Planning For Your Own Educational Success
A Student’s Guide to Getting Involved

"Believing in yourself is the most important thing. It's absolutely critical that you not allow yourself to be isolated, and don't allow people to say, 'No,' and when they do, recognize that they are wrong, you are right . . . . It's only going to change when we demand it."
-- Judy Heumann

"People with disabilities have an absolute right and responsibility to participate fully and equally in society and to maximize their quality of life potential in manners of their own choosing."
-- President Ronald Reagan

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."
-- Michael Jordan

EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
This part of the Project PRIDE Guide is intended to help students learn about their own rights and how to use them to make their goals for the future come true. If you are a parent of a student over the age of twelve, you will want to share this part of the Guide with your child. If you are a student--this part is written especially for you!

A Student's Guide to Transition Rights & Responsibilities
You are the "I" in IEP.

"IDEA" stands for "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act." The "IDEA" is an education law that gives young people with disabilities the right to receive a free and "appropriate" public education. An appropriate education is an education specially designed to meet your needs as a student with a disability. (To read more about the IDEA, turn back to the Education Section of this Guide.)

You are probably already familiar with the IEP, or Individualized Education Program. The IEP is the plan put together especially for you by a team of people (including teachers and your parents) to describe what you need for a successful education. Did you know that you are also a member of that team?

Your education should help you find and develop the things you do best, and give you special help with the things you have difficulty doing. You have the right--and the responsibility--to participate in your own IEP meetings as soon as you are ready. By the time you are 14 years old, your school must take steps to make sure you are part of the IEP team. Taking an active role as a member of your IEP team is a big step toward developing self-advocacy skills.

What is self-advocacy?
Self-advocacy means speaking for yourself and asking for the things you need and want. It also means standing up for your rights, and taking responsibility for making your own choices. Self-advocacy skills are important skills that you can begin to develop now, and you will continue to use for the rest of your life.

Self-advocacy skills include:
-- Asking clearly for what you need or what you want.
-- Explaining the reasons why you need it.
-- Expressing your ideas and opinions.
-- Defending your ideas and opinions.
-- Handling conflict with others.
-- Working through disagreements.
-- Solving problems constructively.
-- Participating effectively as part of a group.

To be an effective self-advocate, you need to:
-- Know your rights and responsibilities.
-- Know your talents and abilities (what you do well).
-- Understand how your disability effects all aspects of your life.
-- Be able to explain to others how your disability effects your life.
-- Know what accommodations you need.
-- Be able to explain to others what accommodations you need.

How Do I Get Started?
Your own IEP meetings can be a very good place to start developing self-advocacy skills. You have the right to begin participating in IEP meetings as soon as you are ready. At least by the time you are 14, your IEP team needs to know what you want for your future. If you feel uncomfortable about getting started, try taking it in steps:

(1) Read the portions of Part One of this Guide that explain the IEP meeting process. Talk to your parents about their experience with IEP meetings. Attend your next IEP meeting with your parents. If you need any special accommodations to participate, let the school know what you want them to provide. Listen and become familiar with how the meeting is conducted. Ask questions if there are things you do not understand. Join in the discussion as soon as you feel comfortable. If you are not comfortable speaking for yourself, ask someone to help you.

(2) Plan for the next IEP meeting. Think about the work you have been doing in school-what aids or services help you and what things have not been helpful. Prepare a list of ideas or topics you would like to talk about. (You can use a copy of your current IEP as a guide.) Consider what goals you would like to have included in your next IEP.

(3) Take an active leadership role in advocating for yourself. Who knows more about what you want and what you need to succeed than you do? Your IEP meeting is about your life. It is your responsibility to make your needs and interests known to the team. Here are some tips:

-- tell the IEP team how you feel you are doing in school
-- ask the other members of the team to tell you how they think you are doing
-- focus on what you can do, and what services or supports have worked well for you
-- tell the rest of the team what your goals are and how you see your future
-- ask the other members of the team to offer ideas on how to help you reach your goals
-- ask the other members of the team what they can do to support you in reaching your goals

By becoming an active member of your IEP team, you have an opportunity to keep the team thinking about how to build on your strengths and abilities, as well as how to help you with needs related to your disability.

The IDEA has a "built-in" process to make sure that at least by the time you are fourteen, you have a real voice in planning your own educational program and deciding what training or activities you will need to prepare for your future. This is known as "transition planning."

What is transition planning?
Transition planning is a part of the IEP planning process. The IEP team explores a student's long-term goals and maps out ways to help the student reach those goals. The purpose of transition planning is for you and your family to think about what your life will be like after high school, what long-range goals you want to make, and what you need to do now to get there. The IEP meeting must include a discussion about how your course of study is preparing you for college, work, or other activities after high school.

Transition planning must begin at least by the time a student reaches the age of fourteen, but it can begin earlier. By the time you are 14, your school must begin making special efforts so that your IEP will be built around your plans for the future. Those efforts include inviting you to the IEP meeting, arranging the meeting so you can participate, or finding some other way of letting your IEP team know just what you want if you cannot attend.

What are transition services?
Transition services are the educational activities designed to help you prepare for adult life. That may mean helping you prepare for college, for vocational training, or for a job, and to develop skills for life-long learning. Depending on your particular needs, it may also include developing skills for living on your own, for participating in community activities, or for meeting other adult living objectives.

The purpose of transition services is to make sure that while you are still in school, you learn the skills you need to reach your goals, and learn how to find the resources you will need to help you along the way. Both you and your parents (or a guardian or other advocate) need to be actively involved in planning for transition activities. Transition planning should clearly reflect your personal goals, choices, desires, abilities, and preferences. Transition services are intended to be "a coordinated set of activities" based on the goals and needs of each student. That means that all areas of need for each student must be considered. As an example, if you need both vocational training and help in developing independent living skills, it is not enough that you receive one or the other--you must receive both.

The areas of need that must be considered for each student include:
-- instruction
-- related services
-- community experiences
-- employment and other adult living objectives
-- daily living skills and "functional vocational evaluations"

(Functional vocational evaluations are tests or surveys to help discover your job skills and what types of job opportunities or training you might be best suited for based on your individual interests.)

What kinds of services are considered transition services?
Transition services are activities that prepare a student for life after high school. They include activities affecting all areas of adult living:

Instruction -- Instruction includes academic classes, tutoring, or courses of study to prepare a student for college or other educational opportunities after high school.

Related Services -- Related Services include the services needed for a student with a disability to benefit from his or her transition activities. They can be thought of as supportive services, such as transportation, counseling, therapy, or mobility training. (Read more about related services under the IDEA in the Education Section of this Guide -- see "What is meant by special education and related services?")

Community Experiences -- Community experiences include work experiences in the community and at on-site job training programs. This also includes training in practical living skills such as banking, shopping, and using public transportation.

Employment -- Employment services or training are activities that prepare a student for a job or career.

Adult Living Objectives -- Adult living objectives include learning about the routine activities of adult life, such as voting, filing taxes, renting a home, finding a doctor or dentist, and getting insurance.

Daily Living Objectives -- Daily living objectives include activities to develop skills needed in daily living, such as budgeting money, paying bills, cooking meals, taking care of a home, washing clothes, and maintaining personal grooming.

Functional Vocational Evaluation -- A functional vocational evaluation gathers practical information about a student's interests, skills, talents, and needs.

Who provides transition services?
Your public school has the primary responsibility for providing transition services. The school is responsible for coordinating needed transition services, and directly providing some types of services, but to provide many types of services, your school will need to work with other agencies, such as:

-- the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services ("Voc. Rehab.")
-- the Department of Human Services (DHS)
-- community colleges or state universities
-- vocational training schools, trade schools, or private colleges
-- community providers of adult disability services
-- local employers

The process of transition planning should determine both what services a student needs and who should be responsible for providing each service. It is the school's job to make contacts with other agencies and identify who will carry out each of the services included in the transition plan. If another agency that has agreed to provide transition services fails to do what it has promised, it is the responsibility of the school to call a team meeting and find another agency to provide the service, or find some other way of meeting the student's transition goals and needs.

Why are transition services important to me?
Right now, your school has the important job of organizing the services you need because of your disability and working with your parents (or guardian) to make sure your needs are met. Once you leave school, the school no longer has an obligation to provide and coordinate services for you. Instead of one agency (the school) being responsible for coordinating the services you need, you and your family will become responsible for identifying where and how to obtain services you need from a variety of agencies. This process can be complicated and confusing if you are not prepared, but it doesn't have to be--if you and your school have developed an effective transition plan. You and your educational team need to take steps now to prepare for making that important "transition" from school to adult life.

Getting access to needed services as an adult may mean demonstrating that you are eligible to receive disability-related services, or it may mean knowing exactly what accommodations to ask for in college or at work. For students with disabilities who will continue to need services as an adult, it is particularly important that transition activities include working with adult service providers in your community.

Why should I participate?

Transition planning is all about your life--what you want to do after high school, how you want to live, what kind of training you want, what kind of job you want to have. You are the most important person in the transition planning process, because it is focused on your goals for the future. The IDEA makes it very clear that transition planning is to be built around each student and his or her individual preferences, interests, abilities, and needs. Without your participation, the most important piece to the puzzle is missing.

When and how is a transition plan developed?
A transition plan is developed by the IEP team during the student's annual IEP meetings. Both parents and students must be included in the transition planning process. The student must always be invited to IEP meetings where transition planning will be discussed. The school is required to invite you with a written notice.

The school's written notice must include:
-- the purpose of the meeting
-- the time of the meeting
-- the location of the meeting
-- a list of the people who are expected to participate in the meeting, including their titles and the names of any agencies they represent

What does the IEP transition plan need to include?
BY AGE 14: Beginning at least by the time you reach age 14, your IEP must include a statement of what transition services you need and what parts of the IEP address those needs. This statement must be updated every year, and must include information on how the student's "courses of study" and transition services work together. (Examples of "courses of study" include course work to prepare for vocational training, course work to prepare for college, or course work to prepare for entering the work force.)

BY AGE 16: At least by the time you reach age 16, the transition services portion of the IEP must include information on what agencies outside the school may become adult service providers, and what steps are being taken to involve those agencies in coordinated planning efforts.

BY AGE 17: At least one year before you reach the age of legal adulthood (age 18 in Iowa), you must be informed of the legal rights under the IDEA that become yours at the age of majority. A statement that you have been informed of your rights must be included in your IEP.

Also, at least a year before a student reaches age 18, the IEP team should contact the CPC (Central Point of Coordination) Administrator in the student's home county. This is an important step in coordinating adult services and may be done sooner if the need for adult services is a recognized part of the transition plan. In Iowa, funding for services to children with disabilities comes mainly through federal programs, like the IDEA, and state money. Once a student reaches age 18, more of the funding for services is the responsibility of the student's home county.

The county CPC Administrator is the person responsible for approving funding for adult disability services. Your county's CPC needs to be informed when a young person is nearing the age when they will be seeking adult services so that money can be budgeted by the county for that person's needs and so that the county can become a part of the planning process. (Read more about Iowa's county plan system, CPCs, and adult disability services in Part 3 of this Guide.)

The IEP for a student doing transition planning should:
-- record the student's after-high school goals
-- define what transition services the student needs to meet those goals
-- identify the other agencies which need to be involved, who will provide each type of service, and who will be responsible for coordinating the services

Keep in mind that the IEP team is required to consider whether services are needed in the areas of: (1) instruction, (2) related services, (3) community experiences, (4) employment and other adult living objectives, and (5) daily living skills and "functional vocational evaluations." If the IEP team decides that services are not needed in one or more of these areas, the IEP must state which services are not needed and explain why those particular services are not needed.

What records of transition activities will I need?
During your school years, your parents have probably collected what seems like a mountain of educational records for you. (Parents' rights to obtain those records were discussed in Part 1 of this Guide.) As a young adult, you have the same right to see or get copies of your own school records.

It is important that before you leave school, you request copies of all high school transcripts, evaluations, tests, reports, and your last IEP. Many schools do not keep complete copies of these records for long after students graduate. You may find that you will need your school records to show that you are eligible to receive adult services, or to show that you need certain accommodations when you go on to college, vocational school, or a job. Reports of medical or psychological testing and evaluations performed by health care professionals are most commonly accepted as evidence of your disability after high school.

You will also want to get copies of any reports on vocational training or work experience. You may also want to request letters from teachers or job-site employers to use as references. If you or your parents have had contacts with agencies that provide adult services, keep good notes of telephone calls. Keep copies of all letters you write to the school or other agencies. Keep and file all the letters you receive regarding your education, transition, and adult services.

KEEP RECORDS:

LETTERS
EVALUATIONS
REPORTS
TRANSCRIPTS
NOTES OF PHONE CALLS

Top Ten Tips for Student Participation in Transition Planning:

1. Know your abilities, talents, skills, and needs.
2. Know and accept your disability and how it affects your life.
3. Know and understand your rights and responsibilities.
4. Think about what you like and what you don't like. Think about the future--what you want to do after high school and how you want to live.
5. Talk to your parents (or a guardian or advocate) about what you would like to do.
6. Attend and participate in IEP meetings as a team member.
7. Ask questions if you don't fully understand.
8. Make suggestions about what works best for you.
9. Make your preferences and desires known to the IEP team.
10. Remember that transition planning is all about your future!

You can help your parents help you, too. They will be better able to help you express your wishes at your IEP meeting and during transition planning if you talk to them at home and let them know what you really want to do after high school. Transition planning should be a cooperative effort for you, your parents, and the other members of your IEP team.

Top Ten Tips for Parent Participation in Transition Planning:

1. Know your child's abilities, talents, skills, and needs.
2. Know and accept your child's disability and how it affects his or her life.
3. Know and understand your rights and responsibilities.
4. Learn about the adult service agencies and resources available in the community. (See Part 3 of this Guide.)
5. Talk to your son or daughter about the future and what he or she wants to do after high school.
6. Think about what programs or services your child will need to meet his or her goals. (See "Who Provides Transition Services?" earlier in this section.)
7. Attend and participate in the IEP meetings as a team member and support your child in expressing preferences, or express your child's preferences if he or she cannot.
8. Ask to have responsibilities assigned to specific people and to have specific time lines for action set.
9. Make sure the team understands and honors the desires and preferences of your child and your family.
10. Be creative. Remember that the best transition plan is a plan that can help make your child's dreams come true!

An Additional Note to Parents:
Parents and other adults who are an important part of the life of a young person with a disability may find it helpful to keep in mind that a successful transition from student to adult includes or is affected by nearly all aspects of the student's life. Parents, other family members, teachers, and friends all have important roles in helping each student realize his or her potential.

To realize their potential . . .
Young adults need to be involved. Young people need to be given an active role in making all decisions that affect their lives, and they need to learn to take responsibility for making their own choices.

Young adults need real choices. Young people need to have opportunities to explore different options for training, jobs, and community living before they can make informed choices about their own lives.

Young adults need encouragement. Young people may need to be encouraged to learn independence and develop positive attitudes toward work. Young people whose disabilities make them dependent on others for physical care may need special help developing independence in other areas of their lives.

Young adults need to develop personal skills. Working on development of social and communication skills at home, at school, and in the community, will help a young person improve important job skills.

Young adults need to learn responsibility. Taking on responsibilities in the home helps prepare a young person for independent living.

Young adults need to develop independence. Encouraging as much independence as possible in community activities, transportation, job experiences, or volunteer work helps a young person gain self-confidence.

Young adults need to learn the value of work. Helping a young person understand the value and benefits of work encourages the development of a positive attitude toward employment.

Young adults need to learn workplace skills. Helping a young person understand what employers expect and how to behave in the workplace is key to building successful employment skills.

Young adults need to learn they have something to contribute. Offering young people opportunities and encouraging them to volunteer for a local hospital, library, church, daycare, or community group helps them learn that their efforts can benefit others.

Young adults need an opportunity to grow. Parents often feel a special duty to protect a child with disabilities. It may take extra effort on their part to adjust to their child's growing self-reliance and accept the reasonable risks that come with independence.

Young adults need to gain confidence in their abilities. Transition goals need to be realistic, but a young person should not be discouraged from taking on challenges because others have low expectations, or because others fear the young person may fail.

Young adults need the freedom to fail. Failure is a fact of life. To never fail is to never take a chance on doing something new or challenging. Young people need to learn that when they try new things, they may not always succeed, but that they can survive their failures, learn from them, and try again.

Young adults need to develop new relationships. As young people prepare to leave high school, they need more opportunities to meet new people and become involved in activities that will help them develop a sense of "belonging" in the community where they will live.

PARTICIPATION RIGHTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

What are my rights if I go on to college or trade school?
Special education services end when you graduate from high school. The IDEA covers all students with disabilities in elementary and secondary schools. The IDEA does not cover post-secondary schools. Post-secondary schools could be technical schools, trade schools, colleges, or universities (or other educational activities after high school).

In some cases, students may be enrolled in classes at a community college or technical school during their last high school years. If they have not yet graduated from high school, they are still enrolled in special education and are subject to all of the requirements and protections of the IDEA. After graduation from high school, different requirements and protections apply to students. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was discussed earlier in this Guide. Section 504 applies to students in elementary and secondary education and to post-secondary schools or "higher" education. Another federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the "ADA") also applies to education after high school. (More about the ADA later.) These two laws prohibit colleges, universities, or other educational programs from discriminating against a person because of a disability. They are known as "non-discrimination" laws.

What is "non-discrimination"?
Non-discrimination laws protect people from unfair discrimination based on their status as a member of a "protected" group. They are also known as "civil rights" laws. Non-discrimination laws can apply to race, gender, age, religion, disability, or other specific populations. In the case of students with disabilities, Section 504 and the ADA require that they are not excluded from any program or activity because of their disabilities. Schools that are subject to these laws must make any reasonable accommodations or modifications that a student with a disability needs to participate.

Accommodations must allow students with disabilities to:
-- have access to,
-- participate in,
-- or benefit from, any of the educational programs or activities offered to all students.

Students must be otherwise "qualified" for the program or activity. That means that students with disabilities must meet the same basic requirements to participate that students without disabilities must meet. If students with disabilities are asked to meet standards or requirements which are greater than those for students without disabilities, that would be illegal discrimination.

As a public school student with a disability, your school had an obligation to identify your needs and design an educational plan to meet them. As an adult, you have the responsibility to identify yourself as a person with a disability, know what accommodations you need, and ask for those accommodations. Each college or university should have a Disability Services office or a Disability Services coordinator for you to contact. It is your responsibility to make the contact. Colleges and other post-secondary schools have no obligation to make any accommodations until you do two things:

(1) Request services from the campus Disability Services office, and
(2) Provide "documentation" of your disability.

The "documentation" (record or proof) needed is usually a recent medical or psychological evaluation. (One completed within the last three years.) Generally, the Disability Services office will help arrange the accommodations you need in individual classes. You should make the arrangements as early as possible to make sure they can be put in place before classes start, if possible.

Remember, a post-secondary school has no obligation to find you or offer you services. It is your responsibility to let the school know what you need. Colleges may not be required to provide accommodations unless you identify your needs at the appropriate time--usually when you apply for admission or when you register for classes. If you fail to identify yourself as a person with a disability and ask for accommodations, then experience problems in your classes, it may be too late for you to get the help you need. The school may not be required to honor requests for accommodations made at the last minute, or after you have performed poorly in class.

What kinds of accommodations can I expect to receive?
Just as in elementary and high school, accommodations for students with disabilities must be made based on the needs of the individual. What is a reasonable accommodation for one person may not be a reasonable-or appropriate-accommodation for another person. By the time you have completed high school, you should have developed a good understanding of your disability and how it affects your learning. You may need to ask some questions about how college classes are structured to decide what kind of accommodations you will need for a particular course. The Disability Services office should be able to assist you.

Examples of Classroom and Study Accommodations:
-- text books on tape
-- tape recording lectures
-- note-takers for lectures
-- use of a calculator in class
-- proofreaders for written assignments
-- extended time to complete lengthy projects
-- use of a computer for word processing

Examples of Testing Accommodations:
-- additional time for test-taking
-- test reader (a person to read the test questions to you)
-- taped testing (tape recording test questions or answers)
-- oral testing (answering questions aloud instead of in writing)
-- computer testing (writing test answers using a computer)
-- alternate test settings (such as a quiet room to reduce distractions)
-- test scribe (a person to write down your test answers)
-- use of a calculator on some tests

As discussed earlier in this Guide, Section 504 makes it illegal to discriminate against an otherwise qualified person on the basis of a disability in any program or activity that receives funding through the federal government. (You may want to review "What is Section 504?") Nearly all elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools, are included, as well as businesses and public facilities that receive money from the federal government. Section 504 requires that schools take reasonable steps to give students with disabilities access to all the programs and activities offered by the school.

Making accommodations does not mean lowering academic standards. It means allowing students to perform tasks that are affected by their disability in an alternate way. This is a very important difference to understand. Students who qualify to receive learning accommodations under Section 504 or the ADA are still expected to meet all academic requirements of the college or program they are enrolled in. They are still expected to be responsible for managing their time, meeting deadlines, and maintaining acceptable grades to earn credits for their course work. Qualified students are entitled to reasonable accommodations in the way that they learn and the way they do their work, they are not entitled to reduced expectations that they can master the material that is essential to their program of learning.

Taking Responsibility
Along with all the rights explained in this Guide come responsibilities. Each person has a responsibility to contribute to his or her community by participating in it. Each person has a responsibility to make choices and to accept the consequences of those choices, even when those choices are unwise. Becoming an adult means learning, living, working, and playing as independently as possible. Parents, teachers, and service providers can help young people with disabilities by offering information and support, but each individual has a responsibility to take their own actions and to make their own successes and their own mistakes.