Where do we go from here?

One of the challenges of educating young adults with significant disabilities is knowing where to go next. As students approach the end of an entitlement to special education and move, as one parent put it, "from the cruise ship to the life raft" in terms of services, what precisely do we want to be sure we teach them? What are the most important things they need to master to have maximum function in post-school placements? This becomes even more difficult when you are thinking about an individual who is significantly physically involved with medical and communication disabilities.

Here are some of the things that seem most important to me:

• communication especially yes/no/I don't know, choice making, direction of personal care, communicating in an emergency, an ability to "tell" if something happens that they need assistance with (mistreatment, etc), an ability to retell events in the day, asking for assistance, communicating about feelings, the ability to communicate medical problems (seizures, empty medication or feeding pump, etc)
  
• leisure/social skills especially participation in the types of activities that are the mainstay of adult "day habs" such as table top games, cooking, music and movement/dancing, bowling, arts and crafts - if motor skills limit participation then the communication skills to direct those in the role of helping with the task
• self care and well being such as feeding, hygiene, toileting and if motor skills limit participation then the awareness skills to know what needs to be done when and the communication skills to direct their care
• quality of life including self knowledge about likes and dislikes, the ability to be flexible and deal with changes, the ability to connect with staff and peers and also to tolerate/work with non-preferred staff and peers, the ability to request favorite activities, people and interactions, the ability to tolerate changes in peers and staff (staff turn over)
  

So basically it all comes back to communication, at least in my mind. What do you think?

Around the World

I like to show little video clips at the end of morning meeting to ease the transition into the more academic part of the day.

Last week I showed "Where the Heck is Matt?" (O.k. "Heck" isn't the actually the title but none of my students read and the overwhelming multi-cultural message of the video is worthwhile enough to forgive the less than acceptable word usage in the classroom.) Today Paul Hamilton shared the "Stand by Me Around the World", which is in the same theme as "Where the Heck is Matt?".

Whether your students just enjoy the auditory and visual stimulation of the music and video or they understand the broader implications of world wide diversity and the commonality of the arts these videos are a great educational tools.




Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me" - For more of the funniest videos, click here

By the way the comments of the paraprofessionals were perhaps the best part of watching, "Where the Heck is Matt?", for example, "Timbuktu is a real place?", "What-a-stan? Is that really a country?", "I haven't heard of half these places!"

Also the links are to the non-You Tube versions of the videos because so many schools (including mine) have You Tube blocked.

Transition to Adult Services

Getting ready to help your students move to the adult world? These sites might help.

• Adolescent Health Transition Project
• Center for Self-Determination
• Guardianship
• Model Transition Projects
• National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
• Transition Coalition
• Transition Solutions

Personalized Placemats

At this time of year, as we prepare our students for the transitions that the end of the school year inevitably brings, we may be turning our attention to the best ways to pass on information about our students to the next teacher.


In particular, we may be worried about our students safety and the risk of skill regression if the proper information does not reach the proper people.

In that light you might want to check out the Call Centre's information on Communication Passports. I have spent quite a bit of the evening creating personalized placemats for my students to take to summer camp or school after the last day of school next month. The download of the Power Point placemat tutorial with the template was great for making a lot of placemats in a short time. Tomorrow I will print and laminate them and add them to the boxes that will be sent off to my students' extended year programs.

Next, I will fiddle with some of the other Communication Passport Resources and the ideas for Lifestyle Plans from Essential Lifestyle Planning.