Questions for Parents of School Age Children in Planning Transition to New Teachers

By: Idaho Project for Children and Youth with Deaf-Blindness

1. Does the teacher have information about my child's medication needs?
2. Does the staff know how to recognize what is, and what is not, a medical emergency for my son or daughter?
3. Does the school have a medical release and insurance information on file?
4. Is all the staff familiar with support staff terminology (e.g. abduction, supine, etc) that is used when discussing my child?
5. Is the school staff familiar with my child's particular positioning requirements with regards to the purpose of particular positions, equipment, proper use of and precautions, amount of time in certain positions and equipment, and what kind of activities my child can be participating during those times?
6. Is the staff familiar with how my child communicates through his/her body language? Have they created a body language dictionary for staff members and other children?
7. Is the staff aware of the signs and communication systems that my child uses at home? Are they the same signs and systems used at school?
8. Has the staff conducted any form of person centered planning (e.g. MAPS) for my child? Is that information included in my child's file?
9. How will the general education teacher receive information about my child?
10. Has the general education teacher observed my child in his or her current classroom?
11. Is the general education teacher familiar with my child's IEP goals and objectives?
12. Has the general education teacher been included in transition meetings?
13. Does the special education staff have a copy of the general education classroom schedule?
14. Has an instructional schedule matrix been developed that demonstrates where my child has an opportunity to practice his or her goals and objectives?
15. Do we, as a family, have priority goals and objectives? (e.g. communication) Have we discussed our priorities with the school staff?
16. Have classroom participation plans been developed for my son or daughter? (e.g. adaptations, modifications, etc.)
17. How does the staff know that my child is meeting his or her goals and objectives?
18. How, when and why do they make changes in my child's program?
19. How often does the staff communicate with me? How do they do it? (e.g. daily notebook, telephone, team meeting)
20. Does my child's team meet on a regular basis? (Note: Regular is a relative term and may mean once a week for some students and quarterly for other students.)
21. Does the team keep meeting minutes?
22. Does the team always leave with an action plan?
23. Are we always included in the team meetings?
24. Has the team developed a portfolio of information that describes my son or daughter's program (e.g. video tapes, signs used at home and school, classroom participation plan examples, meeting minutes, etc.) that can be given to new teachers and staff?