- Hello. My name is Nancy Lynn Ward, and my position here at the Clerc Center is the Assistant Director of the National Deaf Education Center. And that's housed here at the Clerc Center. My job focuses on planning, program development, and dissemination. Today, the topic of my presentation is Identified Elements that Contribute to Transition Success for Deaf & Hard of Hearing Students. Before we delve into that topic, I want to briefly explain the parameters of transition planning. What are we looking at when we are trying to understand the criticality of transition planning for optimal post-secondary success and outcomes... and why there has been a shift in the field of transition planning as a result of the reauthorization of IDEA in 2004. I will be discussing that in further slides. Something to keep in mind as we go through the presentation is what and how we're measuring post-school success. It's actually quite simple. The IDEA reauthorization of 2004 states that students must be able to do at least one or more of the following: The first-- live independently. The second-- find competitive employment. And third-- be able to pursue additional educational opportunities, whether they be vocational training or higher education such as university, college opportunities. When thinking about this research, I want you to consider what the parameters and the participants of the study incorporated. The focus of the research was on three elements: skills, team-- in other words, who participated-- and planning. In addition, I want to share with you the participants of the research study involving students, teachers, and administrators--in other words, school personnel-- and parents. Third... the research design for this study was that of mixed methodology. In this case, it was a combination of qualitative approaches and quantitative approaches. Qualitative approaches were in narrative form where a question was posed and an answer was given and then recorded. And no statistical analyses were done on those narrative portions, and the quantitative portion was focused on the numbers, the statistics, true/false questions, and Likert scale options. And that is how the research was designed. I want to share the summery of the research findings, and there are three key parts. There were significant differences identified between students and educators on the survey. The difference showed the thought processes of the educators as they considered whether or not the students were benefitting from the experience of being involved in transition planning meetings as opposed to the students' own perception of whether or not they were benefitting from being involved in those meetings. Students... often felt that it was a profoundly beneficial experience while educators struggled with some of the frustrations due to lack of resources and support, which I'll talk about later. But the issue of resources and support as well as unrealistic "expectations" led to some of the significant differences between educators and students, although they both agreed that being involved in the process was ultimately positive. Another significant difference was between students who attended as opposed to not attending IEP and transition planning meetings. And this was quite a difference because students who felt empowered as if they could advocate for themselves... when people were not treating them in a paternalistic manner and doing for them when they had the right to think for themselves, decide what skills they wanted to acquire, what their next steps in life would be-- that entire landscape of decision-making became student-driven. Remember, as I explained previously, there was a reauthorization of IDEA in 2004. Prior to that time, the act was results-driven. But after that reauthorization happened, it has shifted to an outcome-driven process. And what that means is that students must be empowered to make their own decisions, to decide what they want their future to look like based on their interest and passion. They must be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop their self-advocacy abilities as well as self-empowerment and self-actualization skills. And that cannot be done without a team around the students to support that process. And that team consists of parents, teachers, professionals, and community partners. We need people in the community who are ready, willing, prepared, and able to support these students in a variety of ways. The school has its resources, the parents have their encouragement of the student, and there may be weaknesses that are identified, for example, in the area of literacy. Well, then there can be additional training from the school to enhance those skills. All of the partners must work together to make sure that the student will succeed in achieving their dreams. That's a critical step. The third finding was a not a significant difference between the level of satisfaction among teachers and students. Parents did not respond to that question, but just looking at teachers and students, their feelings were the same. They both agreed that it was a positive process for students to engage in. Thus far, I've shared with you a particular research study, its design, its parameters, and its findings. Now might be a good time to pause and call our attention to what transition actually is. What is its definition? The official definition is that "transition" is a coordinated set of activities that promote movement of students from school... to independent living to competitive employment to pursuing higher education or vocational training opportunities. Remember the reauthorization of IDEA in 2004 mandates that students must be able to do one or more of the following elements as stated in that educational act. Another way to look at transition is to understand it as a process that requires collaboration... among partners including the students themselves, educators, families, social service providers, and community stakeholders. Many people forget about the community stakeholders. And so often, the community, where that individual is going to live, has strong resources. There are people who are willing to step up to provide training, the know-how, the experience, and the skills to promote that student's ability to move from school to independent living or competitive employment and further training or higher educational opportunities. So when you're considering the IEP process, remember the importance of all of those partners and don't alienate any of them, including, again, students, educators, families, social service providers, and community stakeholders. The third element in understanding transition is tied to the second which is the strong philosophy establishing a community of practice. And the Department of Education supports that philosophy. A community of practice includes all of the partners who were just identified... collaborating, working together to make sure that that student has a successful transition experience. That's what transition is all about. This research project shows the promotion of an optimal post-school outcome is tied to the following principles: First, the IEP team is part of a collaboration and a participatory process by all of the partners. Second... a student-driven process that helps develop a student's ownership of the process, and that means that they feel and understand that this is about their future... rather than a paternalistic process where they are passive recipients who don't understand why certain decisions are being made. A student-driven process helps them develop their sense of ownership, their sense of excitement for their future, the ability to follow-through on their desires and passions... which is their ability to develop self-actualization skills to be empowered and to be able to advocate for themselves. All of those skills are lifelong skills... that will serve them well and will be enhanced as they go through their life experience. With the support of their school and family, they'll be able to find other partners who will help them progress along that continuum. But it starts with students having a sense of ownership, having their dreams and goals and desires be validated by the team. Which leads us to the third principle which is that of building new skills... again, the skills of self-empowerment, self-actualization, and self-advocacy as well as self-determination are skills that will serve a student well, and that is tied to their success in the long-term. I've discussed the research parameters, the identified principles, and we're here at this point in the presentation to talk about the implications for practice. What does this research add to the field? What do we need to think about? What should we consider when we are planning transition for our deaf and hard of hearing students? In fact, there are four implications for practice. The first is the importance of family support and parental participation in the IEP process. And that is so crucial, because parents are the one constant-- actually, let me amend that-- parents and other family members. It's not always parents in the picture. There may be siblings, aunts, uncles, other extended relatives. It is important that the family be recognized, because they are most likely to be the constant in that student's life from childhood onwards. Once a student leaves school, who is going to still be in their life? Who is their cheerleader? Probably somebody from the family. So when you think about family support and family involvement in the IEP process, you want to think about how you as a system can support the family so that they can be the most effective support system for that student. You want to help them advocate for their student so that they can take the ball and run with it once you have finished your job. They will be the constant in that student's life. The second implication is the support of the administrators for the IEP process. And this is critical because staff and general education teachers who may have limited experience with the IEP process and be ignorant of what it is they're expected to do need the support of their administration. They need the support to gain the training, the skills, and the education that they need. They must understand what their role is as school personnel to support that transition planning process for the student. Ignorance often breeds incompetence. It is critical that the school personnel be educated so that they are competent professionals, vis-a-vis the IEP process. The third implication that every school should be aware of is that every student who has an IEP beginning at the age of 16 should have an active IEP transition plan in place. And that plan should be in place until they graduate or leave high school or age out of Special Education. Students age out of the Special Education System by their 22nd birthday. So every child who has an IEP will be released from the system by their 22nd birthday. But from the age of 16 onward, every school system or program, regardless of where it is in the country, should have an active, nee proactive, transition plan in place within the IEP process. And that will be monitored and changed annually as the goals for post-secondary activities change according to the child's desire. When I was a State Enforcement Compliance Officer, many, many schools were found to be out of compliance with that rule. You'd be surprised at how often they were chastised for it and found to be out of compliance. So as a professional, I am here to tell you, parents, school personnel, educators, please make sure that a child or student who has an IEP in your system has begun the transition planning process at the age of 16. And that should be in place until they graduate or age out of the Special Education System and move on to the next chapter of their lives. The fourth implication for practice is that administrators must be committed to sharing resources and collaborating and providing funding for their staff and educators to be trained. That is often the biggest stumbling block. Students are isolated across the nation in school systems... that may have very little experience with how to positively conduct the IEP process. So if you have a deaf or hard of hearing student in your school system, there are certain requirements regarding the IEP, and the educators and the other school personnel must know what those requirements are. All of the staff involved should be empowered to support the student. And that is what was identified as best practices for an optimal post-school outcome for deaf and hard of hearing students.