Despite the fact that your teen or young adult may not have access to their regular transition programming during COVID-19, there are still many ways to continue to work on career exploration, job readiness, and employment skills from home.
If you haven’t already done so, make sure that these basic transition planning steps are in place related to employment:
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Have your youth start thinking about possible career paths. What are they interested in? What activities do they most enjoy? What are their strengths? Here are some tools to support this:
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Take an online career interest test:
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Learn about jobs of interest via websites and videos:
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If your teen has an individual education plan (IEP) and has not already had an age-appropriate transition assessment and a functional vocational evaluation, you can request these assessments from your school district right now (required by age 14 or 16, depending on your state). Assessments must still take place at this time, even in regions where schools are closed. In fact, federal law requires it! If your school claims they cannot evaluate your child at this time ask for an independent educational evaluation (IEE). Consider Bloom Career-Online Aptitude/Personality Testing by Experts or Vocational Evaluation.
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Ensure that measurable postsecondary goals and services for your student are in their IEP (required by age 14 or 16, depending on your state)! Please see our transition guide for more information.
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Connect with outside agencies, especially your state’s Vocational Rehabilitation program. Your child may qualify for pre-employment transition services (pre-ETS) starting as young as age 14 (depending on your state), many of these services can be provided remotely (see guidance from the U.S. Department of Education on VR services during the pandemic: Q&A concerning the administration of the State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services).
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Develop skills from home:
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Build a resume:
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Practice interview skills:
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Improve digital literacy skills:
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Apply for jobs or volunteer opportunities:
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Start thinking about summer job opportunities now. Your teen or young adult can research places to work, learn about hiring policies and training or skills needed for a summer job, fill out online applications, and more.
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Research and apply for work-from-home jobs.
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Become a virtual volunteer:
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For additional information on employment-related transition topics, please view the following resources:
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Educational Transition After Epilepsy Surgery (transition guide from the Brain Recovery Project, December 2020)
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BLOOM Consulting provides transition services, vocational evaluation, job placement and more for teens and youth with learning differences:
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Families Together Inc. resource list: Teaching Transition Skills During COVID-19
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Guideposts for Success: A Framework for Successful Youth Transition to Adulthood by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth),
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NESCA-Newton’s Transition Planning: “Remote” Work-based Learning Experiences
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U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
About the author
Audrey Vernick is the Director of Patient and Family Advocacy for The Brain Recovery Project. She is the parent of a child who had hemispherectomy for seizures caused by stroke and holds a level 2 certification in Special Education Advocacy Training from the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.
