Be prepared as you can in this phase of your student’s life and ensure the best possible transition and guarantee of services. This section will guide you through the types of records and information that parents will need to gather. Your assistance in helping students and parents gather this necessary information willl facilitate the student’s transition to adulthood.
Importance of Keeping Records
During the transition process, it is extremely important that parents and students develop a record keeping system. This system should encompass four specific categories:
- Official documents (as well as Medical and Psychological reports)
- Financial documents
- Chronicle of information
The first category, official documents involve maintaining a file of a student’s written official documents. Examples include:
- all high school transcripts
- evaluation test results
- medical records
- letters of recommendation
- job coach reports
- on-the-job training reports
- professional comments
- schedules
- therapist reports
- IEPs
- transitional IEPs
- end-of-the-year reports
The second category, financial documents, includes:
- sources of income and assets (pension funds, interest income, etc.)
- Social Security and Medicare information
- investment income
- insurance information with policy numbers
- bank accounts
- location of safe deposit boxes
- copies of recent income tax returns
- liabilities: what is owed to whom and when payments are due
- credit card and charge account names and numbers
- property taxes
- location of personal items
Refer to the sections on Financial Concerns, Insurance Issues, and Estate Planning –for additional information on this important subject.
The third category involves an ongoing chronicle of information gathered as the result of:
- phone conversations with school or agency officials
- summary of meeting
- copies of letters written by parents
- copies of letters received
- brochures handed out by organizations