Family Involvement in Secondary Transition
The purpose of the Secondary Transition Family Involvement module is to provide an opportunity to explore family involvement as it relates to the transition planning process. This is designed to assist professionals and families to understand the importance of the family/school relationship. This training module includes information on the following:
Transition Standards met by the transition family involvement module
Links to other modules go here
For professionals working in the area of transition for adolescents with disabilities, family involvement in transition planning plays a critical role. Families know their children best. Families of children with disabilities have more at stake. The families of adolescents with disabilities have a different perspective in regards to their child’s post school outcomes than typical families. Most families want to be involved in their child’s transition planning, but McNair and Rusch (1991) report that only 1/3 actually were involved. It is important to remember that after high school, the family of the young adult is typically the only consistent support received (Hanley-Maxwell, Pogoloff, & Whitney-Thomas, 1998).
How the family is defined has changed in the past few decades. The typical family of the 1950’s was a father, mother, children and depending on what part of the country you lived, may have included grandparents. Today, the family definition should not be limited to the narrow scope of the ‘family’ of the 50’s. The family structure of today may include blood relatives as well others who may be living in the household or their community. This is especially true when we include different cultures in how we interpret our definition of family. This learning module will define family in the broadest sense, with the family providing the definition for themselves (Lambie, p.5). However, we still need to understand that there are legal issues to be considered - such in the case of custody issues and/or signatures from primary caregiver/parent.
Lerner, Castellino, Terry, Villarruel & McKinney (1995) have provided examples of the contemporary "family".
Intact Nuclear (and biological)
Single Parent (biological)
Intact Nuclear (adoptive)
Single Parent (adoptive)
Intact (blended) {Heterosexual;Homosexual}
Single parent (step)
Intergenerational Extended, without parent {e.g., Child-Aunt}
In loco parentis families/institutions
Foster Care Homes
Group Homes
Psychiatric hospitals
Residential treatment facilities
Juvenile detention facilities
Runaways Street children/youth {e.g., Adolescent prostitutes}
Homeless children
(Lerner, Castellino, Terry, & McKinney, 1995)
The family involvement transition learning module is divided into three sections. The three sections take approximately 6 hours to complete with a content presentation, recommended activities, internet links, additional reading resources and quizzes.The sections of the family involvement module are:
sponsorship of MDE - university logos and other acknowledgements
References
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