Transition Planning - Part 1

We all know the law says we have to begin planning for the transition to adulthood when our child is in high school, but many families and professionals have begun to realize that this may be too late.  There are many ways we can begin transition planning and teaching independent living skills and vocational skills at a very young age.

The first way we can begin working on these skills is to start providing choices for our very young children.  It can be something as simple as giving them a choice of which outfit they would like to wear or which cup they would like to use.  Choice-making is a very important independent living skill that can teach children to begin thinking about what their options are and deciding on an option based on their wants and needs.  Choices also give young children some control over their environment while we are still ultimately able to control the options.

Book of the Week: Opportunities for daily choice making / Linda M. Bambara, Freya Koger. AAMR, 1996.

Description: "... provides three strategies for increasing choice opportunities for people with developmental disabilities. Because choice opportunities are easily overlooked, these strategies provide a systematic way to ensure that simple, but important, daily choices are made available. This book describes basic principles of choice making, presents how to teach choice-making skills to the passive learner, describes how to build in multiple choice-making opportunities within daily routines, introduces self-scheduling, & addresses common questions & concerns about choice-making...." This can be adapted for particular situations.

This book is in the SESA Library. You may search the library catalog via the SESA website (http://www.sesa.org), or contact Anne directly by email at afreitag@sesa.org or by phone at 907-334-1301.