Preparation for Transition Supporting Potential Good Afternoon and welcome, my name is Cara Dixon and this is my colleague Jenny, and we are here from the National Children Bureau. (Take names and schools if less than ten attendees).

Workshop Aims To explore the topic of transition from special schools for disabled young people Today our workshop aims are to…. In doing so we will draw on NCB’s work in Northern Ireland with the LINKS and Engage programmes and the work from the Council for Disabled Children in England. The Council for Disabled Children is part of NCB and they are the umbrella body for the disabled children's sector who involve children, parents and carers in their work. They provide training support, information, E-Learning and Consultancy . LINKS and Engage are support networks for organisations who have received funding from the Big Lottery Empowering Young People programme, this support is provided through workshops, one to one support and collaboration with young people in the lead, the Big Lottery‘s Young people group. They also hold cluster group meetings which are planned geographically and held in the grant holders premises as an opportunity for them to network with other organisations in their area. CDC are the umbrella body for the disabled children's sector who involve children, parents and carers in their work. They provide training support, information, E-Learning and Consultancy.

The Social Model of Disability We will begin by discussing the social model of disability which is used by CDC and our grant holders.. This social model of disability of more important when we discuss transition. Transition is a two way process, young people are leaving special school and moving into what? Traditionally this had been the day centre but more and more young people do not want this. The grant holders in Engage and LINKS are therefore trying to fill a gap in opportunities for you people once they leave special scool and promote aspirational thinking with parents, carers and teachers.

Social Model of Disability The social model of disability argues that people can be disabled by their environments as opposed to their impairment. It is important to distinguish between impairment and disability. An impairment can be physical, intellectual or medical. It is something that causes a loss of mental or physical function. A disability arises out of the nature of the environment. .

Young People’s Views We will now move on to look at the viewpoints of young people with special educational needs.

Young people’s views The Council for Disabled Children has carried out a focus group to better understand what affects a young person’s future aspirations. https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/ Transition and Trajectories focus group was held as part of their making ourselves heard project has been used to identify influences on a young persons future aspirations.

Influences on Future Aspirations Low expectations from professionals and parents/carers Access to the right level of educational support Exam results Lack of opportunities and means to access support outside the family Notes from Transition and Trajectories focus group as well as feedback we have received from our grant holders. This research focused on key transition points for disabled children and young people. Older members of the group felt more needed to be done to give young people opportunities and means to access support outside of the family so that they can learn independent living skills.so lots of the work done by the LINKS and Engage Grant holders is about developing these skills.

Making the Change Ensuring young people participate in decisions that affect them Supporting them in making decisions about their future Signposting to organisations that will provide them with opportunities and support We can see from the influences on future aspirations that there are a number of issues we can address. Such as ensuring young people participate in decisions that affect them, supporting them in making decisions about their future and signposting organisations that will provides them with opportunities and support. These will raise their expectations of themselves and the perceptions of others in their circles and allow them to access these opportunities outside of a family setting.

Supporting decision making For a young person to become more independent and participate in decisions that affect them, they may need support in making large decisions and understanding the consequences of either making or not making this decision.

Supporting Decision Making Principle one of Mental Capacity Act (2005) is to assume the person has capacity unless established otherwise The second principle is not to treat a person as if they are unable to make a decision unless all steps to help them to do so have been unsuccessful The first part of the CDC Decision Making Toolkit references the Mental Capacity Act (2005) which provides principles of good practice. An example of which is: A young person deciding which institution they want to study with. This is a larger decision which could have significant consequences. However, there are a number of smaller decision which could contribute to this larger one. Such as what they want to study, who they want to study with and where they want to live. It is possible for a young person to have the capacity to decide what they want to study but may lack the capacity to decide which institution to study in. It is important to note that decision making is a skill and id a young person has not yet been taught this skill they may appear to lack capacity when in fact they require support through the process. For support in helping a young person through this process, you will receive the Council for Disabled Children's Decision Making Toolkit via email which includes information on mental capacity along with activities to work through when supporting a young person.

Self Directed Support Of course not all Young People want to continue in formal education or training but they often do want other opportunities Self Directed Support can help them with this.

Self Directed Support This gives the individual as much control as they want over their personal budget. The personal budget can either be: Taken as a direct payment A managed budget where the Trust holds the budget but the individual is in control of how it is spent The Trust can arrange a service The individual can choose a mixture of these options Self-directed support is a way of providing social care support that empowers individuals to have informed choice. The means that once a trust agrees that an individual needs social care support they can work together with their key worker to agree how care is provided that best meets their assessed needs. The aim is to promote independence by offering more flexibility on how services are provided to people and enables them to take more control over decisions affecting their care. Examples of service available to allow the young person to employ their own personal assistant or have support staff visit their home at a time of their choosing, they may also be able to for instance be able to buy sessions in swimming, gardening, music etc. They are basically going to be able to buy opportunities or support to access opportunities. Self direct support is gradually being rolled out across all HSCT’s.

Learning From LINKS and Engage

Learning from LINKS and Engage The following organisations are some of our grant holders who are receiving this support and provide employment and training support to disabled young people.

LINKS and Engage Organisations The following are organisations which provide employment, training and support to young people. Leonard Cheshire provide support to young people with special educational needs through their self-determination training. Orchardville provides employment opportunities to people with learning disabilities and autism in Belfast, North Down, Bangor and Lisburn through careers advice and guidance, volunteering work placements, training in their employability hubs and support throughout applications, interviews and in the workplace. Foyle Down Syndrome Trust social and personal development activities for 13-19 year olds include cookery, drama, dance, circus skills and road safety. For 20+ they provide independent travel training, money management and work experience. Compass Advocacy Network offer training opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and can provide up to two year placements within their social enterprises which includes recycling, upcycling, a laundrette, framing service and a shop. L’Arche provide support through their gardening, catering, supported living and art projects. Leonard Cheshire-Omagh CAN- Ballymoney Orchardville- Belfast, Bangor, Down

Discussion What are your experiences of supporting young people through transition? What support do you currently receive from the voluntary sector for transition? How can this be improved upon? As mentioned transition is a two way process so.. We would like to open a discussion, we would like to expand upon our knowledge through your expertise. We shall discuss these questions amongst yourselves and note your feedback on the sticky notes you have been provided we can then discuss some of these points as a group. Additional question if time- How do we all promote aspirational thinking for disabled young people.

For more information on NCB or our LINKS/Engage Projects For more information on transition you can visit the Council for Disabled Children website: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/transition-information-network Teresa Geraghty: tgeraghty@ncb.org.uk The Transition Information Network will be contained within the Council for Disabled Children website, you have also been provided with details of this website along with full information on the Trajectories and Transitions focus group used to inform this workshop. You can also email Teresa Geraghty as NCB for further information on the LINKS project and the organisations supported by it.

Resources In your pack there is a sheet for you to provide an email address for yourself, we shall send you through additional information to this email. This will include the full decision making toolkit from CDC , additional contact information for the LINKS organisations, information on the transitions network and a summary of the focus group referred to during this workshop.

Thank you for listening To find out more about the work for NCB visit our website. National Children’s Bureau www.ncb.org.uk ncb_ni_tweets ncbfb