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Volume 69 |
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June 2006 |
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1 |
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Kans Trans: Transition Summit 2006 Submitted by Laurie Gerber, Garden City Center
Wow! Can you believe 32 Transition Teams consisting of 250 people from across the state of Kansas gathered in Wichita at the Airport Hilton Inn to learn, network and develop transition strategies to help our kids with their plans after school? How exciting! Teams gathered for strategy developing sessions. They worked on a model the state team brought back from a conference it attended in Washington, D.C., last fall. Each team was asked to answer a pre-summit needs assessment that was used to identify the transition areas that were weak for their school district. Teams took the top one to three identified areas and worked on developing strategies to strengthen those areas. The teams turned in plans at the end of the Summit. The Kansas State Department of Education will be contacting the teams this fall to follow up on the progress made toward the goals each team set for itself.
The Summit started with a bang with Denise Bissonnette presenting “Rekindle the Flame”. Denise is a Job Developer, and she found that when she tried to make her clients fit into certain jobs, things didn’t always work well. When she found herself going beyond traditional job placement services and really talking to her clients about why they wanted certain jobs, she found much better job matches for her clients. That means thinking outside the box. Denise works at finding job placements that match her clients’ unique strengths. She is truly inspirational and has a marvelous sense of humor.
In addition, participants attended sessions on topics including: Transition, Job Development, Interagency Collaboration, Technology, Behavior Management and Self Determination.
To top off the Summit, LeDerick Horne, the closing keynote speaker, facilitated a student panel. The panel was truly inspiring and shared the difficulties they had experienced in their transition experiences. All of the youth on the panel had been involved with the Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) and highly recommended YLF. It was the one thing that really inspired each of them. The information they shared was priceless to those of us preparing our children for life beyond high school.
LeDerick’s closing keynote speech was the “icing on the cake”. He gave an account of his experiences in the education system and with his family and peers that was very insightful. This young man shares through poetry that is set to rap and it touches your very core. He tells it the way it is. He left members of the audience invigorated and excited about possibilities for youth in Kansas. We would like to see and hear more from him!
Thank you to the team that set up this Summit. It was a wonderful experience. Families Together hopes that many of you will take advantage of the opportunity to attend next year’s Summit March 13-14, 2007, at the same location. |
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Educating, Assisting, Supporting, and Informing through this newsletter... A newsletter for and by parents with sons & daughters with disabilities and education advocates. |
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3033 W. 2nd Suite 106 Wichita, KS 67203 (316) 945-7747 or 888-815-6364 |
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Kansas City Center 1-877-499-5369 Garden City Center 1-888-820-6364 Topeka Center 1-800-264-6343 Statewide Spanish parent line 1-800-499-9443 |
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(All toll free numbers for Kansas parents & education advocates) |
