Youth Action Council On Transition Analysis
Our Lives in High School and Beyond
The Youth Action Council on Transition (YouthACT) is a national initiative to get more youth with disabilities and their allies involved as leaders who partner with adults and organizations to improve opportunities for youth to succeed in life. “Transition” is the process and period of change that youth go through to become adults. Transition typically occurs between ages 12 and 25. During transition, youth need a variety of opportunities and supports to learn and develop skills and experience, set and achieve goals, and make personal decisions about school, work, and life.
Too often, youth don’t have a voice when agencies and organizations are deciding what youth services and opportunities to offer. It is …show more content…
During IEP [Individualized Education Program] meetings, there was a translator in the meetings, but I did most of the translating. The translators understood Spanish but didn’t understand what an IEP was well enough to explain it to my mom while translating. I got tired of the translators, so I started doing translating for my mom myself.
It was very stressful translating for my mom. My mom is very strict about education. To have to tell her I wasn’t doing well in one of my classes while translating and having her give me that motherly look at the same time was hard. I was playing two roles at same time—a student who is also her son and a translator who is not the professional getting paid to provide this service. Later, after the meeting, my mom would bring up my grades and say, “You’re the one who told me this.” I was frustrated the translator was getting paid for just sitting there while I did all the work and got in trouble with my mom.
I would like policymakers to have an educated person who knows about IEPs to explain exactly what is in them to parents. Translators should know what acronyms mean. For example OHI [other health impairment], doesn’t mean you’re dying
The Youth Action Council on Transition (YouthACT) is a national initiative to get more youth with disabilities and their allies involved as leaders who partner with adults and organizations to improve opportunities for youth to succeed in life. “Transition” is the process and period of change that youth go through to become adults. Transition typically occurs between ages 12 and 25. During transition, youth need a variety of opportunities and supports to learn and develop skills and experience, set and achieve goals, and make personal decisions about school, work, and life.
Too often, youth don’t have a voice when agencies and organizations are deciding what youth services and opportunities to offer. It is …show more content…
During IEP [Individualized Education Program] meetings, there was a translator in the meetings, but I did most of the translating. The translators understood Spanish but didn’t understand what an IEP was well enough to explain it to my mom while translating. I got tired of the translators, so I started doing translating for my mom myself.
It was very stressful translating for my mom. My mom is very strict about education. To have to tell her I wasn’t doing well in one of my classes while translating and having her give me that motherly look at the same time was hard. I was playing two roles at same time—a student who is also her son and a translator who is not the professional getting paid to provide this service. Later, after the meeting, my mom would bring up my grades and say, “You’re the one who told me this.” I was frustrated the translator was getting paid for just sitting there while I did all the work and got in trouble with my mom.
I would like policymakers to have an educated person who knows about IEPs to explain exactly what is in them to parents. Translators should know what acronyms mean. For example OHI [other health impairment], doesn’t mean you’re dying