Coalition seminars. I took them (with several colleagues) when offered two years ago and found them to be an excellent source of information. I have been telling other teachers at MAU about them and sharing the info ever since...and am hoping that some folks from MAU will sign up for this year's sessions.
Kathi Fuller said
at 2:53 pm on Oct 13, 2009
This is the best John! Thanks for all the hard work and great information!
twila.perry@lyndoninstitute.org said
at 7:41 am on Oct 14, 2009
What a great resource for teachers in the field!
mcain@... said
at 1:12 pm on Oct 14, 2009
John, Thanks for the invite, this site looks really helpfull. Thanks, Mike Cain
John Spinney said
at 12:58 pm on Oct 21, 2009
A video on self determination was added to the sidebar.
Mary Barton said
at 6:07 pm on Feb 24, 2010
John,
Thanks for all the valuable info on transition. I find this site very helpful.
Mary Barton
Stacey Alexander said
at 1:02 pm on May 3, 2010
John I was wondering if you have any examples of multi-year plans that could be posted here? The updated transition information is great, thank you
Stacey Alexander
John Spinney said
at 1:08 pm on May 3, 2010
Hi Stacey-
Coming soon!
Bonnye Kelman said
at 9:19 pm on May 4, 2010
Thanks for the great resources...I'm wondering how to register with startwhereyouarevt.org site. My students are really interested in making comments on the Video Snacks and uploading their own, but I can't seem to figure out how to access a log-in and password to save and make comments on the site. When I try and send a message, I receive an error notice. Thanks so much!
Bonnye Kelman
ganguly@... said
at 1:11 pm on May 5, 2010
So glad you are using startwhereyouarevt.org with your students. We would love to have students post! If you would like to contact me so that we can help you with the technical issues you are seeing feel free to give me a call at 1-800-660-3561 ext 364 and we can get you set up!
Thanks!
Tia (VSAC)
davidb@cvuhs.org said
at 12:59 pm on Oct 28, 2010
Thanks, John, for the sample transition plans on Vt. forms posted 10/22. They help immensely!
I've got a couple of questions on Allison's plan: under Education and Training, is the Annual Transition Goal in Math the same as her IEP Goal? Also, under the List Transition Services in E&T, where it says "Visit three university campuses," is that a school, personal, or family responsibility? Similarly, under Employment, whose responsibility is it to arrange "job shadow experiences with children" and "part time employment in a position related to working with children." Since it's in the IEP it looks like it could be the school's responsibility to arrange the three university tours and job shadows. Thanks for your feedback and the great resources contained here!
David
John Spinney said
at 11:16 am on Nov 22, 2010
Hi David
Sorry for the delay in answering your question. Folks- keep the questions coming. That is part of why we have this wiki.
The annual transition goal underneath each post secondary goal is simply an annual IEP goal that relates to the student’s transition service needs. This annual goal should be directly linked to the post secondary goal. Can this annual goal which relates to transition services be a typical annual goal for math (in Allison’s example)? Yes but you don’t need to list it in 2 places. If it is only listed in the annual section it will need to have a clear indication that it is a transition goal. Also in the transition plan in the appropriate section it will need to indicate see annual goal x.
The transition services listed are services that will reasonably enable the student to reach her PS goals. In this example these are community experiences and employment training services.
Regarding the college visits- the LEA could include (where appropriate) web-based college exploration/virtual tours, visiting with college admissions reps (when they are at college “fairs” in VT), and inclusion in school-based college visits in the transition goals, with any actual visit to a campus left to the family.
John Spinney said
at 9:49 am on Jan 18, 2011
Hi everyone
Please disregard the spam that came in over the weekend. It was links to some Turkish websites. Please delete the changbot email in your inbox. I also deleted it here on the site. I will contact PBworks about this. It is the first time this has happened since we've had this site.
John Spinney said
at 7:47 am on Jul 12, 2011
Hi folks
We got spammed again today. I just talked to PBworks and made a change to the settings so hopefully this won't happen again.
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