In a blink of an eye, four years go by and students are ready to graduate, while many parents find themselves planning what their child’s future will look like after high school. This time can be very stressful for both the student and the parents. With that being said, HDS Foundation Program Manager Liz Falk, coordinated a parent meeting with Project 10 Transition Education Network and Cypress Bay B.R..I.D.G.E.S facilitators where parents learned about the many options and resources available for their child to help ease the transition process.
The theme of this meeting was: What’s Out there? A Look at Transition-Related Resources in Florida and Beyond (Resources Related to Post-School Options and Activities). Project 10’s Regional Transition Representative, Lisa Friedman-Chavez, went into detail about the different resources for individuals with disabilities. The resources discussed were related to postsecondary education and training, employment and benefits planning, understanding the transfer of rights and resources related to guardianship and decision–making alternatives, and many educational opportunities and community resources to support secondary transition. As Lisa provided a wealth of information on each resource, parents started to ask questions. Lisa was able to guide the parents and offered to speak to them in more detail after the meeting.
Towards the end of the meeting, Christian Giraldo from Florida Network on Disabilities Youth Advocate for Parent Education Network joined in and discussed his role and emphasized the importance on educating and empowering students and their families to become self-advocates.
As we wrapped up the meeting, parents expressed their gratitude to be able to be a part of this meeting. At first, they felt very overwhelmed with the amount of information they had just learned about, but they were also very glad to know that there were so many resources and options available for their children.
The HDS Foundation would like to thank Lisa Friedman-Chavez and Christian Giraldo for taking the time to meet with the parents and help guide them in making the best decisions for their children!