Matching Students and Environments
Student strengths, preferences, interests and needs must be "matched" to the expectations of current and postsecondary environments in the areas of education and training, employment, and independent living. Whether the current and future settings are in an educational, communtity or employment setting, each environment and subenvironment must be assessed and compared to the student's knowledge and skills. What are the considerations for looking at an environment?
Checkout the Transition Assessment Matrix link on the right side of your screen for many tools that will help you with this, and try the sorting activity below for a little practice!
Activity not available on mobile devices (description)
Environmental analyses will give the team the information they need to help the student get the right supports to succeed in the enviroment(s). The goal of the match is to make sure that students understand what is expected of them in terms of knowledge and skills as well as where they stand currently with respect to them.
The team then needs to be sure that the information gathered is used in the transition IEP to design a program for the student that has the services and activities the student needs to meet their postsecondary goals. If information about an environment is gathered and there is a disconnect between the students level of performance currently and where they want to end up when they leave school, then more instruction is called for and/or a reconsideration of the postsecondary goals. The chart below illustrates this concept.
Hand Outs
Transition Assessment Resource Guide
Annual Transition Assessment Planning Form
