Connecting Students to Life

(gentle music) - So transition is a complicated endeavor, and connecting students to jobs, other community experiences requires lots of moving parts. It's not just about what the school does, but also making sure opportunities exist in your local community around employment and community activities, that agencies are engaged and other community stakeholders. So while within transition schools are the hub for transition and the conveners of transition planning, that does not mean that teachers should go it alone, and transition teachers should as well. So I think a key strategy is making sure you're familiar with who are the different partners, formal and informal, in our community, disability-related and non-disability related, that we could draw upon to help us to create those opportunities and support students as they leave school. So part of it's becoming really familiar with what's out there, and the other is investing time to nurture those relationships and those collaborations. In transition it's all about relationships. And it's who you know and making sure they know you really well. But I think the other piece is making sure that you are also equipping others to do this work really well so that you're providing information and resources to families so they can do what they would do for any one of their children, helping them launch to adulthood really well, that you're providing resources to employers and other community members. So they're better positioned with the commitment and the capacity to support the young people that you're supporting as well. So it's about, I think, being at the forefront of that planning and that transition work, but realizing that you're not called or expected to do it alone. You need good allies and partners in that endeavor.