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Today, most families of young children use and move between different types of early childhood services -- like Head Start, private child care, public preschool, or kindergarten. Moving between and among these various programs is often referred to as ’transition’.” This 8-minute video provides an overview of the desirable outcomes of transition, research identifying effective transition practices, as well as the legal requirements of early childhood transition (running time: 8 min. 19 sec.)

Click here to register for this event What: Ensuring School Readiness will explore how and why smooth transitions among early learning environments are critical for school readiness and are the first step toward preparing students for success in college and career. Presenters will focus on what it takes to foster continuity as children move from early learning programs to preschool to kindergarten, and will discuss the specific roles of early learning programs, schools, and families in preparing young children to enter school ready for success. This webinar will highlight innovative practices, explore the range of supports and services offered to young children and their families, and emphasize how to help families understand how to remain involved in their child’s education as the child moves into the early school grades. Jacqueline Jones from the U.S. Department of Education will discuss the importance of successful early transitions to education reform. Sharon Ritchie from FirstSchool, a research-based preK–3rd grade initiative, will discuss “seamless education” and how to use data to improve practice. Judith Jerald from Save the Children will talk about developing early childhood programming with an eye toward facilitating transitions. And Whitcomb Hayslip will discuss how a Los Angeles-based transitional kindergarten initiative uses deliberate collaboration between teachers and families to prepare children for school success. When: April 14, 2011 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Mountain Featured speakers include: Moderator: Tom Schultz, Project Director for Early Childhood Initiatives, Council of Chief State School Officers Jacqueline Jones, Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Early Learning, U.S. Department of Education Sharon Ritchie, Senior Scientist, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Judith Jerald, Early Childhood Advisor, Save the Children Whitcomb Hayslip, Early Childhood Education Consultant and Former Assistant Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District Click here to view the webinar archive for this event series

What: On May 25th Montana Youth Transitions Project sponsored a introduction meeting for service providers to gather and discuss the topic of transitioning youth from High School to life beyond High School. I hope you can join us as we move toward developing a strategic plan with other service providers to address the needs of everyone involved with serving our transitioning youth in When: August 12th 2010 from 10 am – 2 pm Where: 2121 Rosebud Dr. Billings Mt. 59102 Lunch will be provided I hope you can join us Please RSVP by August 10th, 2010 Call Patti McCubbins at 406.444.9060 or email pmccubbins@mt.gov

The OPI-Division of Special Education will be offering a series of 5 webinars on secondary transition.  Providing great secondary transition services to high school youth can be challenging.  This webinar series, presented by Montana teachers and providers, will give multiple strategies on implementing secondary transition in a rural district or a large district that has provided great results for the Montana school districts that have used them.  A flyer with descriptions of each of the webinars can be found at: http://www.opi.mt.gov/pdf/SpecED/Link/10NovWebinarBestPractices.pdf The webinars are free and no registration is required. The webinars will start at 3:30 p.m. and last about an hour each.  One renewal unit will be offered for each live webinar.  The webinars can be attended individually or the whole series.  The webinars will be posted on the OPI Web site after the live webinar.  Please forward this information to high school teachers and other personnel that you think may be interested. Questions regarding this series can be sent to Nikki Sandve at nsandve@mt.gov or call (406) 444-0299.

The Division of Special Education and the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) are offering a new para-educator academy on Secondary Transition. Two in-person workshops will occur this year.  In addition, there will be a follow-up webinar.  Secondary transition education settings require that the para-educators assist the certified teacher with a number of instructional and employment-related activities such as: implementing school and community-based instruction; implementing employment sampling and job trainings programs; and monitoring and collecting instructional data. This transition academy is designed to provide participants with the tools to effectively work as a member of a team in a transition setting. These workshops will occur in Billings on January 11-12, 2011, and in Missoula on February 10-11, 2011.  The workshops are designed for para-educators, high school special education teachers, and directors of special education.  More information, including workshop objectives, can be found at: http://www.opi.mt.gov/pdf/SpecED/Link/11JanParaAcademyST.pdf Questions?  Contact Nikki Sandve at nsandve@mt.gov or (406) 444-0299.

Got Transition? is a national resource for health care professionals, families, youth, and state policy makers focusing on a young adult's transition from pediatric to adult health care. This site serves as the basis for an information exchange about health care transition, particularly as pertaining to youth with special health care needs.

More than 90% of children with chronic illness now survive into adulthood, which presents a range of challenges for individuals and for the system of care. This Issue Brief describes key unmet needs regarding a) developing chronic disease self-management skills; b) enhancing the capacity of the adult health care system to care for young adults with special health care needs; and c) reducing lapses in care during the transition period. The authors, fellows at the Stanford University Clinical Excellence Research Center, offer recommendations for improving the transition.

When: Oct 3-5, 2010 in Helena, MTWhat: The 2010 Youth in Transition Conference is a youth and parent centered event that will assist youth with disabilities and their teams to plan and develop plans for after high school. This venue will include: A “Real Life” Fair: participants can meet with a wide variety of community re-sources. Keynote Presenters: Fun, informative, youth centered! Workshops: information that supports what was learned at the Real Life Fair. Students, parents, and all relevant team members are encouraged to attend! Topics and Information: Transition to What? Information Available: Housing Transportation Food/Clothing Recreation Employment Education/Training Financial Aid Community Service Self-Advocacy

Technical Assistance Guide for Transition in the IEP Links This guide will provide technical assistance for IEP team committee members, especially special education teachers, in developing and writing transition IEP's utilizing the newly adopted South Dakota IEP transition pages.

FCTD Family Information Guide to Assistive Technology & Transition Planning This 50 page guide is aimed at providing families with the information they need to effectively prepare for and participate in periods of transition in their children’s lives. Individuals may order one free copy of the guide. Additional print copies are available for $10.A discount is available for bulk orders. To request one or more print copies, send an e-mail to fctd@aed.org.