The Transition Checklist for Change

Quoting Gilbert and Sullivan, "I've got a little list. I've got a little list." (Works better if you sing it or at least hum along.)  

Check marks this past couple of weeks decorated the following transition to-do items:

• Met with Easter Seals Crossroads assistive tech department for an evaluation to assess fine motor skills and determine what software and hardware could be helpful for college classes requiring writing; for executive function support; and, possibly, for on-the-job supports. Awaiting their recommendations. (Paying out of pocket.)

• Met with new therapist to help son Fickle Fan deal with rigid, restrictive thinking;despair over lack of friends; frustration and extreme irritability and outrage; and obsessive thinking leading to anxiety. (Paid for through husband's health insurance.)

• Met with psychiatrist. See above. (Paid for through husband's health insurance.)

• Increased dosage of anti-anxiety med, resulting in much more relaxed boy and parents. (Paid for through husband's health insurance.)

• Daughter Dearest also met with her therapist. Definitely making progress. Yea! (Paid for through husband's health insurance.)

• Encouraged DD to seek out volunteer opportunities. She's working on it. Still need to follow up.

• Took FF to mock interview session. Kinda like speed dating--several local companies send human resource reps to spend 5-10 minutes talking with potential applicants so they can get some practice interviewing. (VR/employment provider support.)

• Took FF to his first actual interview, where he was again assisted by his employment consultant. (VR/employment provider support.)

• For the first time, 21-year-old DD went out to the bars with her friend and friends of friends. Worried but grateful parents waited up till 2:45 a.m. Thank you to the the tech engineers who invented texting for the ability to send and receive unobtrusive text assurances. We may be among the very few parents, btw, who are HAPPY to see their daughter go out bar hopping--social activity in a typical peer setting, yes! Also helps that one of the silver linings of the combo OCD and Asperger's is that she has no interest in alcohol, so that part we don't need to worry about. Like the parents of any other young adult daughter, though, we will continue to worry about the behavior of any inebriated idiots she may come into  contact with during these occasional outings. 

• Participated in bus training with FF and the local transit authority. Met with trainer, discussed shoulds and should nots of riding the buses, figured out how to read the system map and schedules. Then practiced riding the bus nearest our house, which, amazingly, runs right up to the door of the business he interviewed with! (No charge for training--a regular service of the transit system!!)

• Met with academic advisor at Ivy Tech. Though FF still has a good grade in his one class, the next class he takes should be a writing class. Big problemo given his dysgraphia. We're hoping that Crossroads training (see above) will help him with that. 

• DD also met with her academic advisor and signed up for two spring courses. After successful completion of those, she'll have enough credits to transfer to IU. (Neither FF or DD qualifies for financial aid.)

• DD met with her biology tutor. Going well. Still has an A. (Out-of-pocket.)

• FF went out with a 19-year-old son of a friend. We pay him out-of-pocket to take FF out to dinner, to the movies or wherever. 

• Covered more territory with FF in the Indiana BMV's Rules of the Road booklet. Wants to take the written test and see if he can take drivers training--though he knows he may not be able to drive and that Crossroads would probably need to do the training and eventually assess his readiness to drive. (That would also be out-of-pocket, I'm sure.)

All this took place in the last two weeks. Transition takes a pretty big investment of time (and, in our case, money.)

FF's biggest complaint in the past couple of months? Change is not happening fast enough. Hmmm. Really!??

Transition Boot Camp

It's been a heckuva transition summer. This post should be subtitled What I Did This Summer and Why I Need a Vacation.

Here's the short version (hang on; it's a bumpy ride): 

• The non-graduation
• "I don't have any friends"
• No support for postsecondary education from VR 
• Denied Medicaid 
• Targeted for the Support Services Medicaid Waiver
• Not eligible for the Support Services Waiver
• Pulling the rug out from under my Fundamental Assumptions about benefits, the waiver and services 
• The Rent-a-Friend semi-solution
• Much needed vacation 
• Enrolling at Ivy Tech 
• "Flunking" Ivy Tech's Compass "placement" tests 
• "Passing" the Compass tests 
• Gone fishin' 
• John Hancocking a bazillion forms when you have fine motor challenges
• Red tape--there oughta be a law.
• Starting classes at Ivy Tech
• Zeroing in on the primary objective, a.k.a. "This is not meeting my expectations!"
• Searching for supports
• Leaving work early to play taxi
• Disillusioned, disheartened and discouraged with Indiana benefits
• No peer mentoring for Ivy Tech Welcome Week
• This is a web-based class?
• Dropping a class
• New ruling: a 529 educational savings plan held in a parent's name does not necessarily mean you are denied Medicaid. "You should reapply."
• To jump through hoops or not jump through hoops?  That is the question.

Caught up yet? And this is just for one of our children. I need a swig o' Pepto after just rereading the summer summary.  

Stay tuned. I'll flesh out a few of the details. 

Now What? Secondary Transition Resources

I believe in one-stop resource shopping whenever possible.  In the wonderful world of transition to life after high school there are a lot of decisions to be made, options to choose, and pathways to ultimately follow.  And that means research.


But rather than have you do the red-tape runaround at your child's high school guidance department, your local library, or even a couple of hundred different Google searches (how many different ways can you say "secondary transition for students with disabilities"?), I have another option for you: Stay seated and breathe. Then click here. That's a link to "Now What? Resources for Life After High School."  It's a 5"x8" two-sided card, chalk full of links to websites as well as Indiana and national organizations that specialize in employment, college preparation, and community living for people with disabilities.


"Now What?" is a publication of the Center on Community Living and Careers (CCLC) at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community. True confessions: I work at CCLC--ironic isn't it, given that I have two children in the midst of transition?--but I'm not a transition expert (although I obviously have some experience living on the transition front lines for the past several years). I work in communications.  But I have a number of colleagues who excel at this sort of stuff. We put together "Now What?" for high school transition fairs around the state.  It's not an exhaustive list, but it includes a lot of the essentials.


Among the links on the "Now What?" card you should really check out: Is College Right for You? Setting Goals and Taking Action, JobTIPS, and the Job Accommodation Network.  There are more; those are just the highlights.


I would also highly recommend the Transition Toolkit from Autism Speaks.  Toolkits are free, contain information customized for your state, and are full of information about things your child needs to know as they make the transition leap. Autism Speaks will send you a Toolkit--one per family of a child (between ages 14 and 22) with autism--or you can download selections or the whole Toolkit from the Autism Speaks website. 


As you and your child work on goal setting, by the way, you don't necessarily pick one goal, or one dream, or one path.  Who does that?? Most of us participate in our communities, vote, volunteer, attend church, exercise, meet friends for dinner, and much more. Some of us take training classes, get a college degree, and/or explore continuing education. Many of us also work in full- or part-time jobs--and many of us have had not only different jobs, but have taken some pretty meandering turns in life, exploring more than one career.  


We're not automatons, wound up in the back with a key, and then set down to amble down one path only--postsecondary education, employment, or community life.  Neither are our children with disabilities. They shouldn't be made to choose just one avenue for their transition IEP. I like the combo approach.  Not to sound all Martha Stewart-ish, but more than one goal, more than one pathway to explore is a good thing! 


If you know of a transition resource treasure trove or even a particular website that's been helpful to you or your family, don't be shy: Please share with your comments below!