Tasmanian Curriculum : Case study 2 South Street High School

Transition planning for students with severe disabilities—Andrea and Emma's story.

‘At our high school we have experienced an increasing number of students enrolling with severe intellectual disability and / or autism. We believe that we can make a valuable contribution to other schools’ understanding with regard to providing effective and engaging programs for these students by sharing our transition program from primary school to high school.’

Effective programs

The most effective transition programs require an intimate knowledge and / or awareness of individual differences of students and parents and skilful attention from teachers trained to work with these differences. There needs to be a team where all members interact as equals and where participation is encouraged and supported. This fosters a team that functions as a tight unit.

The high school environment

We know that transition from primary school to secondary school can be, for many students, a stressful move from a safe, familiar environment with considerable individual attention, to a seemingly impersonal and intimidating atmosphere in high school.

School sizes in a high school are often larger than those in primary schools and academic standards and expectations can appear to be more of a focus. Social groupings and peer pressure can change profoundly. Together with this, discipline can be more abruptly delivered and often misunderstood, especially in the context of supporting children with significant intellectual disability and / or autism.

We encourage our staff to consider a different paradigm when working alongside students who demonstrate problematic behaviour and embrace positive behaviour support as a framework for understanding and responding to behavioural issues.

The Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) website provides further information, contacts, school stories, resources and recommended links. The website can be accessed at: http://www.education.tas.gov.au/school/educators/support/positivebehaviour.

Involving parents

We need to understand that this transition is difficult for most students and even more problematic for students with severe disabilities and enormously stressful for their parents. Therefore, the importance of parental involvement cannot be underestimated. When parents are involved in their son or daughter’s transition to high school, they tend to stay involved in their child’s school experiences and when parents are involved in their child’s high school experiences, students have higher achievement and are better adjusted.

Transition meetings

The following documents are samples of transition meeting notes and the resultant program: