Transition success requires community experiences and support.

A key component to successful transition for our students with differing abilities involves the businesses and agencies in the community.  Relationships must be established between the schools and the programs or jobs that these students will be moving to after they leave school. A great way to begin these relationships is through work based learning opportunities.  These experiences will vary greatly depending on the specific needs and interest of the student. The advantage to participation in work based learning is that it provides exposure to different jobs which may help a student to gain job skills and begin to determine job interest areas. Many community businesses and agencies are willing to participate in WBL but need more information on how the program works and who is responsible for aspects of the program such as supervision and liability issues. I believe that if we can get more students involved in some type of WBL that  the students will be more successful in finding potential placement in these programs. I think that our job in special education is to help our students work to be as independent as possible and to be active members of society. One of the first steps to this is providing opportunities to gain a better understanding of job skills and jobs that they can participate in.