LETTING GO: Helping family members with disabilities become independent

Accepting that our children are going to leave home, go off to jobs and college, is one of the hardest adjustments for families of people with disabilities. Children do grow up. It is hard to accept that your child who always needed your assistance is going to be an adult, going to work and sitting in training workshops like this one, not as a student in special education, but as an employee in training as part of their job.

Helping students begin the transition from school to work begins early. Beginning at age 14, a statement of transition needs must be included in the IEP and updated yearly. That means the services and skills your child needs to transition from school to work or college. Federal law requires that transition planning begin at age 14. Transition services must be included in the IEP by age 16.

So, for example, you would state that your child, Alyssha, who is 14 years old will need assistance with learning basic computer skills because her career interests involve office work. Also, you believe having experience in the workplace would greatly benefit her. At age 16, transition services included in the IEP might be a computer skills class in high school and a work-study program where she works one hour each day typing and entering data in the tribal health office.

At age 18, the student has the right to make his or her own educational decisions unless a court has granted the family guardianship or the student chooses to share decision making with the family.

Special education services end at age 22 or when the student graduates or withdraws from high school.

Got those dates? At age 14, planning begins. At age 16, services begin. At age 22, at the latest, you, or your student, is done with special education services. For many students, it is at age 18 or 19, because that is when they finish high school.

Planning for independence: the challenges of a rural community