School Professionals

Educators, school counselors, and paraprofessionals play a critical role in helping young people transition out of high school. If a job seeker is clear with their career goal, you can work with the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team or create an IRT that will help provide support throughout the journey.

Getting Started

For students who have an IEP, begin to support them in career exploration. Recommend they visit the Career Exploration page of our website to help guide them through this stage.
Meet with students' parents, guardians or caregivers to develop a plan to work as a team to encourage career exploration and provide support.
Provide students with individualized transition services, a process that helps facilitate students' pathway to postsecondary education, vocational education, and integrated employment.
Help students connect with Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation, ACCES-VR, which helps job seekers with disabilities maintain employment and support independent living through training, education, rehabilitation, and career development.
Share information about the benefits of working in competitive integrated employment. Arrange peer-to-peer mentoring, facilitate worksite visits, and opportunities for work-based learning experiences in integrated job settings.
Expose students to job shadowing opportunities. Learn more in NYC Department of Education’s activity guide on job shadowing.
Connect students to internship opportunities. Learn more in NYC Department of Education’s activity guide on internships.
Connect the youth to benefits counseling to explain the impact of competitive work on an individual’s public benefits. For more information, visit this page on our website on Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Best Practices for School Professionals

Use People-First Language - Person first is a philosophy reflected through language and actions by putting the person first and the disability second. This helps focus on the individual rather than the disability. Another form of language is Identity-First Language, which is particularly important in the autism, blind, and deaf communities.

Promote Self Advocacy Skills - These essential life skills are necessary when youth transition from high school. Self-advocacy is when someone can understand their strengths and weaknesses, know what they need to succeed, and communicate that to other people. For more information, read this report from the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Universal Design for Learning - A Teacher's Guide - UDL is the process of making physical and pedagogical materials accessible to all. To learn how to implement this in the classroom, see this Teacher's Guide from Understood.org. The Access Project at the Colorado State University has also created this UDL checklist and a more in-depth UDL Quick Tips chart.

Resources for School Professionals

Posted below are links to different categories of resources.

National Technical Assistance Center on Transition - NTACT hosts toolkits, guides, news, and events on a variety of topics related to secondary education and services for students with disabilities and the capacity building associated with improving such education and services.

American Dream Employment Network (ADEN) - This is a group of organizations and businesses who are working together to support individuals with disabilities. In order to be eligible, individuals must currently receive Social Security disability benefits, and want to begin working for the first time, or return to their job.

Goal Setting - Created by PositivePsychology.com, this site provides information on how to best teach goal setting to youth.

New York State Employment Services System (NYESS) - This is a shared case management system for programs funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The platform helps determine eligibility and gathers required information from participants.

Transition Source - This website is intended for parents, professionals, and others in New York State who would like to obtain transition information that will advance the post-school outcomes of students with disabilities.

Career Plans - The New York State Career Plan records a student’s knowledge and skill attainment. It documents a history of achievement that students build from elementary school to high school. The Career Plan design has also incorporated the transition planning process that is highly desirable for all students and required for students with disabilities.