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Transition Strategies in Special Education19-

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Transition Strategies in Special Education19-

Transition Strategies in Special Education19-

Lecture 19:Notes

19.0 Transition strategies for persons with learning disabilities

19.1 Introduction

The topic is focusing on who are learners with learning disabilities, their challenges and how to plan and implement transition strategies for learners with learning disabilities. The learner is expected to be aware of duties that are likely to be performed by individuals with learning disabilities.

Apart from understanding the duties, also the learner in this course will be made aware of the teaching strategies that are likely to support a person with learning disability to develop the functional skills needed.

19.2 Specific learning disability

Groups of varying lifelong disabilities and cannot be cured. These disorders have a negative impact on learning and can affect one’s ability to speak, listen, think, read, write, spell, and perform mathematical computations. The disorders affect the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, respond to, and communicate information.

Transition is usually described as a coordinated set of activities for a student, designed to promote successful progress to and from school. Transition relates to entry into and exit from each educational level, such as pre-school to elementary school, elementary school to secondary school,

and secondary school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education (both university and college), vocational training, apprenticeships, employment, adult education, independent living and community participation.

Successful transition for all students including those who have learning disabilities is based on:

  • the student’s identified needs
  • the student’s recognized strengths, skills and competencies
  • the student’s interests
  • the student’s preferences
  • the student’s short and long term goals
  • the student’s past experiences, including academic achievements, co-curricular and volunteer involvements at school and in the community.

Students with learning disabilities have average to above average intelligence and, provided that they have been taught, supported and accommodated throughout their educational career appropriately, they should be able to be successful in the postsecondary destination of their choice.

While intellectually most of them can handle the demands of postsecondary education, they should be encouraged to make independent and appropriate choices and be supported through appropriate transition planning to achieve their personal goals.

19.3 Planning for the transition of students with learning disabilities

In planning for the transition of their students with learning disabilities, schools should:

  • offer Learning Strategies credit courses to all students with learning disabilities, which focus on:

ü the student’s understanding of his/her own learning disabilities,

ü appropriate learning strategies and accommodations,

ü the impact of learning disabilities on the various aspects of the student’s life, including the issues of social competence and independent living,

ü self-advocacy training,

ü academic and career counselling,

ü technology and its importance for the current and future success of students with learning disabilities

  • ensure that each identified student’s IEP includes a written adaptive technology plan.
  • ensure that there are adequate resources, including funding and personnel, available to assist all students with learning disabilities to function appropriately and achieve to their maximum potential in school.
  • ensure that there is an adequate individual written accommodation plan for each student with learning disabilities that the student understands, benefits from and can explain for effective self-advocacy purposes.
  • ensure that all relevant personnel, including the student’s teacher, principal, etc., are aware of the student’s specific transition plan and commit the necessary resources to carrying out its goals, objectives and action plans as well as meeting the time lines.

There are many changes in environment and expectations that affect successful transition from secondary school to postsecondary settings for students with learning disabilities, for example:

  • teacher/ supervisor: student contact decreases significantly
  • academic and achievement expectations increase, while guidance, support and individualized instruction are reduced
  • reduced role for parents and other supports
  • greater expectations on the student to become:
    • self-motivated
    • resilient
    • more independent in academic and living situations
    • able to self-advocate
    • able to cope with disclosure challenges
    • able to apply coping strategies independently
    • able to identify and advocate for accommodations required

Some essential components of all transition plans for students with learning disabilities:

  • academic preparation, including literacy, metacognitive, problem solving, communication and future goal specific skills
  • personal skills development, including future independence, life planning, social skills and self-advocacy skills development
  • specific preparation for the student’s chosen destination

In order to make a successful transition from secondary school to postsecondary life, students need to be able to do the following:

  • understand their learning disabilities, including the potential and actual impact on learning and work;
  • present a positive self-image by learning to focus on strengths and competencies;
  • develop positive personal qualities, such as realistic self-assessment, willingness to take risks, becoming an independent learner and focusing on self-motivation;
  • establish realistic and realizable goals;
  • develop and practise positive social skills  (Social skills related to school safety include: Anger management, Recognizing/understanding others’ point of view, Social problem solving, Peer negotiation, Conflict management, Peer resistance skills, Active listening, Effective communication, and Increased acceptance and tolerance of diverse groups)  and pro-social behaviours (Prosocial behavior involves caring, helping, sharing and volunteering. Morality refers to one’s beliefs about right and wrong and involves traits such as honesty, fairness and responsibility. Children internalize the prosocial and moral behaviorsthey observe from others)
  • develop and practise effective studying, test preparation, test taking, time management and note taking strategies;
  • identify any potential and actual difficulties with needed skill areas and any accommodations required;
  • maintain a suitable portfolio of relevant information, including samples of past work;
  • know their rights and responsibilities as students with disabilities, potential workers and contributing citizens;
  • prepare for and practice disclosure;
  • learn how to select appropriate postsecondary destination options and choices;
  • identify and know how to access resources that will assist in facilitating ongoing accommodations and future success, including disability related to services, funding, etc.;
  • seek out a learning and/or working environment which is supportive and in which they can demonstrate their competencies effectively;
  • be willing to commit to lifelong learning;
  • be willing to work hard to achieve their goals.

19.4 What Is Transition for LD?

The term transition refers to passing from one state or condition to another. Many important transitions occur throughout each person’s life, and many of them are associated with predictable life events, such as beginning preschool, leaving elementary school, and entering middle adulthood. One of the most critical transition periods for students with learning disabilities (LD) is the transition from school to young adulthood.

The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defined transition services for this particular transition as: a coordinated set of activities for a student, with a disability, that:

(a) is designed within an outcome oriented process, that promotes movement from school to post school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational training, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation;

(b) is based on the student’s needs, taking into account the student’s preferences and interests;

(c) includes instruction, related services, community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school objectives, and when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation .

This concept is straightforward and fairly simple, including three major components. First, every student and his or her family should be coached to

(a) think about post? high school goals and

(b) develop a plan for how to achieve those goals. Second, a high school experience should be designed so that the student acquires the skills and competencies necessary to obtain his or her desired post? high school goals.

Finally, the linkages to post high school services, supports, and programs need to be identified and made before the student exits high school.

What are transition services?

Transition services are activities that prepare students with disabilities to move from school to post-school life.  The activities must be based on the students needs, preferences, and interests, and shall include needed activities in the following areas:

Instruction; Related services; Community experiences; Development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives; Acquisition of daily living skills (when appropriate); and Functional vocational evaluation.

19.5 Why Is Transition Planning Important for Individuals with LD?

Transition planning for individuals with LD has lagged behind that of other groups. A major reason for this lack of attention has been an assumption that individuals with LD have a mild disability that primarily affects academic achievement;

therefore, they have the ability to move from secondary to postsecondary environments without a lot of difficulty. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many students with LD. The results of a number of recent studies have suggested that many adolescents with LD do encounter difficulties in making the transition to adult life,

including problems related to unemployment, underemployment, job changes, participation in community and leisure activities, pay, dependency on parents and others, satisfaction with employment, postsecondary academics, and functional skills.

Who Is Involved in the Transition Process and What Are Their Roles?

Numerous individuals should be involved in the transition process, with the most important being the student and his or her family. Key participants and their roles in the transition planning and program implementation process follow:

Student: Communicate preferences, interests, strengths, areas of need, types of support, how progressing; participate actively in discussions, decisions, planning activities, IEP development, IEP meetings, and IEP implementation

Parent/Guardian: Support the student; Provide information about the student’s strengths, interests, needs, independent living skills, and kinds of support needed to achieve desired post?high school outcomes;

Be actively engaged as equal partners in planning, discussions, and decision making; Participate in making referrals to adult service agencies and training programs; and Provide opportunities for the child to practice adult roles and responsibilities.

Special education teacher: Provide information about the student’s strengths, achievements, progress on IEP goals, and strategies for teaching student; Assist student in identifying postsecondary goals; Prepare student and family for their leadership role in the transition process;

Suggest courses of study and educational experiences; Identify needed personnel from school, related services, and community agencies; Provide input and incorporate into IEP transition service needs and postschool agencies, services, and/or supports; Link student and parents to post? high school services/supports; Coordinate all people, agencies, services, or programs; and Monitor student progress

General education teacher: Assist student in identifying postsecondary goals; Assist in planning courses of study in general education curriculum; identify and provide modifications, adaptations, and supports; and identify and provide positive behavioral strategies and interventions; Monitor student progress.

19.6 What Are Transition Planning Areas or Domains?

Transition planning domains do include: community participation; daily living; employment; financial/income management; health; independent living (include living arrangements); leisure/recreation; postsecondary education; relationship/social skills; transportation/mobility; and vocational training.

Transition planning for students with learning disabilities

Transition planning for students with learning disabilities must be comprehensive in nature, addressing all the major areas of adult functioning: employment, continuing education, daily living, health, leisure, communication, interpersonal skills, self-determination, and community participation. A growing database of information related to the transition needs of students with learning disabilities is emerging. Select highlights are provided below:

ü  Students with learning disabilities receive inadequate vocational experiences

ü  Students with learning disabilities are most likely to have to find a job on their own—little help is given to them by the schools or adult agencies

ü  Relatively few students with learning disabilities go to colleges

ü  Students with learning disabilities are less adept / skilled than their nondisabled peers at using community resources and managing various aspects of their lives

The transition planning process provides just the opportunity needed to shape one’s future in a powerful way. Youth and young adults can participate in and even manage the individualized transition planning process, supported by a multifaceted team.

The team can guide students with a learning disabilities in making and acting upon their choices about further education, work, living arrangements, medical attention, physical and mental health supports, transportation options, leisure/recreation lifestyles, and other life areas.

Certain themes are extremely important in regard to meeting the Transition needs of students with learning disabilities. These themes are interwoven throughout the series and are described briefly below.

1. Student Participation Is Crucial.  It is an inherent right to be involved in one’s own life planning. To do this effectively, students must be more than observers at their IEP meetings; they need to be provided the tools to be effective participants. At the very least, a student’s interests and preferences should be determined. However, it is more desirable to have the student actively contribute to the development of his or her transition plan.

2. Efforts Should Be Made to Get Families Involved in the Transition Process. School-based personnel need to be sensitive to family values, needs, and situations; and families should be encouraged to participate to whatever degree possible in identifying transition needs, determining transition goals, and acting directly or indirectly on achieving those goals.

3. Transition Efforts Should Start Early. Various aspects of the transition process can begin easily at the elementary level. Transition education (i.e., content related to ultimate transition areas) can be initiated through the teaching of life skills and career education.

Families can be introduced to the major areas of transition planning when their children are young so that they become aware of areas that will be very important for their children in the future.

4. Transition Planning Must Be Sensitive to Cultural Factors. Professionals involved in transition planning need to be aware of various cultural factors that can affect the nature of student and family participation in the transition planning process. The way families participate may differ from what school-based personnel desire.

Furthermore, cultural factors may very well influence the priority of transition needs, again in potential contrast to what school-based individuals think is important. The goal of transition planning is to act on areas of need. Agreeing on what the most important areas are requires mediation and collaboration skills.

5. Transition Planning Must Be Comprehensive. As important as employment is as an outcome, it is only one of many other areas for which transition needs should be evaluated. In our society, employment, and the money earned from employment, plays a critical role in everyone’s quality of life—

hence the focus on employment. But we must remain aware that employment and jobs do not guarantee quality of life. The important point is that we need to reach a workable balance across all of the transition areas.

Last modified: Wednesday, 9 February 2022, 1:22 PM

Lecture 20:Notes

20.0 Transition strategies for persons with emotional behavioral disabilities

20.1 Persons with emotional behavioural disabilities

Transition strategies for the learners with emotional and behavior challenges will focus on among other things types of job placement and how to support them in producing good job outcomes.

Persons with emotional behavioural disabilities include all types of emotional and behavioral disorders, including internalized disorders (e.g., Generalized Anxiety, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder) and externalized disorders

(e.g., Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder). Despite the push for inclusion in the 1990s, students formally identified with EBD still spend a significant amount of school time outside the general education setting.

20.2 Causes of Misbehaviour

Understanding the developmental factors associated with challenging behavior greatly helps intervention efforts with these youth. Any demonstrated behavior, positive or negative, is a very complex phenomenon.

It is difficult to understand why someone performs even simple behaviors, let alone why someone engages in more complex emotional and behavioral difficulties. Insight into some of the possible causes of EBD helps to increase understanding of a particular student and helps to increase the likelihood that planned interventions will be effective.

Over the ages, a variety of theoretical paradigms have been developed to explain why youth engage in certain behaviors. Examples of these paradigms include

(a) the psychoanalytic model (Freud, 1946), which proposes that pathological development is primarily due to unresolved psychological conflicts;

(b) behaviorism/social learning theory, which suggests that behavioral difficulties are primarily due to the effects of the environment (Watson, 1913; Skinner, 1953); and (c) the biological model, which proposes that emotional and behavioral disorders are primarily due to constitutional factors.

As scientific knowledge has progressed, researchers have come to conclude that emotional and behavioral disorders are much more complex than that explained by any single model alone. We cannot attribute a particular difficulty solely to biology, the environment, or the family. Most often difficulties are an ongoing dynamic between biological, dispositional, environmental, sociocultural, and other factors.

Coie, Miller-Johnson, & Bagwell (2000) have categorized developmental risk factors into the following categories:

(a) constitutional factors (e.g., hereditary influences, prenatal/birth complications);

(b) family factors (e.g., poverty, abuse, conflict);

(c) emotional and interpersonal factors (e.g., low self-esteem, difficult temperament, peer rejection);

(d) intellectual and academic factors (e.g., below average intelligence, learning disability);

(e) ecological factors (e.g., neighborhood disorganization, racial injustice); and

(d) non-normative stressful life events (e.g., early death of a parent, outbreak of war, other traumatic events). Examples of resilience factors include

(a) good intellectual functioning, (b) easygoing disposition,

(c) a close relationship with a caring parent figure,

(d) authoritative parenting (i.e., warm, structured, and having high expectations), and (e) bonds to prosocial adults outside the family (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998).

Youth with many of the above risk factors are more prone to emotional and behavioral disorders. However, when youth have a number of resilience factors, the risk of developing EBD decreases. Thus, when working with youth, it is important to assess what risk and/or resilience factors are present in their lives.

To address the multiple causes of emotional and behavioral difficulties in youth with EBD, it is essential to use a multidisciplinary approach, such as that used in the programs at the Oak Grove Elementary School, Firwood Secondary School, and the Child Study and Treatment Center.

These programs involve a variety of professionals, including

(a) special education teachers,

(b) psychologists,

(c) psychiatrists,

(d) social workers, (e) psychiatric childcare counselors

(f) nurses, and

(g) recreation therapists. They are also based on multiple theoretical paradigms. This multidisciplinary effort allows professionals to draw from multiple theoretical paradigms, which encourages the conceptualization of problems from multiple angles.

At times, certain behaviors of concern may be simple to explain. At other times, a youth’s challenging behavior may be more complex. When working with youth who display complex and challenging behavior, it is extremely helpful to have input from a diverse group of professionals in order to explain the behavior in question.

20.3 Interventions

Conditions that promote positive behavior in the classroom include (a) clear behavior expectations, (b) the teaching of expected behaviors, (c) consistent and sound responses to rule violations, and (d) individualized programming for more chronic behavioral difficulties.

In addition, Jones et al. (2004) emphasize that in order to build a positive classroom climate, the classroom must have an engaging curriculum, curriculum modifications for students with academic difficulties, and a community of support.

The community of support will be developed when

(a) learning and behavioral expectations are clear;

(b) rule violations are addressed immediately and effectively;

(c) learning is personalized and demystified;

(d) quality teacher-student and peer relationships are encouraged;

(e) smaller, more personalized learning settings are formulated; and

(f) individualized behavioral programs are instituted for students with more chronic behavioral difficulties. These smaller learning settings can be set up within the larger classroom community, since the reduction of class sizes is most likely a distant reality for many school districts.

20.4 Transition

Youth with emotional and behavioural challenges comprise a diverse population that is defined less by diagnoses or disability than by impaired levels of functioning at home, in school, and in the community.  The needs of transition-age youth with emotional and behavioral challenges are complex and multidimensional, resulting in high rates of disengagement and social isolation. These difficulties include: Academic failure; Alienation from family; Juvenile justice involvement; Substance abuse;

Early parenting; and  Reliance on public assistance effective approaches for transition-age youth focus on helping youth develop caring, reciprocal relationships and on building self-efficacy and self-determination so that each youth will be invested in the difficult work of graduating from school, working in the community, and maintaining family relationships.

Youth with emotional and behavioral challenges tend to exhibit a variety of behaviors that cause problems for them in school and other settings, including verbal or physical aggression, depression, irritability, impulsivity, inability to concentrate, low self-esteem, and anxiety.

Studies of youth who have emotional and behavioral impairments show that they are three times more likely to be arrested and four times more likely to drop out of school than typically developing youth, and they also experience poor academic performance and outcomes, have high rates of mental health concerns, and are more likely to be living in low-income families or in out-of-home placements.

Most young people with emotional and behavioral challenges also lack access to the personal, social, family, and community resources that are available to typical youth. In addition, adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders often do not seek treatment and have a myriad of diffi culties that are resistant to change. Some environments and contexts exacerbate the problems faced by youth with emotional and behavioral challenges.

In the educational community, school organizational and cultural factors such as inconsistent discipline policies, teacher beliefs about students with learning and emotional challenges, differential or subjective treatment of students, and a lack of high academic expectations contribute to student alienation and high dropout rates.

 20.5 The Importance of Positive Contexts and Environments

Rather than continue to repeatedly expose youth with emotional and behavioral challenges or those who are in highrisk groups to negative environments and experiences, children’s mental health and child welfare experts advocate for positive youth development (PYD) approaches that focus on building upon each youth’s strengths and on creating or strengthening his or her social support network (Stroul & Freidman, 1994; Walker & Gowen, 2011).

Effective interventions for these youth require fl exible, individualized responses beginning with an intentional focus to engage the youth. Interventions should include life skill and relationship development, as well as resource building .

A strengths-based approach focused on supports and services will ensure that each youth can develop a positive self-view and future orientation while remaining in his or her home and community school. To accomplish this vision, youth with emotional and behavioral challenges need to develop self-determination skills and experiences, including opportunities to set goals, make decisions, problem solve, and seek help.

Researchers in the field of secondary transition and employment recommend that services for youth with emotional and behavioral disorders have a vocational focus, include “real world” learning, be individualized, and be strengths-based .

Researchers also advocate that youth with emotional and behavioral challenges receive individualized options similar features, including an emphasis on youth voice and choice, a focus on strengths, the provision of unconditional care, and the building of natural supports in a communitybased environment. Rehabilitation, Empowerment, Natural Supports, Education, and Work (RENEW) is one such example of a positive, values-driven approach to assisting transition-age youth. Principles that reflect the values of positive behavior support and positive youth development include:

  • An emphasis on self-determination such as choice making, problem solving, planning, self-knowledge, and help seeking;
  • Community inclusion focusing on the belief that youth should be supported to live in the community of their choice with an emphasis on developing natural supports;
  • Unconditional care with an emphasis on supporting the youth to work toward their goals at their own pace and to their own expectations and capabilities;
  • Strengths-based planning so that youth are focused on the development of their assets in order to build self-efficacy;  and
  • Flexible resources based on the belief that supports should be designed according to what the youth needs, and not according to what is available.

Facilitator chooses various tools derived from the school-to-career, children’s mental health, and disability fields to assist each youth to reach his or her goals and meet his or her needs for support. The key strategies include:

  • Developing youth choice and selfknowledge reflected in the personal “futures planning” process;
  • Individualized team development and facilitation designed to help each youth build and access the services and supports necessary to achieve his or her goals;
  • Braided (individualized) development of resources—again, based on the youth’s individual goals and needs;
  • Flexible, individualized education programming and supports;
  • Individualized school-to-career planning with activities linked to each youth’s longer term vocational or career goal;
  • Naturally supported employment including real jobs for typical wages;
  • Facilitated workplace or career-related mentoring in naturally occurring settings; and
  • Building sustainable community connections for when the youth moves on to life after high school.

The strategies and values of the RENEW model have been intentionally chosen to address the research on the needs of youth with emotional or behavioral challenges, including the need to:

  • Develop self-determination skills and experiences;
  • Link goals with school and community experiences;
  • Develop supports and skill building to form positive social relationships;
  • Build developmentally appropriate education/learning, employment, and social experiences;
  • Engage and identify with home, school, or community members, institutions, and processes;
  • Build resources (cultural, social, and human); and
  • Link with supports such as tutoring,mentoring, social and behavioral skills training, employment programs, alternative educational programming, and special education

Students with emotional behavioral disabilities (EBD)

  • exhibit high unemployment, less stability in terms of keeping a job, work fewer hours, and earn lower wages compared to their disabled and nondisabled peers;
  • who were also dropouts were more likely to have poor employment records and poor community adjustment;
  • scores in the lower half on a measure of personal/social achievement and are more likely than peers to be victimized (teased, beaten up, personal property stolen);
  • generally do not receive vocational rehabilitation services in the community.
  • tend to be more successful academically and behaviorally when consistencies in rules and routines have been established. Consequently, proactive measures should be taken by educators and other educational service providers during the school year and at the conclusion of each school year to ensure well-established routines are in place for students with EBD at the beginning of the new school year.

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) face significant challenges in the classroom. Students with EBD are often characterized by disruptive social behaviors and exhibit poorer attendance rates, higher drop-out rates, and higher rates of grade retention “than any other disability category.

Students with EBD often display characteristics that do not support success in or out of school. They may not be able to maintain appropriate social relationships with others; they may have academic difficulties in multiple content areas; and they may display chronic behavior problems, including noncompliance, aggression, and disrespect toward authority figures.

Farley et al. identify two key evidence-based practices for supporting students with or at risk of EBD: peer assistance and self-management interventions, both of which are discussed in detail in the subsections that follow. Additional researchers have highlighted a variety of strategies for effective support and engagement of EBD students, which tend to highlight several common themes:

Zero tolerance” policies are largely ineffective. Researchers generally agree that such policies – which automatically suspend or expel students for certain behaviors or infractions – can be particularly harmful to students with conduct disorders, as expulsion and suspension effectively remove already troubled or disengaged students from the academic setting, “beyond the reach of educators who could help them address their difficulties.”  ƒ

Tiered programs offer a means of addressing a wide spectrum of behaviors associated with EBD. Sources commonly cite tiered programs as effective interventions for students with conduct and behavioral disorders. Lane notes that Response to Intervention (RtI) and School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS), also known simply as Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) show particularly strong potential for this student population.

Professional development is central to effective student support. Researchers have widely cited a lack of adequate teacher training with respect to the needs of students with conduct disorders, suggesting that broader instructional supports are necessary for effective roll-out of intervention programs. Farley et al. identify several steps to guide teachers in the identification and effective implementation of evidence-based practices.

Last modified: Wednesday, 9 February 2022, 1:36 PM

Lecture 22:Notes

22.0 Transition strategies for individuals with traumatic brain injury

22.1 Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

The topic will focus on what are traumatic brain injury, characteristics of individuals with traumatic brain injury, academic provisions, transitions from school-to-work and their support at the workplace.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is most often defined as an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial function disability or psychological impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance.

The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or those induced by birth trauma. TBI does apply to both open and closed head injuries resulting in impairments affecting one or more of the following areas:

  • cognition
  • language
  • memory
  • attention
  • reasoning
  • abstract thinking
  • judgment
  • problem solving
  • sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities
  • psycho-social behaviour
  • physical functions
  • information processing
  • speech.

Although TBI can resemble other disabilities, especially learning disabilities, it is unique in that it is characterized by a sudden onset and results in a loss of previous levels of personal, academic and social functioning.

Students with TBI may experience cognitive or information-processing deficit (particularly memory losses, poor information retrieval, and difficulty concentrating), which can impair a student’s ability to process abstract information and learn new information and can compromise academic performance. Changes in behaviour and self-management can affect performance, self-esteem, and social relationships.

Students with TBI face two difficult transitions: from pre-injury to post-injury living, and from adolescence to post-adolescence. TBI has been called “the silent epidemic,” as many individuals with brain injuries exhibit no visible signs.

Characteristics of the disability vary greatly depending on the location and extent of the injury, and may include seizures, headaches, vomiting, loss of balance or co-ordination, difficulty with speech, limited concentration, memory loss, and loss of organizational and reasoning skills.

Impairments may be either temporary or permanent in nature and may cause partial or total functional disability as well as psychosocial maladjustment.

TBI is one of the leading causes of death and disability in adolescents. The most frequent causes of TBI are motor vehicle crashes, falls, sports, and abuse/assault. Many students with mild brain injury never see a health care professional at the time of the accident.

Recovering from TBI is dependent upon several factors, including severity and location of the injury, the personality of the student before the injury, the student’s coping strength, and the types of medical and psychological problems that arise from the injury.

The major problems these students experience in terms of work experience placement and preparation for employment are related to unrealistic vocational aspirations, substance abuse problems, and psychiatric or interpersonal difficulties.

Transition planning for accommodations must be individualized and based on the severity of the brain injury. To arrive at the best accommodation, first work with the student, the family, and other support personnel to determine the preferred learning style.

Knowing whether a student learns best from strictly verbal instruction or a combination involving hands-on, written, and verbal instruction will help in working with the student. Below  are some possible strategies to ensure that students with TBI have equal access to and full participation in transition planning activities.

22.2 Planning activities

  • Develop an appropriate Individual Education Plan (IEP), including individual career/life transition planning goals, to ensure an effective approach to learning and to meet cognitive, physical, social, and post-secondary goals.
  • Acknowledge that students with TBI often change rapidly in the first few months following an injury. Their IEPs should therefore be written for a shorter than normal time period and review schedule.
  • Consider using the Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH) process to develop a plan for the transition needs of a student with TBI. PATH is a simple but useful framework on which to hang other, more specific plans, such as IEPs. It is important that representatives from post-school services participate in this planning process with the student and the student’s family. (See Appendix 3: PATH and MAPS, for further information on individual transition planning processes.)
  • Encourage students to take the lead in their IEP development.
  • Assist the student in developing an individual career plan.
  • Use an interdisciplinary team approach to set mutual goals. Members of the team will vary depending on the student’s needs and phase of recovery, but may include: a teacher, to lead the team and help the student and family to make plans; an employment specialist/job coach, for specialized assistance to the family, job-site support, and access to community resources and services; a rehabilitation counsellor; neuropsychologist; nurse; occupational therapist; physical therapist; social worker; speech/language pathologist.
  • Conduct an assessment to determine current abilities and potential, vocational strengths, weaknesses, interests, and preferences; although many standardized career assessment tools have not been specifically developed for students with TBI, working through such a career search process can yield valuable information and help the student identify potential job goals.
  • Engage in student-specific job development activities. Consider a variety of approaches to gathering information and defining a vocational goal, including home visits, informed psycho-social assessment, situational assessment, career exploration, functional résumés, and student portfolios.
  • Determine what job-specific skills the student must learn.
  • Teach instruction in self-advocacy skills.
  • Teach appropriate work behaviours.
  • Teach students strategies for increasing memory.
  • Teach integrated vocational and academic curricula.
  • Make learning relevant.
  • Increase the student’s self-esteem, self-control, and self-awareness.
  • Teach students how to manage the disability.
  • Teach students when it is appropriate to disclose disability and how to articulate strengths and weaknesses.
  • Keep the environment free from distraction.
  • Keep work tasks specific.
  • Demonstrate new tasks.
  • Speak clearly and concisely.
  • Reinforce positive work habits and skills.
  • Provide breaks as needed.
  • Allow for a flexible work schedule.
  • Break job tasks down into steps or a sequence.
  • Utilize external and internal aids to assist with remembering and staying organized (e.g., checklists, organizers, mnemonics, schedules, Brainbook). Brainbook provides information to student athletes on how to prevent, recognize, and respond to concussions.
  • Allow for a range of employment opportunities, including real employment situations.
  • Allow flexibility in setting up work stations or organizing job tasks and supplies.
  • Encourage students to participate in community activities of interest.
  • Provide speech/language, physical, and occupational therapy if requested and as needed.
  • Provide career counselling and carefully plan a job placement.
  • Provide a work-place mentor or job coach.
  • Assist in developing social networks if requested.
  • Establish peer support groups.
  • Co-ordinate technical assistance and specialized support for employers.

22.3 Assessment activities

22.4 Instructional/school activities

22.5 Instructional/community activities

22.6 Support services

Last modified: Monday, 9 April 2018, 3:29 PM

Lecture 23:Notes

23.0 The Transition Process of Persons with Disabilities in Tanzania

23.1 Introduction

This topic will make learners to be able to analyze Tanzania policies in addressing transition process issues and suggest a way forward.

In Tanzania the formal definition of disability has changed considerably over the past 3 decades as reflected in various key policy and legal texts.

The Disabled Persons (Employment) Act of 1982 adopted a narrow ‘medicalised’ definition focusing on the employment consequences of disability, defining a ‘disabled person’ as,

“… a person who, on account of injury, old age, disease or congenital deformity, is substantially handicapped in, obtaining employment, or in undertaking work on his own account, of a kind which apart from that injury old age, disease or deformity would be suited to his age, experience and qualification…” (1982).

This is the same definition used in the 1982 Disabled Persons (Care and Maintenance) Act and it remained the primary legal framework related to disability for more than twenty years, with international developments regarding definitions of disability not reflected in national policies until after the turn of the century.

The 2002 Census was the first national census to include a question on disability but the way it was formulated lacked clarity and placed the onus of defining disability on the enumerator and respondent.  The National Policy on Disability of 2004 defined disability as, “the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community on an equal level with others due to physical, mental or social factors”,

a definition drawing on international developments regarding the ‘social model’ of disability, a major step forward in terms of shifting attitudes to disability from a medical to social approach.

It was not until the 2008 Tanzania survey on Disability that significant attention was given to the issue of adequately defining disability for operational purposes based on the approach developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics thus reflecting the relational and interactional aspects of disability of the United Nations Convention (61/106) on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), an approach subsequently providing the basis for the inclusion of disability questions in other national surveys and censuses.

Persons with Disability Act number 9 of 2010 contains both the earlier definition of “disability” in the National Policy on Disability and a separate definition of a ‘person with disability’ which is broadly in-line with the UNCRPD: “

a [person with a] physical, intellectual, sensory or mental impairment and whose functional capacity is limited by encountering attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers.”

23.2 Data on Disability

The 2002 national census for the first time had questions on disability. However, the questions were based on defined ‘categories’ of disability, with respondents required to self-identify as disabled. The number of disabled persons was found to be 676,502 (2.0%).

The 2008 disability survey based with a sample of 7,000 households and using Washington Group questions found the prevalence of disability to be much higher at 7.8% for people aged 7 years and above.

The 2012 census identified 2,640,802 of people with disabilities (5.93%), a lower percentage than the 2008 survey explained by the fact that the survey involved sampling whereas a census is a house to house count, hence might be more accurate.

23.3 Legal Frameworks

Over the last decade, disability policy has evolved considerably. This process began with the adoption of a National Policy on Disability in 2004 and the subsequent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006.

In 2010, the Persons with Disabilities Act was passed which addressed a much broader range of areas than previous disability legislation.  The PWDA enacted in order to give legal effect to the NPD and the UNCRPD.

It grapples with the bottlenecks experienced in implementing the 2004 policy.  Many areas are covered in which the rights of PWDs may be compromised and provides legal and social accountability mechanisms for implementation.

The PWDA stipulates equal rights to education, health, employment, information and communication, cooperation in economy, respect, accessibility and acceptable standard of life. Special consideration is given to women, children and elderly people with disabilities as priority groups to get access to services.

Contains an article on political participation, that persons disabilities have the same rights as those without disability: can vote and contest for political office that the ballot must be accessible to persons with disabilities.

The Act of 2010 superseded the 2004 National Policy on Disability. By its own terms, the purpose of the Act is, “to make provisions for the health care, social support, accessibility, rehabilitation, education, and vocational training, communication, employment or work protection and promotion of basic rights for the persons with disabilities and to provide for related matters” (Tanzania, 2010, p. 5).

Similar to its predecessor, the Act of 2010 covers a diverse range of areas in which the rights of persons with disabilities may be compromised; in contrast to the NPD, however, the Act provides various legal and social accountability mechanisms intended to translate policy into practice.

Examples of these accountability mechanisms include the establishment of a National Advisory Council, the creation of the office of the Commissioner for persons with disabilities (Articles 8-13), implementation of a workplace quota system (Article 31), and the establishment of a National Fund for Persons with Disabilities (Article 57) (Tanzania, 2010).

Tanzania enacted the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act (No. 2) in 1982. This act established a quota system requiring that two percent of the workforce in companies with more than 50 employees must be persons with disabilities.

It also established the National Advisory Council, the role of which was to advise the minister responsible for the social welfare of people with disabilities (International Labour Organization, 2009). Although covered employers were required to hire based upon the quota system, this law was neither effectively publicized nor enforced by the Tanzanian government.

Indeed, in 2010 only one-third of employers that participated in a survey on disability were aware of the Disabled Persons Employment Act of 1982 (Kweka, 2010).

The 2010 Act imposes similar requirements with respect to the employment of people with disabilities. Specifically, Article 31 requires employers to hire and maintain the employment of people with disabilities and establishes a work force quota under which every employer with a work force of 20 or more individuals must employ persons with disabilities at a rate of at least 3% of the employer’s total workforce (Tanzania, 2010).

As disability employment accountability mechanisms, workplace quotas are still utilized in a number of different national contexts, including Austria, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Poland, China, and Korea (Heyer, 2005; Kim, 2011; Tamako, 2007);

however, their utilization has been subject to criticism on theoretical grounds, namely the “tensions between the rights model, which in the employment arena mandates equal employment opportunity, and the welfare model, which responds to employment discrimination by mandating quotas” (Heyer, 2005, p. 238).

The quota system has been further criticized on other grounds as well:

(a) labeling people with disabilities;

(b) company preference for paying a penalty rather than employing people with disabilities;

(c) difficulty to set effective sanctions to force/strengthen the system;

(d) low wages and underemployment of people with disabilities;

(e) difficulty in meeting the multiple and diverse needs of people with disabilities in the workplace; and (f), effects of economic recession on full employment goals (Kudo, 2010).

n addition to requiring workplace quotas, Article 31 of the Act further advances the employment of persons with disabilities in several other ways.

It requires every employer to submit an annual report to the government on the employment status of persons with disabilities who are employed in his or her office or organization.

It also requires equal treatment of people with disabilities (in terms of wages, salaries, leaves, or accommodation). Finally, it provides that people with disabilities should be welcomed to apply in public advertisements for disability positions (Tanzania, 2010).

Articles 32 and 33 relate to the continuation of employment of persons with disabilities and the antidiscrimination of persons with disabilities in the workplace. Article 34 addresses an adequate working environment for persons with disabilities, requiring employers to prevent work-related injuries, provide workplace accommodation if necessary,

ensure the safety of employees with disabilities, protect employees with disabilities from harassment, permit employees with disabilities to have equal access to trade unions, and enable employees with disabilities to have access to continued training and career advancement (Tanzania, 2010).

The Act also requires the responsible Minister (at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare) to ensure promotion of employment for persons with disabilities by applying affirmative action treatment, job retention and return to work for any employee who has obtained a disability in the workplace, and reasonable changes for persons with disabilities in the workplace (Tanzania, 2010).

By integrating both antidiscrimination and workplace quotas, Articles 31-34 reflect an integrated approach, which Kim (2011) argues is “more effective to promote the employment of people with disabilities in developing or emerging countries, because of the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches” (p. 29-30)

Notwithstanding the Act’s provisions for workplace quotas and mandatory employer reporting procedures, there continues to be adisconnect between policy on paper (the Act) and practice on the street. People with disabilities are still clearly underrepresented in the national workforce (Kweka, 2010).

23.4 Social Protection of People with Disability

In the Tanzanian context social protection encompass traditional family and community support structures, and interventions by state and non-state actors that support individuals, households and communities to prevent, manage, and overcome the risks threatening their present and future security and well-being, and to embrace opportunities for their development and for social and economic progress (NSPF, 2008:7).

MKUKUTA (II (2010) conceptualises social protection as interventions to prevent unacceptable levels of socioeconomic insecurity and deprivation, underscoring the fact that the developmental role that social protection can play is to grapple with poverty traps, reduce household insecurity and encourage investments in poverty-reducing assets (physical, human, social and financial).

The PWDA (Article 54) entitles people with disabilities to social protection and obligates the Minister responsible to take appropriate steps to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy access to social security and protection, including

(a) access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability related needs;

(b) access by persons with disabilities, in particular the aged and women to social protection programmes and poverty reduction strategies; and

(c) access by persons with disabilities to available grants and credit services for income generating activities and to public housing programmes, if resources allow.

As conceptualised in Mkukuta II (2010) the main objective of social protection is to prevent unacceptable levels of socio-economic insecurity and deprivation.

MKUKUTA has three clusters which address poverty reduction. The first cluster contains social protection measures to improve food security; in the second social protection interventions are closely aligned with the two non-income goals of MKUKUTA:- i) improved quality of life with emphasis on vulnerable groups and,

ii)reduced inequalities across geographic, income, age, gender and other groups. The expansion of cost-effective social protection interventions are to help prevent these groups from falling deeper into poverty, promote universal access to social services.

While the first National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty-MKUKUTA (2000-2005) had hardly recognised people with disabilities, the second NPRSP (2010-2015) acknowledged the weakness of the first PRSP, and mentions PWDs and their interests at various points and the matter is handled as a cross-cutting issue such that it is included in seven sectors and all of the so-called clusters of the paper (GTZ, 2008, CBM, 2006).

Goal number 6 of MKUKUTA II aims at Providing Adequate Social Protection and Rights to the Vulnerable and Needy Groups. Social protection interventions are conceived to focus on: orphans and vulnerable children;

people with disabilities; the elderly; people living with HIV and long term illnesses; vulnerable women and youth; former inmates, and people disabled by accidents, wars and conflicts.

Last modified: Monday, 9 April 2018, 3:31 PM

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