Organization Station: Transition Plan

Wow what a year it has been! We know the end of this school year is bittersweet for so many of our districts. The typical excitement of the freedom of summer has been overshadowed by a longing for just one more day with students in your classrooms. Not only is it hard to know how to end the year but it is also diffcult to know how to prepare for next year.

For students who are transitioning to a new classroom or building next year we recommend holding transition meetings for the current team to provide more information for the upcoming team. Typically, we use our Transition Plan as a guide during these meetings and today's Organization Station will detail what components are included in the plan.

Click the image below to access our transition plan.

Current and Upcoming Team Members:

We find it helpful for the upcoming team to have a quick reference of who worked with him the year before in case they want to reach out for advice on a particular support or subject. For instance, if the student is struggling with writing next year, his writing teacher could reach out to his previous writing teacher to ask what strategies she used. 

Staff Priming: It is important that the upcoming team is as prepared as possible ahead of time. We provide some ideas for priming activities that can be used to help them prepare. These are just options and not necessarily all of the things need to be done.  And obviously with the current dynamic of quarantine, not all of these activities are even available. But it is important to consider what can be done proactively so that the upcoming team is as prepared as possible. The point person would be whoever is coordinating scheduling. 

Student Priming: Another important part of the transition to plan for is how the student will be primed. Again some of these options may not be available or you may need to get creative during remote learning. For instance, if staff is unable to access the new building to take pictures or video for a social story or video priming, consider the members of his upcoming team filming a short introductory video sharing some fun tidbits and that they are excited to meet him. Or some of our teams are actually doing video conferencing between the student and the upcoming team. Again with the uncertainty of what the beginning of next year may look like some of this may need to wait until August. The point person would be whoever is coordinating/creating the priming. Sometimes you will have two point people because something is being given to someone else (i.e. the intervention spcialist creates a video and sends it to mom). 

Effective ACT Supports: For teams recieving active Autism & Low-Incidence Coaching Team support from our team this is where they would list anything that we have suggested that is currently in use/effective. Then determine if there are physical materials that will be passed on or if the upcoming team needs materials to create their own tool. For point person, we would recommend including who will provide the materials to whom.

Other Effective Supports: This section provides additional space for listing any effective interventions that should be proactively implemented next year. Follow the same guidelines as above.

Special Interests/Reinforcers: This information can help the upcoming team develop rapport and prepare for reinforcement. For instance, does the student love talking about trains, enjoy a certain app on the iPad, or do they like Cheez-its as an edible reinforcer? Compile a list of items or activities that interest the student in this section.

Triggers/Ineffective Interventions: It is important that the upcoming team also knows what triggers to avoid so they can proactively plan accordingly. For instance, do fire drills cause a meltdown or have they responded negatively to losing recess as a consequence? Compile a list of any triggering events or ineffective interventions in this section.

Click the image below to see an example of a completed Transition Plan for reference.