A Practitioner's Guide to Involving Families in Secondary Transition.

This book provides practitioners working with young adults with disabilities practical strategies for building expanded partnerships with parents during the transition years. It relies on three beliefs: parents need to be fully informed partners; practitioners need to empower parents to become partners; and parents can become accountable for actions upon and within the system. Chapters address the roles parents can and should play during the transition years, both in school and in adult service agencies. Chapters include: (1) "Introduction to the Role of Parents in Secondary Transition" (Amy M. Pleet and Donna Wandry); (2) "Defining the Family: Changing Demographics" (Vicki A. McGinley); (3) "Parents as Collaborators: Building Partnerships with School-Based and Community-Based Providers" (Sharon H. deFur); (4) "Parents as Evaluators and Decision-Makers" (Kris Schoeller and Ellie Emanuel); (5) "Parents as Trainers, Role Models, and Mentors" (Sharon M. Kolb); (6) "Parents as Instructors" (David F. Bateman and others); (7) "Parents as Systems Change Agents during Transition" (Mary E. Morningstar and Josie Torrez); and (8) "Next Steps" (Donna Wandry and others). The chapters develop, within each role, a vision of effective parent activities, success indicators, the challenges faced by parents, and practitioner strategies to empower parents. (Chapters include references.) (CR)