Indiana is undergoing an employment systems transformation. Important changes may affect the students you support, especially those with significant disability impacts. These changes mean students using an Indiana waiver will no longer be able to attend state-funded, facility-based prevocational services (sheltered employment). Helping students understand their postsecondary employment options is critical. As they progress, developing an employment vision becomes increasingly important.

How Educators Can Empower Informed Choice Regarding Employment

Transition services and activities within the IEP offer a powerful avenue for developing students' employment visions. By incorporating concrete, action-oriented goals, students can articulate their future aspirations more clearly. Transition services and activities to consider might include:

1. Facilitating and creating job shadowing opportunities for students.
2. Developing and coordinating informational interviewing with local industry leaders.
3. Helping students research the goods and services Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) offers.
4. Collaborating with students to create one dedicated transition portfolio page that includes the:
   • Ideal conditions a student optimally needs at work.
   • Student’s most persistent strengths, including soft and hard skills.
   • Kind of supports, both at work and outside of work, a student will need to be successful and maintain a job.
5. Exploring meaningful day options to ensure each student has balanced and holistic well-being.  ​

As always, connect students to VR as early as possible, no later than their junior year of high school. Students may now concurrently receive VR and Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS). Lastly, make sure the student can access his/her electronic transition portfolio after graduation.

Bonus Tips:

The Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT) starts January 28 and runs through March 4, 2025. These sessions are offered in both Spanish and English. To learn more, visit the English FEAT registration and Spanish FEAT registration webpages.

The Indiana School Mental Health Initiative (ISMHI), part of the Center on Education and Lifelong Learning (CELL), will host Indiana’s 7th Annual Educating the Whole Child Summit on February 7, 2025, at the Embassy Suites Plainfield Indianapolis Airport Hotel. The keynote speaker, Cornelius Minor, a Brooklyn-based educator, will provide valuable insights on fostering equitable literacy reform. To learn more and register, visit the ISMHI events page.