Parents’ Guide to the Transition of Their Adult Child to College, Career, and Community HEATH Resource Center Page 1 of 2

Multimedia

• 
  This documentary work-in-progress shares poignant stories of people with TBI — from a victim of a road-rage beating to a Marine infantryman returning home wounded from Iraq. From David L. Brown Productions and Epic Way Sports. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Going the Distance is a 26-minute work-in-progress. Learn more about the project and the final documentary: http://www.goingthedistance.info Transcript of this video.
• Going the Distance
• 
  This is the story of a girl named Logan who persevered through her brain injury to create a magazine for other kids with disabilities and inspire them to achieve their dreams and goals. As featured on Bizkids. Transcript of this video.
• How to Succeed in Biz-Ness by Really Trying (Logan's Story)
• 
  Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough and Brian King. This marriage and family therapist talks about common issues after TBI. Transcript of this video.
• Caron Gan Talks About Working With Adolescents After Brain Injury

MODULE GOAL(S): This module will increase your knowledge and give you the tools to prepare you for your child’s transition from public school to postsecondary education and his or her emerging adulthood. 

OBJECTIVES:

1. To understand how to prepare your child for college.
2. To examine key items in planning for the transition of your young adult child from public school to college, career, and community.
3. To know the differences between your roles, rights, and responsibilities as a parent of a child with disabilities in public school and postsecondary education.
4. To know what laws protect your rights as a parent and what laws protect the rights of your adult child in the college setting.
5. To formulate a plan for helping your child reach independence and emerge into adulthood.

INTRODUCTION:

Over the years you’ve watched your baby grow and learn, marking each milestone, if not in a memory book, then etched in your heart. Now he or she is ready to mark one of the greatest milestones yet — college and career. Perhaps your child is currently in high school preparing for that jubilant jaunt across the stage at graduation. Perhaps your child is emerging into adulthood attempting to sort out his or her future with all the possibilities that college, career, and an independent self-determined life in the community can bring. At either stage, these most certainly are exciting times for the both of you!

However, your child is not the only one transitioning. You are too! You are entering a new phase of your life, growing older, confronting your own future as your child prepares to launch into adulthood. Over the last 12 years you’ve mastered how to assure your child a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE), learned collaboration skills to write your child’s individual education plans (IEP), and seemingly memorized nearly every section of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004). Now as your child enters college and the adult service delivery systems, you leave behind the those mandated services found in IDEA for what may appear as a completely new world of “eligibility “and “waiting lists. You will hear many times, “There are no IEPs in college!” Gaining the knowledge and understanding of the civil rights laws, college systems, and adult support services will help make your child’s transition into adulthood smoother. This module addresses these important concepts for parents of high school students and college students. Here you will find answers to your many questions and resources to help you support your child as he or she emerges into adulthood and plans for college, career, and a life in the community. It will also provide you guidance for your transition into your new role and responsibilities as a parent of an adult with disabilities

KEY QUESTIONS:

Several questions are important as you think about your new role and responsibilities as a parent of an adult with disabilities. These questions will help develop strategies for communicating, supporting, and building positive relationships with your child and those in his or her adult world. These are:

1. What is transition?
2. What is my role in my child’s transition planning?
3. What are measurable postsecondary goals?
4. What are some of the ways to be involved in my child’s transition?
5. What is the difference between high school and college?
6. How do my roles change as my child moves from the high school to the college setting?
7. What does research say about parental hovering in college?
8. How am I going to fund my child’s college education?
9. How can I be sure my child will not only achieve academically, but also be safe, warm, well feed, have fun, and stay healthy?
10. What Is The Federal "Jeanne Clery Act”?
11. What is the Campus Sexual Assault Victims Bill of Rights?
12. What information do I want to gain when my child and I tour college campuses?

What is transition?

Transition from school refers to the time your child leaves public school and enters the adult community to live and work. It is never too early to start thinking about your child's ability to function in the adult world. Planning for this time is important as transition presents important challenges and changes for both you and your child. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA)

• Beginning no later than age 16 and updated annually thereafter, your child is educated not only for a future of employment and independent community living, but also with the prospect for continued, lifelong learning that are “results-oriented,” and outlined in terms that are measurable
• The process is a purposeful, organized and outcome-oriented, designed to help your child move from school to employment and a quality adult life.
• It is important to work with the schools to identify and foster as much independence, self-determination, self-advocacy, and success as possible for your child. [20 U.S.C. A, § 601, (d),(1), (A)]) Once your child is 16, or younger if appropriate, assure your child’s high school transition plan includes:
• A statement of needed transition services that includes strategies/activities that will assist your child to prepare for postsecondary activities such as postsecondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, community participation, or whatever it is your child desires to do.

The statement of needed transition services based on the your child’s needs, taking into account his or her preferences and interests, and that include(O’Leary & Collison, 2007):

• Instruction,
• Related services,
• Community experiences,
• The development of employment,
• Other post-school adult living objectives,

And, if appropriate:

• Acquisition of daily living skills.
• Functional vocational evaluation.

From the HEATH Resource Center, affiliated with The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development. www.heath.gwu.edu.

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