Creating a Life Skills Portfolio for Special Education Students
It becomes imperative in high school for special education students to be trained in life skills necessary to maintain a household and a job. It is typical for special education students to struggle in school with writing, speaking coherently and basic math skills. Many of these students also struggle with retaining what they have learned. Because of this difficulty, certain skills require ongoing demonstration and practice. However, each student’s abilities are unique; therefore, individual plans, in the form of a life skills portfolio (LSP) and Individual Education Plan (IEP), are necessary for each special education high school student. The individual portfolio establishes assistance protocols and accommodations where necessary for the abilities of each student to reach potential. Creating a life skills portfolio for special education students is necessary and requires input from many people.
Things You'll Need
- Three-ring binder
- List of student goals
- Student's prior accomplishments
Instructions
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Meet with special education team members to discuss a student’s abilities, goals, services needed, accomplishments and limitations to be documented in the LSP. Team members may include a student’s parents, teachers, counselors, school administrators, the student, and those providing special services such as an occupational therapist or speech therapist. Take notes during the meeting or use a tape recorder if permitted. All documents should be kept in a three-ring binder.
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Create a list of goals for the student to achieve during the school year. Each year as the student moves closer to graduation, more hands-on work hours should be included in the LSP. The main goal of the life skills portfolio is to prepare a special education student for employment. The freshman school year should include school-based work experiences and assessments. The sophomore year should include actual job shadowing experiences. The junior year should include up to four work training experiences in the community for a minimum of 30 hours or vocational education experience for job preparation. During the student’s senior year the school should arrange for paid employment that provides at least 540 documented hours of successful work experience.
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Document the procedures in the LSP for evaluating the student’s progress periodically throughout the year. Make sure each teacher or team member is aware of her role and is capable of complying with the procedures. Be sure that the steps are clearly written. If alternate assessment options are required for tracking a student’s progress, the reasons should be written and supporting documentation should be included.
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Include a copy of the current IEP, IBP or 504c if applicable, in the LSP three-ring binder. An IEP is an Individual Education Plan, an IBP is an Individual Behavior Plan, and a 504c is a plan for students with a documented medical condition that requires individual accommodations for a student’s scholastic success.
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Prepare a coversheet for the LSP that lists all documents included in the binder. Some of the documents are the Documentation of Eligibility, IEP, IBP, 504c, Table of Learning Outcomes and Table of Problem Solving Outcomes.
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Type a letter to explain anything not documented elsewhere in the LSP, but considered relevant to the progress of the student for the school year. Consider items such as changes in medication, health or foster care, and keep track of personnel or program changes.
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Submit the completed LSP by June 1 to the school district for scoring so the student will have the services in place when the school year begins.
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Tips & Warnings
Take an experienced person with you to negotiations if you are relatively new to the process or have difficulty in negotiations.
Do not sign an agreement with the school until all of your special education student's needs are addressed, as the LSP will be in place for an entire year.
Resources
- Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/8889508
