Grades 6 - 8
Transition Across the Grade Span: From Pre-K to Post-Grad
- Attend IEP meetings
- Discuss your shared vision for your child's future
- Share strengths, preferences, interests, and needs
- Support your child to understand their disability specific to strengths and areas of need
- Ensure your child understands their goals and accommodations and can communicate those with others as appropriate
- Participate in developing transition goals
- Assist your child to access and use assistive technology as appropriate
- Set challenging yet attainable expectations
- Learn about your child's Academic and Career Plan (ACP), which should be developed at school by the fall of eighth-grade year
- Expect and foster positive study habits
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Help your child to:
- Understand the education and training needed to achieve career goals
- Be aware of educational, vocational, and technical training opportunities available in high school
- Explore the transition services provided by your child's school when students reach age 14
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Support your child to:
- Pursue volunteer opportunities related to their interests
- Pursue small jobs in the neighborhood - shoveling snow, mowing grass, pet-sitting
- Take on more responsibility with chores - meal preparation, washing the car, etc.
- Understand the importance of behaviors such as punctuality, courtesy, proper dress and language, and hard work are essential to success on the job
- Explore the transition services provided by your child's school when students reach age 14
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Encourage your child's increasing independence to:
- Choose clothes
- Take medication
- Make healthy meal and snack choices
- Prepare and clean up after meals and snacks
- Use a planner to manage activities and assignments
- Talk with medical/dental staff, store clerks, and others in the community, as appropriate
- Identify trusted adults and strangers and know how to call for help
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Support your child to:
- Explore new hobbies
- Establish relationships with peers, mentors, and others
- Expand participation in extracurricular and community activities
- Learn about community resources
- Know what to do in emergencies (fire, accident, bad weather) and practice routines until they can respond independently
- Explore the transition services provided by your child's school when students reach age 14
This product was created by the Family Engagement Network (FEN), through a grant provided by the Virginia Department of Education and managed by the Center for Family Involvement at the Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University.
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