Time For Work

Today I met with a student who graduates soon. He has Asperger’s and struggles with social skills and non-verbal language. We reviewed his transition pan. He isn’t planning on college, but instead plans on getting a job right away. This started freaking me out. I start worrying about if he is ready. I worry how he will do interviewing and interacting with co-workers, employers, customers, etc. Everything started feeling more urgent and I felt like the skills we are working on will be more impactful in a work setting than they have been at school.  That is why I wanted to share the resources that I am using with this student to make sure he is prepared.

1.  I was recently introduced to a great website to help students explore career possibilities. The website is https://www.careeronestop.org/Videos/CareerVideos/career-videos.aspx. We are able to see how much you could make, what degree you need and what skills are important for this career. It also states the future of the career and the job market for it right now. This is a great starting point for students thinking about looking for employment or deciding on a major/focus if they are going to go to school.

2.  We are also practicing mock interviews.  Really, it is a good idea for everyone to practice interviewing, especially the students that we work with.  Here is a link to work on interviewing skills from Career One Stop: https://www.careeronestop.org/GetMyFuture/Employment/interviews.aspx . 

3.  I also wanted to continue working on soft skills with him.  I love this soft skills curriculum that includes a section on communication from the Department of Labor: https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/youth/softskills/ . 

I find these areas to be more pertinent the closer my student’s get to graduation. How do you help your students who are about to graduate? What resources do you use?

Community College for Individuals with Disabilities

Our district has a work program for our older students. It is an awesome program and the teachers who run it are phenomenal! I love that the student’s get opportunities to go out and get real work experience. They also have a class that pairs with it that teaches employment skills such as soft skills, interviewing, how to fill out an application, etc. It’s vital to practice for our students. We recently took these students on a field trip to our local community college. We were given a tour of the campus, we received an overview of the available programs, and the students were informed on how to get their IEP accommodations to roll over to community college classes. They also were informed on how to take their placement tests. The student support specialist at the disability services told us that placing even one course higher on a placement test can save a student almost $400. That is a lot of money for these students. I looked into what information they were tested on and found what related to my speech and language goals. I made a checklist to review with my students who are planning on going to the community college. I am using it as a tool to help us plan our goals and help my students buy-in to what I am teaching them. I am trying to get them more invested by showing them how this will impact their lives long term. I also started teaching testing terms to prepare them before they go in and take the test. If you haven’t taken a trip like this one with your students I highly recommend it. Reach out to your local community college and see if you can set it up!

Download the free Checklist here:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Community-College-Speech-Skills-Checklist-4512573

It’s Graduation Time! Now What?

I have spent the majority of my years as a Speech-Language Pathologist working with high school and transition-aged students and I am rarely optimistic when it comes time for them to transition out of school either after the 12th grade or upon their 22nd birthday. According to the disability statistics by Cornell University, “In the year 2017, an estimated 37.3 percent (plus or minus 0.29 percentage points) of non-institutionalized, male or female, with a disability, ages 21-64, all races, regardless of ethnicity, with all education levels in the United States were employed”. This got me thinking about what I could or should be doing to better help my students. I decided I needed to do more research and get my student’s more actively engaged in their planning. That’s why I decided to start this blog. I want to research better ways to engage my students, pick more relevant goals, and most importantly increase their chances of success after high school. I want to look past just helping them access the curriculum and help them access employment and successful adulthoods. I will share my research here in hopes of helping other SLPs and other individuals with disabilities that are facing similar challenges. I would love comments, suggestions, research, or anything else relevant you feel like sharing. I hope to hear from you soon.