Mission:
The GAB Transition Program will provide learning and practice opportunities which will empower students to successfully transition to further education, competitive employment, or meaningful engagement in their respective communities.
Purpose:
The purpose of the GAB Transition Program is to provide graduating students learning opportunities to prepare them for successful transition from us to their post-GAB lives.
Area of Focus:
GAB’s Transition Program has five targets drawn from the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC), and they are: career readiness, Daily Living Skills, Orientation and Mobility, Socialization, and Self-advocacy. Our students are on a range from being college-bound to being destined to attend adult dayhab programs, and everything in between those two poles of independent functioning. As well, though, all of our students who are college-bound require as much training and learning opportunities in the Expanded Core Curriculum as we are able to provide, and more, just as their peers with multiple disabilities do. So that skills are not taught in isolation, our transition program seeks to imbed these skills into our transition curriculum, integrating these skills into units of teaching and learning which are scaffolded for reinforcement and practice opportunities.
Transition Center:
Our Transition Center (TC) serves as the hub of much of the activity in the area of daily living skills building, since our graduating students are able to step through sequentially all aspects of a meal preparation, which involves planning, orientation and mobility, money management, application of appropriate social skills in unfamiliar settings, as well as collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork. Furthermore, they have responsibility in the TC requiring that they organize individually and as a group in order to satisfy individual and group obligations as TC residents. So, whether engaging in their own clothing care, or cleaning their common bathroom or kitchen, TC residents are engaged in the teaching and learning associated with developing the highest level of proficiency in specific skills of which they are individually and collectively capable.
Futures Planning:
Because participating in the planning work defines the work of our transition team, much emphasis is on ensuring a successful transition from GAB, which may look differently for different students in transition. So, for one student, landing that “Dream Job” at Piggly-Wiggly may be appropriate to work diligently toward, while for another student, ensuring college admission to the school of his/her choice may be the “doable” goal to attain. In either event, putting systems in place to afford transitioning students learning opportunities which allow them to progress toward their identified goals is the mission of the GAB Transition Program.
Work Readiness:
Research shows that students who’ve had work experiences, whether paid or volunteer, are far more likely to achieve competitive employment than students who have not. So, a major goal of the transition program is to afford transitioning students learning opportunities on campus and in off-campus job settings.
Self-Advocacy:
Finally, self advocacy is the cornerstone of success for students with blindness. Whether college-bound or destined for dayhab, transitioning students are taught the importance of:
1. Knowing, understanding, and being able to explain their eye conditions.
2. Being willing to maintain and demonstrate a “can do” attitude about meeting their own needs.
3. Knowing, understanding, and being able to discern when it is necessary to request assistance.
4. Developing social competency necessary to make those requests for assistance in appropriate ways.
5. Developing, cultivating, and understanding the civic responsibility of an individual with disabilities, and recognizing the importance of “giving back.”
Summary:
In summary, the GAB Transition Program results from the recognition of the need for our school to “bridge the gap” between students’ GAB lives and their lives once they leave us. Our school knows that to provide graduating students with sufficient, appropriate, and timely learning opportunities before they leave us will predispose them to a successful transition from us. And toward this positive result, we are truly committed.