1. Mission: Transition
Supporting Youth Transition to Employment, Careers and Independence
Session Four

2. Welcome back to Mission: Transition Session Four!
Thank you for joining us for this SSEAC Education and Skills Development Learning Option!

3. Review of Session Three Learning Outcomes
Using Instructional Strategies and Learning Tools
for Skills Development
Linking individual youth IEP and transition plan goals to a transition plan matrix and deploying instructional strategies to target hard and soft skill development is central to role as an EA supporting students transition from high school
Four domains to focus skills development: employment, education and careers, independent living and social life
Instructional strategies and learning tools
should be carefully selected to fit with unique
learning style of student and targeted skills
within any domain

4. Job Coaching Case Study Review
Role and Responsibilities
of a Job Coach
Role: Job coaches are individuals who specialize in assisting individuals with disabilities to learn and accurately carry out job duties.
Responsibilities: They may first do a job analysis to identify the job duties, followed by developing a specific plan as to how they can best train the employee to work more and more on his/her own until completely self-sufficient and able to perform job duties accurately and effectively without assistance.
(Job Accommodation Network, 2015)
Support (to the employee and employer) in addition to skills training can consist of:
Advocacy and disability awareness-building
Job adaptations
Social support
Problem-solving
Development of natural supports to allow the job coach to phase out of direct involvement”

5. Communication in Teams: Challenges and Opportunities
The single most important strategy an agent of Mission: Transition will use is effective communication!
Challenges
Opportunities
EA’s unaware of transition plan goals
No or limited dialogue with team on how EA will support student on a day to day basis with transition goals and/or targeted skill development
EA observations, informal and formal, in a variety of domains (school-community-recreational) and skills development training not being documented and results not being shared with team or shared on a consistent basis
Time constraints and limited meeting and planning time
Regular debriefs with skills development or resource teacher on skills development targets for individual student and groups of supported students
Informal/formal communication times and methods; sharing observations and reports of goals related to transition plans

6. Lines of Communication
Meetings include:
one on one (EA and Resource/Skills Development Teacher)
Group (All EA’s and Resource/Skills Development Teacher)
SD/Resource Teacher, EA and Student
As a transition team members including student
Meetings
Documentation
Documentation includes:
Reports and Observation tracking sheets, IEP’s, Transition Plans, Student Profiles and Sub-books

7. Management of Communication Systems
Clear lines of communication systems (oral and documentation)
Built in debrief and reporting meetings related to transition planning tasks and activities especially important with relief EA’s
Well-designed observation recording sheets for skills development and transition related tasks and activities
Observation recording sheets and other transition related documentation reviewed by transition team for usability feedback

8. Promoting Collaboration in Teams
As an EA, you can demonstrate leadership in team collaboration by modeling the conditions and behaviors that instill trust, cooperation, and community stewardship.

9. Collaboration Challenges in Teams
Focusing too intently on EA’s own work schedule and daily support tasks assigned to your position on the team without or limited time spent connecting with other EA’s or members of the transition team for communication and collaboration opportunities
Attitudinal barriers create team division
Using personal differences and perspectives with other team members as barriers to communication and collaboration along with different communication styles, attitudes toward conflict, approaches to completing tasks, decision-making styles, and attitudes toward disclosure
More on perspectives that divide collaboration can be found in field journal page 16

10. Collaboration Opportunities in Teams
Co-Creating Team Culture
To co-create a culture for the transition team to come together to address issues and explore opportunities that will support the focus student in his or her transition goals and vision for his or her future
Diversity
To talk about possible solutions without predetermining the outcome, negotiate in a manner that mutually invites multiple perspectives and respects diverse opinions while integrating opposing interests
Shared Goals
Create agreements about what each transition team member will do as a part of the group and under what context and then take action
Negotiations
Participation
Balancing
Agenda’s

11. Collaboration Methods For EA’s
Strategic partnerships: Using a strength-based approach; utilize team capacity by intentional use of individual team member’s skills and ability and sharing this individual capacity with other members of the team
Brainstorming sessions: Builds team morale, communication, engages cross-disciplinary skills and insights, offers more perspectives to planning and secures more stakeholder buy-in
Facilitated discussions: Conversations and meetings that employ the use of a facilitator. Simply, a facilitator is a non-basis person who helps when a transitions team engaged in the collaboration process are “stuck” on discussing their positions and ideas (as opposed to communicating interests that best serve the student and outcomes related to transition planning)

12. Creative Problem Solving in Teams
The greater the flexibility in problem solving skills, the more malleable a team will be in dealing with issues that crop up
Creative problem solving skill increases team capacity and supports individual team members to offer their full professional potential when supported with the ideas, tools and resources to overcome problems or barriers in the field
Approach to creative problem solving:
Clarify and identify the problem
Research the problem
Formulate creative challenges
Generate ideas
Combine and evaluate the ideas
Draw up an action plan
Do it! (implement the ideas)

13. Summary of Key Learning
Enhancing the 3 C’s- Communication, Collaboration and Creative Problem Solving…it start’s with you!
EA’s can contribute to a culture that embraces, promotes and upkeeps the 3 C’s in its Transition Team.
How can you make a difference?
Use Strength-Based Communications
Invite and Sharing Multiple Perspectives
Build Trust and Collegial Rapport
Explore a Variety of Solutions (Always have a Plan B, C and D)
Demonstrate Integrity, Accountability and
all of those soft skills we teach our students!

14. Summary of Key Learning
Behind every successful EA is a team; the transition team. You are a key member of the transition team and together, it is
your efforts that make a life-changing difference!

15. Workshop Evaluation, Final Reflections and Wrap Up
Think. Feel. Experience.
EA’s, you have interfaced with these aspects of learning. Let us take time to reflect on key take-away learning from this learning option, complete a workshop assessment and leave your group with final thoughts, feelings and ideas about supporting youth transition to employment, careers and independence