Guardianship Q & A from Calhoun County, Michigan - click here (PDF; includes clickable hyperlinks). This informative thirteen-page document contains questions and Answers on Guardianship accessed from the Calhoun County Courts website.

Transition Planning: Putting Interagency Agreements into Action - This brief from the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition discusses the essential components of successful interagency agreements when developing and implementing transition plans for secondary students with disabilities. Kelli Crane, Meredith Gramlich, & Kris Peterson, Putting Interagency Agreements into Action, NCSET Issue Brief, Sept. 2004.
 

eSight Introduces Free Syndicated Content About Tackling Disability Employment Issues - On June 28, 2004, eSight Careers Network launched a new service, the eSight Disability Employment Web, which offers disability organizations high-quality free syndicated content that can be added to their web sites.

Dependent Youth Aging Out of Foster Care: A Guide for Judges (PDF) - The Juvenile Law Center announces a new publication to guide judicial decision-making in cases involving older youth in foster care. This 8-page publication includes analysis of the Foster Care Independence Act, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and special concerns affecting older foster children. It shows how judges, child welfare agencies and children's lawyers can ensure that youth have safe passage to adulthood by ensuring their access to education, physical and behavioral health care, housing, and other services. Includes checklists for ensuring comprehensive decision-making in these areas: Permanency; Independent Living Skills; Education and Vocational Training; Physical Health, Mental Health and Other Needs; Youth With Disabilities; and Discharge of Youth On or After Age 18.

TX Secondary Experience: More Schools Providing Job Training - Even though Kevin Hitchel had never worked in a construction zone, he wanted to be a civil engineer the day he walked into his high school's construction class. "I didn't know what I would be doing, but I knew it would help me," said Hitchel, who graduated last month from Clear Lake High School. By then, the 18-year-old knew how to draw a blueprint, fix a baseball-size hole in a wall, outfit a room with electrical wires and recite the names and functions of more than 100 hand tools and household fixtures. As business owners request more experience from their entry-level employees, the nation's high schools are beginning to train -- not just educate -- students such as Hitchel.

New Accommodation Ideas Paper For Workplace Personal Assistance Services Created - For some people with disabilities, Personal Assistance Services (PAS) may be needed to successfully maintain gainful employment. A new paper describing accommodation ideas for workplace personal assistance services (PAS) has been created by the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a Center partner from the Institute for Community Disability Information at the University of West Virginia. This publication discusses PAS in the workplace. It provides a definition of PAS; information about using PAS to accommodate people with sensory, cognitive, mental health, and motor impairments; a discussion about PAS and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and a list of resources for additional information.

The Individual Transition Plan — An Overview - The transition from high school to young adulthood is a critical stage for all teenagers; for students with learning disabilities (LD), this stage requires extra planning and goal-setting. Factors to consider include post-secondary education, the development of career and vocational skills, as well as the ability to live independently. The first step in planning for a successful transition is developing the student’s Individual Transition Plan (ITP). An ITP is available only for students enrolled in special education who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). In this article, we will define and describe the ITP and how it can be utilized to maximize your teenager’s future success.
 

MI Student Takes Different Path to University - Social worker Janice Fialka warns that a child's high school graduation can be bittersweet, but especially so for the parents of developmentally disabled children. Fialka should know: Her son, 19-year-old Micah Fialka-Feldman, is a special education student. As his graduation drew near last year, it felt more like a dead end than an open road.

The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) Information Brief: Supporting Dynamic Development of Youth with Disabilities During Transition: A Guide for Families - This brief provides information about healthy adolescent development for youth with disabilities, focusing on the role of parents and families in supporting the successful transition to adult life.
 

The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) Information Brief: Person-Centered Planning: A Tool for Transition - The expression, “It takes a village to raise a child,” is never more true than when talking about a child with a disability. Young people with disabilities need a support system that recognizes their individual strengths, interests, fears, and dreams and allows them to take charge of their future. Parents, teachers, family members, and friends in the community who offer informal guidance, support, and love can create the “village” for every child.
 

Guide for Employing People with Disabilities - In partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, ED released a guidebook suggesting ways that businesses can find qualified workers with disabilities, put disability & employment research into practice, & learn from successes in integrating individuals with disabilities into the workforce.
 
Transition Websites
Compiled by Linda J.

Transition Planning: A Team Effort - http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/transum/ts10txt.htm

Transition Services in the IEP - http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/ts8txt.htm

Transition Summaries in the IEP - http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/ts8txt.htm

School Based Job Coach Manual - http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/ts8txt.htm

National Transition Network - http://ici2.umn.edu/ntn/

Nebraska State Contacts and Resources (transition) - http://www.ncset.org/stateresources/results.asp

NDE Transition Page - http://sites.esu9.org:8080/NDEtransition/

Full Life Ahead - http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/outprint/ts8txt.htm

Reflections on Friendship - http://www.apraxia-kids.org/families/wetherow.html

Community Resource Mapping/transition - http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=939

National Center on Secondary Education and Transition - http://www.ncset.org/default.asp

Model Transition Project/Transition Systems Changes - http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/sped/tri/projwebsites.html

IEP and Transition Planning - http://www.ncset.org/topics/ieptransition/default.asp?topic=28

IEP and Transtion Planning Frequently asked questions - http://www.ncset.org/topics/ieptransition/faqs.asp?topic=28

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My Future My Plan" Curriculum - We have just been informed that the new My Future My Plan Curriculum developed by the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) and State of the Art, Inc. will be profiled on Oprah this coming Monday October 20th, 2003. It will be included as one segment that is part of a show on the larger issue of discrimination.

Designing Personalized Learning for Every Student: Activity Based Assessment (ABA) Inventory and Other Forms - Today's students are more diverse than ever before—in cultural backgrounds, learning styles and interests, social and economic classes, and abilities and disabilities. How can schools accommodate these differences while also dealing with other demands for change, from the push for tougher standards to the call for more discipline in the classroom? This book offers answers—and challenges schools to reinvent themselves as more flexible, creative learning communities that include and are responsive to a full range of human diversity.
 

VA Beyond Special Education, a Fragile Future: Virginia Budget Gaps Diminish Transition Options - Ted Nigh wants his friends to know that life in the nursing home is all right and that they shouldn't hesitate to visit him. He is getting good care and gets along well with the staff.  The problem is, he has difficulty relating to most of the other residents.