Transition Assessment to prepare students for Postsecondary Education and Employment

1
Transition Assessment to prepare students for
Postsecondary Education and Employment

• Alma Price Taylor
• Program Specialist Transition Post Secondary
  Education
• NC Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

2
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor

• Determine the purpose of assessment documentation
• Diagnostic for Eligibility
• For Planning Services Individualized Plan for
  Employment (IPE)
• Employment Goal

3
Career OutcomeEducation and Employment

• Informed choice
• where the partners identify and explore together
  the various options in the consumers
  rehabilitation
• where the positive and negative implications from
  the consumers perspective are identified
• where the counselor provides support as needed
  for the consumer to make the informed choices
  that will result in a meaningful career outcome.

4
Planning Transition Services

• What are the students needs, interest and
  preferences
• What are the students future hopes, goals and
  dreams for independence after high school
• What activities and services are needed to
  prepare the student to reach those goals

5
Type of Assessments

• Vocational Evaluation Assessments
• Situational Assessments
• Community Based Assessments
• Exploration and Information about the career goal

6
The Source of data

• Vocational Evaluation
• VR Certified Vocational Evaluator
• Community Rehabilitation Facility
• Community Based Assessment
• Data from Interviews (consumer, family friends,
  school)

7
Evaluation Referral Questions

• 1) What are functional limitations of
  disability?
• 2) How does impairment effect work potential?
• 3) With current functional limitations, does
  he/she have any transferable work skills?
• 4) Are accommodations a consideration to enhance
  work potential and what are they?
• 5) What type of wok environment does client
  perform best in?

8
Evaluation Referral Questions

• 6) Does he/she have the essential skills
  necessary to be employed as a stock clerk,
  material handler, assembler, etc.?
• 7) Does he/she have the finger dexterity skills
  to work as a repair person or assembler?
• 8) Does he/she have entry level dexterity skills
  for assembly (industry, factory)?
• 9) Does he/she have the aptitude to be employed
  as a _______ and what reasonable accommodations
  will be needed?
• 10) He/she expresses interest in employment as a
  Receptionist, does he/she have skills for
  employment in this capacity?

9
Evaluation Referral Questions

• 11) Assess general skills for employment and
  identify if he/she would benefit from adjustment
  services prior to job placement.
• 12) Does he/she have the potential to complete
  vocational training (Cosmetology, Truck Driver,
  or Barber etc.)?
• 13) Is pursuing four years of college in a career
  field a reasonable expectation?
• 14) Evaluate aptitudes and identify highest
  aptitudes to use in guiding and career direction.

10
Planning for College

• Vocational Evaluation, Career exploration
• Review transition plan
• Job choice College
• Capabilities, interests, strengths for college
  potential
• College programs match student ability
• Community College, Proprietary School, Four year
  University, Vocational/Trade School

11
Things to Remember

• Take the soft skills of the consumer into
  account 
• There are not "cut off" scores because everything
  is individualized
• There are so many different levels of training
  with varying levels of demands
• For young people who will be working in a
  different kind of economy, having the best skill
  set possible is a priority for each student
• Give student the opportunity to be successful at
  the maximum level
• Read and consider all background information,
  check with teachers and transcripts to see how
  the student is performing, administer the tests
  appropriate based on the referral questions, and
  then carefully observe/listen to the student  

12
The Final Word

• Read and consider all background information,
  check with teachers and transcripts to see how
  the student is performing, administer the tests
  appropriate based on the referral questions,
  observe and then carefully listen to the student  

13
Disability in Postsecondary EducationTransition
and Documentation

• Stephan Hamlin-Smith
• Executive Director
• The Association on Higher Education And
  Disability (AHEAD)

14
The basics of disability in postsecondary
education

• The impact of ADA and Section 504 (civil rights
  legislation)
• The secondary impacts of IDEA (regulatory
  legislation)
• The lack of a special education construct
• The notion of Access v Success

15
Process, Policy and Practice

• Becoming qualified
• The role of self-advocacy
• Variance in institutional policies
• The impact of burden of proof

16
Primary purposes of documentation in
Postsecondary Education

• To establish protection from discrimination
• To determine reasonable accommodations that are
  appropriate for the individual student

17
Best practices the seven essential elements

• Credentials of the evaluator
• Diagnostic statement identifying the disability
• Description of the diagnostic methodology used
• Description of the current functional limitations

18
Best practices the seven essential elements -
continued

• Description of the expected progression or
  stability of the disability
• Description of current and past accommodations,
  services, and/or medications
• Recommendations for accommodations, adaptive
  devises, assistive services, compensatory
  strategies, and/or collateral support services

19
Being prepared

• Suggestions for best preparing students for their
  successful transition to postsecondary education,
  specifically regarding their documentation.