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PART 1: UNDERSTANDING TRANSITIONS
1. INTRODUCTION
“Connections: A Guide to Transition Planning” has been developed to help
you – the parents of a child with a developmental disability in Dufferin
and Wellington Counties and the Regions of Halton Peel and Waterloo
(Central West Region) – as your child makes the transition from school
life to adulthood.
This guide has been written to provide you with information on transition
planning and to identify some of the issues you need to think about. It
will also provide you with information on accessing services in each of
the communities in Central West Region that may be useful to you as
you begin to plan for your child’s life beyond school.
This guide has three parts:
- Part 1 provides information on Transition Planning;
- Part 2 provides information on Tools & Resources that may help
you in the transition planning process; and
- Part 3 provides you with space to collect your information –
your records, certificates, copies of your transition plan, contact
information etc.
An initial thought…
As you will read throughout this document, it is important to prepare for your
child’s transition from the school system to life as an adult. Having a transition
plan in place however, is no guarantee that all the supports and services you have
identified in your plan will be available to you in the adult system. The reality is that
your child is moving from a system of entitlement, (the public education system) to
a system of limited and finite resources (adult developmental services).
You will be challenged to be creative, think outside the box of the traditional support
system and find innovative ways to acquire the supports and services you and your
child need. There are many parents that have travelled this path before you and
they can be a resource for you. Some of their ideas are shared in this guide.
The information that follows is intended to provide you with a variety of resources,
tools and sources of information to help you find the right mix of supports as your
child takes the next major step in his or her life.
It is hoped that “Connections” will help you and your child get involved
by giving you information, ideas and tools to start planning for this time
of change. You can begin using some of these tools as early as when your
child reaches the age of 9. Even though this may seem early there are
many activities that can be completed and reinforced, or continued
throughout the adolescent years in preparation for the move to adult life.
Preparing early and being well organized will help you make this transi-
tion a smoother process. Transition planning will take time and hard
work, but seeing your child make a confident step to adult life will be
worth the effort.
This Guide is for You and Your Child
While the information is aimed primarily at you – the parents –
much of what is in this guide needs to be considered and completed
with the full involvement of your child to the extent that they are
able. Family members and other important people providing supports
(teachers, friends and service providers) may find it useful as well.
This guide is intended to provide you with information through a
variety of practical tools, checklists, worksheets and innovative
ideas that you and your child can use together to help make your
way through this time of transition.
Please Note…
Throughout this guide, the word “parent” not only refers to biological parents but
is meant to include any adult with the responsibility of raising a young person with
a developmental disability, for example, a legal guardian. The use of the word
“families” is meant to be inclusive of all members of the extended family that play
an important part in the life of the young person. This may include parents,
grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
As a parent, you naturally have dreams and aspirations for your child.
You want them to finish school, find a job, find a comfortable place to
live and have a circle of friends to support them as they enter the next
phase of their life. When raising a child with developmental disabilities,
figuring out options and making decisions to make their hopes and
dreams a reality is often much more complex and requires a great deal
more effort and planning. This transition is going to happen whether
you plan for it or not. It is to your advantage to begin thinking about it
early and use this opportunity to make a very real and positive impact on
your child’s future.
An important part of transition planning is to involve your child in the
process in whatever way and to whatever extent is possible. For example,
that can mean including them in meetings, asking them what they want
to do and encouraging them to relay their responses through whatever
communication method they are comfortable with. Each of the tools in
this guide can be adapted to fit the circumstances and the unique abilities
of each child.
Just as each child is unique in their own way, so too are families. Families
have different cultures, backgrounds, beliefs and values. Therefore, the
way each family approaches a situation, makes decisions or relates to each
other as a group will be different as well. Nonetheless, every family needs
a transition plan. So take the suggestions included in this guide and make
adjustments as needed to ensure the best fit for your family situation.
What does involvement mean?
In many places throughout the guide, it is suggested that you involve your child in
planning and in making decisions. It is recognized that each child has their own
unique set of abilities, strengths and challenges and the level of involvement for
each child will be defined differently. Some may be comfortable leading activities
identified in their plans while others will simply indicate their intentions with a smile.
Either way, this is how involvement is defined…individually, and based on a
unique set of abilities!
About the Information in this Guide
There are many transition planning guides and resources available from
a wide variety of sources. Several provinces and many states in the
United States have researched and developed transition guides.
“Connections” is based on the research and information provided
in several of these transition guides; in particular the document
developed in British Columbia by the Ministry of Children and
Family Development “Your Future Now - A Transition Planning & Resource
Guide for Youth with Special Needs and Their Families”. All of these sources
provide a wealth of information on transition planning and much of this
information is available on the internet. Reference to these other docu-
ments is provided for you in Part 2 - the resource section of this guide.
While there is a lot of interesting information and ideas to follow in this
guide, do not feel you need to read the document cover to cover in the first
sitting. Read it a bit at a time, make notes and highlight activities that you
can easily start with. Not all of the worksheets and suggestions for planning
will work for everyone. You are encouraged to make use of the tools that
make the most sense for you and your particular family circumstances.
Get a Quick Start!
If you would like to get started right away before reading all of this document, turn to
Section 7 “Now You are Ready to Start” . In that section you will find a summary of the
information in Part 1 and some tips and tools to get you going.
“Connections” has been designed to fit into a binder so you can add and
remove pages as you go. There is also a tab at the end of the guide
labelled “Your Information”. Use this section to store in one place important
information about your child and information on resources or services that
you are interested in. Remove the worksheets and copy them or download
fresh ones from the internet. As you go through the steps of transition
planning, particularly the reviewing and updating of your plan, you will
likely use and reuse some worksheets over and over. The types of activities
involved in transition planning will likely be repeated many times over and
could easily be continued well into adulthood as interests and preferences
change.
Connections (Central West version) can be found and downloaded from
the web at
Tell Us…
This guide is intended to help you navigate your way through the transition
process. Your feedback on the guide is important. Keep track of any comments,
suggestions, and/or questions you may have as you use this guide and let us
know what you think.
Please send any feedback to: Connections@firstleadership.com
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