[Opening slide with the words, "This webinar series is provided by the Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans and by the Minnesota Department of Education.]
[Title slide: "Planning for Transition from High School to Post-Secondary Education or the Work Force"]
[A woman appears (Ann Mayes). Se is standing on one side of the screen and begins to sign. To her side is the following text, "Transition: Presenter: Ann Mayes, parent of a young adult who is Deaf in the workforce"]
Transition on the IEP means the parents, teachers, other team members, and most importantly, the student start to think about and plan for what happens after high school graduation. After high school graduation is now called post-school years. Transitions may look different for deaf and hard of hearing students. Some may plan to work right after high school, others plan to attend college and need to learn about disability services, and others might attend a transition program before turning 21. Self-advocacy skills and language needs to continue to be strengthened. However, self-realization is a process throughout lifetime. It’s important to remember that this happens in stages, sometimes starting in middle school or even high school.
[The text next to Ann changes to, "Help-Seeking Awareness Stages * Stage 1: Unaware of the need for help or behavior change. * Stage 2: Aware that a problem exists, but unaware that help is possible or available. * Stage 3: Aware that a problem exists... Not interested in or ready for help. Stage 4: Aware that a problem exists... Interested and ready to seek and accept help. See page 17 in the Discussion Guide for more information.]
Ann continues: For those students who receive little direct service time from a teacher of deaf/hard of hearing, it is important to think about information they need in different places such as work and college. Students may also need more frequent contact from a teacher of deaf/hard of hearing in their junior and senior years when they need to learn about scholarships, disability services, programs and colleges for deaf and hard of hearing students as well as receive instruction about how to communicate their needs. For other students, they may need to have work experiences to help them figure out what type of work they would like to do after high school. Students may need help planning and practicing and writing down words to say during the work day and how to connect with coworkers and advocate on the job for interpreters or CART and other services.
Some hard of hearing students in middle school and early high school years stop using assistive listening devices in the classroom and prefer to only wear their personal hearing aids. They do not want to look different, especially if they are the only hard of hearing or deaf student in class or even in the school. In middle school and 9th and 10th grades, sometimes students turn down support so they feel more independent. They may also feel more fatigued from listening and not do as well academically. During those years, social connections and appearances are more important. As they mature, they may be more interested in remote captioning, using an assistive listening device and specific classes especially when they are thinking about and visiting colleges, vocational training programs or work situations that require them to be more responsible for information they are learning.
It is important that students in middle school and high school continue to have different demonstrations and trials happen in classrooms. Sometimes they do not want to try specific services in high school but are interested in college. The pace and rigor of college classes, as well as some advanced or honors high school classes, may cause teams to reconsider what access is available and services such as remote captioning may need to be added.
Many schools are using teacher-created videos that are streamed into classrooms. Sometimes these are called flipped classrooms. This means the teacher videotapes the lesson and the students watch it at home. Even students who say they can hear videos without captions should still have captions, especially when they are learning new academic vocabulary. They cannot recognize words that they struggle to hear fully. This is an adaptation that should be discussed by the IEP team. It is also important that students ask disability services in colleges about captions for online videos for different classes.
[The text next to Ann changes to: "Access needs do not end with high school graduation: Support continues." There is also a graphic of human figures linking their arms and forming a circle.]
Ann continues: It is important students and parents understand laws that relate to training and work after high school. Support and encouragement does not end at high school graduation.
[The text next to Ann changes to: "Preparation for Post-School Years. Teachers of Deaf/Hard of Hearing Connet Communication with * College Disability Services * Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). It also shows the logo for DEED and for Disability Services.]
Ann continues: Students need to be able to explain the challenges they have in classrooms for disability services in college as well as for the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) which some students also call Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (VRS).
Students at all levels benefit from role-playing to prepare them for different scenarios in college and on the job. High school students often know that they should advocate or say something, but they don’t know what to say. This also includes students in honors or advanced placement courses. Although they may succeed academically, they continue to need a wide variety of advocacy language modeled for them. Teachers of deaf and hard of hearing students can provide many resources to students and their families, including modeling communication with disability services and making connections with vocational rehabilitation counselors.
It helps teams to think about different items that students need to know to prepare for post-school years.
[The text next to Ann changes to, "Appendix VI, Example Profiler Transition Checklist. 1. Test Scores 2. IEP and 3 Year Re-Evaluation 3. Audiogram 4. Medical Information 5. Emergency Contacts 6. Resume 7. Vocational Rehabilitation Contact Information 8. Accomplishments, Scholarships, and Awards 9. Resources. See page 46-47 of the Discussion Guide for complete transition checklist."]
Ann continues: Review the sample transition checklist that Metro Deaf School created in Appendix VI, also found on page 46 of the Discussion Guide, to help students create a portfolio. The portfolio can be modified depending on the student needs.
[The text next to Ann changes to, "Minnesota Transition Guide for Teachers of Deaf/Hard of Hearing. Resource for Parents, Teachers, and Students: Transition Resource website (QR code) See page 20 of the Discussion Guide for additional resources.]
Ann continues: The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotan’s transition-age collaborative group produced a transition guide with webinars which are also a good resource for teams. Check out this link here with the QR code.
We hope that the prompts from the transition section of the Discussion Guide will help parents and teachers on IEP teams to plan for the future, starting in middle school. We also hope this helps the student and others to understand that transition is a process.
[Video fades to the original slide with the words, "This webinar series is provided by The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans and by the Minnesota Department of Education."]
