Transitional Survey

[flutterby]

difficult child's SpEd Interventionist sent me a Transitional Survey to complete. It asks questions like: after high school do you think your child will attend a 4 year college/university, community college, technical school, etc? After graduation where do you think your child will live? What kind of support do you think your child will need to live on his/her own? (All with selections to make.)

difficult child is a freshman with mild developmental delays and mental illness. How am I supposed to know the answers to those questions now? I did my best, and typed a lot of notes on the survey, but...it just doesn't seem relevant to today. Not with the mental state she's in.

I know we have to look forward. But, we need some kind of stability and an idea of how we're going to maintain that first.

Sigh....

 

[klmno]

We haven't gotten a written survey, but have been asked the questions. I think it's a lwa if the kid is on an IEP and reaches 14 or 15yo. Anyway, we looked at it like "life goals", not necessarily expectations or my dreams. difficult child told them he planned to go to college and I said I would like for him to. It's not impossible, but not neccsaarily a probablity. Still, they wouldn't help him work toward this goal if it wasn't listed.

Then, we told both told them that he would like to get an advanced diploma instead of the standard diploma. This is even less likely than college, but if it keeps them supporting him academically and motivates difficult child, I've got no problem with it. They actually marked both "standard" and advanced" on his iep so it would be clearer that it's a goal, but not an expectation and no one (me or at sd) should pressure him about it.

So I would suggest letting your daughter decide what she wants to do after high school and go with that, maybe listing a little higher goals for her just to make sure the sd doesn't label her as a teen who doesn't care or need encouragement.

 

[Usha]

Dear Heather,
I have exactly the same problem with my daughter. She just stopped going to school...she is a bright girl but let her grades slip badly in one of her down phases and she decided it was not worth continuing..called the whole education system '****' I have no idea whether she intends finishing her school ...this is a taboo topic.. we canot discuss her future...it has been a year...she's been seeing a therapist..but that has'nt helped her much...now she is a professional patient going from therapist to therapist....she has not been officially dignosed as Borderline (BPD), but from all I've read that seems the trajectory...complex PTSD...dissociation..DID and Borderline (BPD)! We intend bringing her to the States for therapy.....but the costs seem prohibitive. Meanwhile we are hanging in there... Have you checked out Tami Green's website on Borderline (BPD)?

 

[DaisyFace]

Heather--

We had to answer similar questions for our difficult child recently...and I, too, found it completely impossible.

I wanted to say--Well, am I supposed to answer these questions based upon Today??? or based upon the hope that we might get support and interventions between Now and Then???

Because the answer Today is that difficult child seems completely incapable of handling any of this--but with the correct help and support, I think she could achieve quite a lot.

So what is the point of a survey about tomorrow's problems if we have yet to work on Today's issues...????

--sigh--

DaisyFace

 

[DDD]

Goal setting is tricky...if not impossible, in my humble opinion. In the past I have requested full testing to help identify strengths and weaknesses in hopes of actually finding a suitable goal. Our difficult child is whimsical (that's a gross understatement) and the test results were like a rollercoaster. Most often the responses he gave would be suitable for Albert Einstein and had little or no relationship to his capabilities. In other words he wants "to be" a physicist but is math disabled! He
likes art but he doesn't want any art teacher telling him how to improve his skills. Yikes!

I "think" I would use responses like "we anticipate that with full evaluations our child will be able to identify and follow through with a career goal". At least that will put the ball back in the educator's field. It's tough with special needs to
give logical responses. Sorry. DDD

 

[timer lady]

I've filled out this informational surveys for kt & wm. The SD & I were waaaaay off in our answers - I think because they do not live with our children 24/7. They rarely see our kids out in the community.

Saying that Heather, I filled out those surveys based on today given that it's a very subjective form. The differences in my replies & the SDs tells you that. I'd fill that form based on current issues & go with that. It will change as does everything with any teen.

 

[flutterby]

I completed it last night and just put a lot of notes. Like it asked, "do you want your child to live on his/her own after gradudation?" Well, hell yeah, I want her to. But, I noted the concerns of psychologist, former therapist (masters social worker) and PCA on whether or not that will actually be able to happen, or if it does with how much assistance.