VOICES IN TRANSITION
USING MULTI-MEDIA TO ENABLE STUDENTS
TO FIND THEIR OWN VOICES AND DIRECT
THEIR OWN FUTURES
Presented by Ilene Asarch; Needham High School
Elizabeth Fahey and William Fahey
IDEA states that students must play an active
role in their own transition.
How do we, as parents,
advocates, friends and
professionals help
empower youth to
begin to
steer their own ship?
What if reading is a challenge?
What if I can’t fully communicate my experiences and preferences through
traditional means of paper, pencil, online applications and interviews?
Today we are going to discuss
Visual Resumes
Student driven Personal
Statements for IEP’s
Person Centered
Planning Statements
Why use visual resumes?
that “traditional” means of applying
for jobs does not fully represent the
abilities and employment potential of
many transition aged youth with
significant disabilities.
Traditional Resume
VISUAL RESUME
I work at a dog grooming business
Jobs I do every day
I work at a medical office
I deliver mail to ….
•
•
16 departments
3 different floors
 I deliver to Admin, Optical, Main
Desk, Pharmacy, Lab, Radiology
and more.
 I work Mondays, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays.
 3 hours each day.
Delivery
Checklist
Traditional resume
I work in a hotel
I rinse dishes and
Stack them in the washer.
VISUAL RESUME
I deliver food from the kitchen to
the employee cafe
Working at a Farm
My Job at the farm includes:
Emptying and cleaning plant beds
and trays.
My Job at the farm includes:
I wash vegetables
and clean out
produce bins.
My Job at the farm includes:
Filling pots and trays for
the greenhouses.
Visual Resume
About Me
 I am 21 years old.
 I live in Needham,




Massachusetts.
I am a post-grad at
Needham High School
I go to Mass Bay
Community College.
I took American Sign
Language (ASL),
Computers and
Technology & Public
Speaking, Music Theory.
I am now taking Broadcast
Journalism.
MY JOB GOALS
 My job goal is to work in the
Music Industry.
 I would like to work for a
dance company, recording
studio or music store.
 I am also interested in
costume design and fashion.
Why I want to work at a music store
 I love to listen to
music
 I want to work in
music stores. I can
break down boxes,
polish instruments,
organize and put
away stock.
Places I’ve Worked

Music Go Round

T.J.Maxx

Mass Bay Bookstore

Needham Plugged In

Mass Bay Bookstore

Boston Red Sox

Boston Ballet Costume Shop

Needham Music Store

Rocket Express Store
Clothing Store
Sales Associate
 I work in the Men’s




Department.
I sort clothes by size.
I color block
I find missing tags
I find mistakes and fix
them.
Music Store #1
Break down Boxes,
Tuned guitars and
ukuleles.
Musical equipment into
the plastic boxes.
I clean the store and
put away instruments.
Music Store #2
•
•
•
•
•
Created a Google drive data base for
mailings
Scan news articles and placed in binder
Enter data listing band names
Print and save music articles from the
internet
Folded T-shirts and sweatshirts
College Book Store
Sales Associate
• Filled cooler with cold drinks
• Stock and clean shelves
• Straighten merchandise
• Assist Customers
At the Ball Park
Red Sox Greeter
 Greet Red Sox fans
 Read Seat Tickets
 Help people to their seats
 Pick up trash
Music Store #3
 Tuned and Polished
Guitars
 Organized Musical
Instruments
 Put prices on New
Merchandise &
Stocked it.
 Detailed and
Cleaned Instruments
Things I Like
 Music
 Reading
 Dancing
 Shopping – I love shoes.
 Helping people
 Cleaning and organizing
 The Boston Red Sox
 Boston Ballet
 Hanging out with
friends
Things I Like…Music
I Like Music Because…
I like to create beats and
audio. My guitar is
“sweet” and keeps me
focused. My favorite band
to listen to is the Black
Eyed Peas
Things I Like…Dance
I Like Dance
Because…
Dance makes me feel
like nothing can
distract me. I love to
break dance but the
ballet class taught me
classical dance. I also
learned waltz and
tango.
Urban Nutcracker
 I am a part of the Urban
Nutcracker. I dance all
of the scenes including
the prologue, street,
party, and the family
scene. This is my third
year dancing in the
Nutcracker. My dancing
makes me feel good.
 Be printed and used in conjunction with
traditional resumes.
 Be included in marketing packets to
outreach to community business leaders
 Be Power points shown on laptops and
iPads, or sent electronically.
 Be created with Prezi
• Be shared with adult service providers,
post-secondary education and vocational
training programs
• Be expanded for use in Person Centered
Planning parties or self-directed IEP
meetings.
 Promotes self-expression using a universal
language
 Provides a tangible product –tends to be more
meaningful than text resumes.
 Makes the career development process of
identifying skills and interests engaging – and the
pride shows!
 Helps families gain a broader
understanding of their son or daughter’s
vision for the future
 Helps families celebrate accomplishments
 Encourages families to NETWORK- to
share with friends and relatives, promoting
career planning
 Personalizes the job development process
 Enables employers to be active in networking-
helps them relay information about the job
seeker to colleagues in a meaningful way
 A picture is worth a thousand words… Facilitates
the interview by providing a springboard for
discussion. Employers gain a broader
understanding of the qualities of the applicant
 Gives concrete illustrations of what the
transition aged youth CAN do
 Helps introduce aspects of an applicants’
current job to agencies providing postgraduation support
 Helps promote a seamless transition
“ If your visual resume is this detailed-then it gives me an idea of
how your work must be”
“You are more prepared than most applicants who walk through
the door”
“This is the most unique application I have ever seen”
SELF ADVOCACY :
IEP STATEMENTS
To begin…students create and share personal
statements to detail interests, strengths, goals…
 Personal Statements can be Powerpoints, written
statements, movies, photo’s (Animoto), iauthor estories, drawings, and more
 They can include music!
 There is no wrong way to share statements!
 Content comes from year-round work (i.e.-interest
inventories, leisure checklists).
IEP’s
Visual Personal Statements
 Takes the key questions in the IEP and breathes life
into them by using “I”. The process encourages
students to use meaningful photos and music.
 What are MY strengths, interest areas, significant
personal attributes and personal accomplishments?
 What is MY vision? For work, adult living,
friendships….
The Benefits?
 Empowers students to lead their IEP.
 Students LOOK FORWARD to the IEP meeting
because they are excited to share their work.
 Students take ownership of their goals, because they
contributed.
SELF ADVOCACY :
PERSON CENTERED
PLANNING PARTY
PRESENTATIONS
The Person Centered Plan
puts great minds together to create a snapshot….
What are
my hopes
and
dreams?
At Home?
What Words
best
describe
me?
At work?
What are my
strengths
and
Interests?
Who are my
friends and
networks?
At leisure
time?
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.
 I would like to work in
professional sports”
 I would like to live with my
girlfriend in a house near
Foxboro.”
WHAT WE WILL BE TALKING
MY NETWORK
ABOUT
TONIGHT!
“Everyone has their own ways of expression. I
believe we all have a lot to say, but finding ways to
say it is more than half the battle.”
― Criss Jami
Parents, students, teachers….
Keep those cameras handy!