Guardianship/Supportive Decision Making Presentation

Hello!

 Welcome back to your favorite Transition Blog! Now that our school year has become more predictable, I am planning on keeping everyone up to date on Adult Service and transition-related happenings here on this blog. 

 Last night, I was able to present to about 30 families information on Guardianship and Supportive Decision Making. If you were unable to attend the presentation but would like further information on the subject, you can find the presentation by clicking here, or by clicking the "Guardianship/Supportive Decision Making Presentation" link on the right-hand side of this page.

 After viewing the documents, please feel free to reach out to me with any additional questions or concerns.

Take care!

Kate

Transition Fair Update

Due to the on going concerns regarding the Coronavirus, the Transition Fair at Joliet Junior College has been cancelled. 

If there are questions regarding transition services, please contact me at the office 815-942-5780, or on my cell 815-531-5491.

TRANSITION FAIR INFO

Hello fine Colleagues!

Just a quick update to let you know that the date for the JJC Transition Fair will be 

April 18, 2020. 

I have updated the "save the date" form on the right-hand side of the website here. Please share it with your families! 

SAVE THE DATE! Transition Fair!

Hello everyone! The transition fair held at Joliet Junior will be 

APRIL 13, 2019

In the U-Building. 

Please note, that this is a different building than in years past. Please make sure you mention the date to transition aged families. ESPECIALLY the parents of your seniors and those who will age out. 
If you have any questions about writing your transition plans, please let me know! I am more than happy to help in any way!

Have an amazing day!

Lessons Learned from Indicator 13 Audit

Hello my fine friends!
 As you may or may not know, last spring, Minooka High School went through an Indicator 13 audit. The good news is, we survived the audit with just a few corrections! The bad news is, we have a few corrections!
Please take a look at the handout on the right hand side, "Lessons Learned", to keep these corrective actions in mind when writing your Transition Plans. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 815-999-7210. I hope you are having a swell start to the school year!

Take Care,
Kate

Welcome Back!

Hello Team,

 I just wanted to let you know that Cornerstone Services has a new outreach coordinator who has requested to be at meetings where Adult Services may be discussed. Her name is Kindal Carmouche-Pullen, and she can be reached by emailing her at:

 KCarmouche-Pullen@cornerstoneservices.org

Please let me know if you any questions! 

I hope you have an amazing year!

JJC Disability Services

Hello Fine Transition Fans!

 Welcome back to the 2017-2018 School Year. Please bookmark this page as your go-to news for anything transition related. I will be going through the blog in the coming week to make sure that each link is as updated as can be. 

 As for new information for this current school year, not a whole lot has changed. Locally, our Joliet Junior College StAR program has changed it's name to Disability Services. They are hoping the name change will allow students and others to know what the function of their department is. Mindy Diaz is still the contact and you can find the updated flyer under helpful links. 

 As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at kross@grundyspecialed.org or at 815-999-7210. 

Transition Fair

Hello Friends!

Just a note that the Will-Grundy Transition Fair will be held on: 

Saturday MARCH 11th, 2017

at Joliet Junior College. 

If you go to the helpful transition links on the right side of your screen, you will find a "Save the Date" card. Please feel free to hand these out at your IEP meetings, or send them home with students who would benefit from this conference. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Take Care!

Kate

Scholarship Opportunity

 Hello Fine Transition Peeps!

 

    I just wanted to update you all to a scholarship opportunity for our SENIOR students who either currently have an IEP or have had one during the past four years, they are eligible. I have uploaded the information sheet under the Transition Handouts. Please feel free to print the sheet and distribute to your senior students. If you have any questions, please let know! Happy three day weekend!!

Take Care,

Kate

Welcome Back!

Hello Friends of Transition Planning!
 I just wanted to welcome you back for the 2016-2017 school year! I wanted to let you know of a change in transition support this year. For the past four years, there have been two transition coordinators for Grundy County. One to help with students in our LD programming, and one to work with our lower incidence programming. This year, I will be supporting all areas of special education programming in Grundy County. I look forward to seeing some of you that I haven't seen in a few years and working with you to meet the needs of the students in your districts! Please do not hesitate to contact me at 815-942-5780 or by email at kross@grundyspecialed.org  if you have any questions!

Take Care!
Kate

NEW INDICATOR 13 FORM!!!

Hello everyone! I am sure most of you have heard by now, but incase you haven't there is a BRAND NEW Indicator 13 form from the state. (You can always find the latest form by clicking on Indicator 13 on the right hand side of the blog.) 

So what does this mean to you?!

Well, Easy IEP hasn't caught up to the new state forms, so we will need you to print and fill out an indicator 13 form for EACH IEP you complete during the 15-16 school year. Hopefully, in the near future, EASY IEP will catch up with the state and we can go back to just completing the form online. However, at this time, I repeat:

YOU HAVE TO HAND SCORE AN INDICATOR 13 FORM AND ATTACH IT TO THE IEP.

I know it's less than ideal. I am sorry. I will update you once this changes.

On another note, the actual form has changed a bit as well. The form is the same until you get to question 8. Question 8 has three parts. The first part asks if it is too early to determine if the student will need an agency OR none is needed OR the declined consent. If the answer to this is YES (Which it may be for our 7th and 8th graders and even some of our underclassmen) then you should answer the next two parts no. IF the answer to the first part of 8 is NO, then the next two parts should be YES. 

If you have any questions, please let us know right away! We are happy to help!

Take Care

Kate and Erica

Happy Annual Review Season from your friendly transition coordinators! We are back to share some exciting news.... 

NOTHING IN TRANSITION HAS CHANGED THIS YEAR!!! :-)

However, please check over here --------------->

for updated indicator 13 paper work as well as the updated Joliet Junior College StARs letter.

For your reading enjoyment, we have also posted a Transition Summary link which gives you a "cheat sheet" of transition information. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact either one of us!

Take Care, 

Kate and Michelle

The Book

As we approach IEP annual review season, (aka the most wonderful time of the year), I encourage you to take a look at the new resource added to the side bar titled "The Book". This is a resource put together by a lawyer in Naperville that walks parents through the "BIG" services that a student and parent need to be aware of, including the PUNS list, Social Security benefits, and Guardianship. In addition to explaining why it is important to be on the list, it also goes into detail about the different stages of waiting for funding.  

As an additional reminder, please remember to add independent living goals TO ALL IEPs.  Remember, daily living skills are only one facet to this area. You can also include goals about managing transportation, finances, managing own medications, self advocacy..... ext. Concurrently, when you make the change to the transition plan, make sure that your INDICATOR 13 FORM at the end of the IEP process is changed to reflect that those goals have been added!!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Kate Ross or Michelle Laird at the Cooperative. :-) Take Care!

Independent Living WHAT?!!?

SO, as your email proclaimed earlier in September, the ISBE has decided now that EVERY student will now have an Employment, Education/Training goal AND an INDEPENDENT LIVING GOAL. I know that this has been a shift in our thinking. WHY has the state decided to do this? Well, the idea is to spur conversation among the IEP team about what skills the student will need to be independent in their adult life. What skills does the student still need to know?

Independent Living Skills can address the following skills:

Financial/Income

Health/Safety
Transportation/Mobility
Social Relationships
Recreation/Leisure
Self Advocacy
Future Planning

Right now, the best I can tell, we are required to write a goal in step one of our transition plans. HOWEVER, we are not required to add goals to the IEP in the annual goal section. While we can only choose one drop down goal to pull through onto step three of transition, you can CHECK MULTIPLE boxes on the annual goals and then make a note in the note section of the IEP which goal fits with their independent living goal.

I will be adding additional surveys to the side bar to help aid in the narrowing in of independent living goals that will beneficial to the student. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I would be more than happy to help in any way! :-)

Shameless Plug

This year, our BRIDGES, INSPIRE, PRIDE, CHOICES, REACH, and TRANSITION programs have been chosen as beneficiaries of the September 14, 2013 cruise night! Our students are currently selling 50/50 tickets for the event. Last year the winner took home over $4,000! If you are interested in supporting this AMAZING program, here is where you can purchase tickets:

 1. We will be selling them at the first HOME football game at 

MINOOKA COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

this FRIDAY (September 6th) at 5pm!

2. They are for sale at the cooperative office

3. Find a teacher of one of these amazing programs! They have (or know where to get) tickets!

4. They will be available for sale at the Three French Hen market on September 14th, as well as during cruise night!

OF COURSE, if you are available, come to down town Morris on September 14th and say hello! We would love to say THANK YOU for your support in person! :-)

Take Care!!

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's back to school we go!

Welcome back everyone! I hope the summer has brought you back to school refreshed and ready for fun! While you were away, transition has mainly stayed the same! The look of EASY IEP may be different, but the data that you enter is not. I do have a FEW reminders as you begin thinking about Senior Annual Reviews... ( I mean they are good reminders in general!) :-)

1.  MAKE SURE you have an agency invite signed by parents BEFORE you send out an IEP invite. If  a transition agency does not show, you do NOT have to excuse them. They are a mandated invitation, but not a mandated attendee.

2. Have the student complete, at LEAST the student survey.. (which is conveniently located right over here) ---------->

3. Before you begin your transition plan, it will be very helpful to complete your goals FIRST. As you are working on goals, think about why you are working on those skills for the the student. What FUNCTION will these skills have in the students life after high school.

4. If you are getting an error on page three of the transition plan, (Where goals are pulled through) make sure that you have either training or education checked on your goal pages and not both. 9 times out of 10 this is why you are getting the error.

5. If your goals aren't pulling through to page three of the transition plan, it's because you haven't chosen a transition area in the drop down box of the goal section.

6. Even though you are doing senior annual reviews now, do NOT forget that you will still be responsible for a SUMMARY OF PERFORMANCE on every senior. This will include seniors that graduate early, graduate from Premier, graduate from Rivers Edge, or age out of programming. It does not include seniors that drop out, or do not finish for other reasons.

I do have a bit of bad news. Because every high school has gone to doing senior annual reviews in September, it will be impossible for me to 1. attend every senior annual review and 2. create a senior annual review folder specific to every senior. HOWEvER, I will provide the standard information for you and will be more than happy to come to any meetings that you think will need additional guidance.

As always, if you need anything, please do not hesitate to call me at the office, on my cell, or email me!!

Have a great year! :-)

Lions....and Tigers...and COMMON CORE... OH MY!

Hello everyone! With the new push toward common core, many teachers are left wondering about how we are to link them to transition! Well, do I have a resource for you! The National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center has come out guidelines to support transition statements and the link to common core standards. The links can be found on the right hand side of my blog under "helpful transition links"

In addition, there has been some confusion about what transition goals are. Transition goals are what you write on the first page of your transition plan under Education or Training, Employment and, in some cases, daily living skills sections. (Upon graduation from high school, Kate will be employed full time as a transition coordinator.) Transition goals are NOT arbitrary annual goals made up to sound "transitionie."(ie. Career Cruising Goals) The only time a student should have a Career Cruising goal or a goal in which they are researching a certain job is because they really don't know what they are going to do for the rest of their lives. Don't create more work for you!!! 

In addition, when you are linking annual goals back to your transition plan, it might be helpful to write an objective to your goal that deals directly to what you are working on in your transition plan. For example, if your goal is in regards to writing, one of your objectives could be about writing an coherent answer on a job application. This helps the student, parent, yourself, and the state see why that goal is an important skill to have after graduation.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me for help or guidance!

Take Care!

New Year... New Easy IEP fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! If you have been in EASY IEP and have been completing transition plans, you have noticed that the assessment screen now looks like this:

What this is asking you now is, what areas of transition does your assessment cover? If you are using the student survey and or the parent survey that is provided to you by me, each assessment covers ALL four areas listed. 

If you are using results from an interest inventory,which is part of the ACT, more than likely, you have assessed their education, employment, and training needs. 

If you have an assessment that you are using and you are unsure what should be checked, please call or email me and I will take a look and let you know.

As always, if you need help, or want me to take a look at your plans, please get a hold of me, and I would be happy to take a peek!

I hope you are all having a great start to the 2013 year!

Take Care!!

Summary of Performance

Just a reminder that if you have a student graduating in December, they will need to walk out of high school with a Summary of Performance in their hand. The idea behind a Summary of Performance (SOP) is that the student and their family have a reference of where to go for help after they leave high school. In addition,  if a student chooses to identify themselves as a person with a disability, the college will most often ask for a SOP first... so encourage the students to put this particular form in a safe file... and not the circular one... :-) 

If you have questions about how to complete a Summary of Performance, check out the how to on the right hand side of the blog. If you still aren't sure, please feel free to contact me, I would be happy to help you in any way! I hope you are having a great start to the holiday season! Take care!

A few helpful hints

Hi Everyone!

 I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and that the black Friday sales treated you well! :-) 

Over the past few weeks, I have been going through transition plans at various high schools and found that there are a few common mistakes that are easily avoidable, so I thought I would put together a little post to address the most common ones. In addition, on the right hand side I posted a Transition Checklist, that will help you double check that your plan is legally compliant. So with out further ado, here is a list of the common mistakes:

1. On the first page of the transition plan, make sure your transition goals are MEASURABLE. In the area of instruction, they should read:

Upon High School graduation the student WILL ATTEND ____________ full time/part time.

The language "plans on", "might" and "thinks: is NOT measurable and is not legally compliant.

2. If you list an assessment in the Assessment section, make sure you address the results in the summary section. These results should be data driven and should not include opinions and or speculation.

3. In the student strengths preferences area, please list what you know about the student that will make them successful in their chosen career or instructional goals. This is where observations and opinions can be listed. Make sure you write relevant and specific data to that student.

4. On page two of the transition plan, make sure you restate the students instructional and employment goal in the student needs section. Basically, you are just stating WHY you are working on the linked goal in relation to their transition goal. (FOR EXAMPLE:  The student will need to improve their reading comprehension skills to be successful at Joliet Junior College)

5. Make sure you LINK YOUR GOALS!!!

6. The course of study now only has to include the REMAINING years of school, but it has to be SPECIFIC to the student and can not be a general course of study. 

7. Make sure you attach your your permission form to invite an agency and most importantly, make sure YOU INVITE AN AGENCY! :-)

As always, if you have any other questions, please contact me!!

I hope you all have an excellent start to your holiday season!

Take Care!