Rhonda & the Bridgeway team
Life After High School: Helping Your 11th or 12th Grader with Career Preparation and “Fit”
By Bonnie Z. Goldsmith
As the parent of an eleventh or twelfth grader with learning disabilities (LD), how confident are you about your teen’s plans for the future? Does your teen have realistic job or career goals? Has your teen found enjoyable activities that he is enthusiastic about pursuing as an adult? Has your teen held volunteer or paid part-time jobs? If so, can he see any of his jobs leading to a career that will allow him to be an independent, working adult?
As you well know, a learning disability does not just affect school performance. You have probably seen some of the emotional fallout teens have to weather when they are “different” in some way. Teens with LD, even those eligible for standard diplomas, may suffer from low self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy. They may look to the future with dread. They may be lonely, anxious, or depressed.
Now that your teen is in the last two years of high school, what kinds of help and support can you provide as he or she prepares for the future? First, ask yourself what “success” for your teen means to you. Does it mean the same thing to your teen? Now’s the time to redefine success based on your teen’s unique strengths and interests. Keep in mind that success involves good health and strong relationships, as well as satisfying work.
Four Stages of Career Development
Whatever your teen’s path to the world of work -- through postsecondary education or training, or directly to a job -- it can be helpful to consider four stages of career development. This article will consider the third and fourth stages. A companion article, “Life After High School: Helping Your Ninth or Tenth Grader with Career Awareness and Exploration,” offers suggestions about the first two stages. Despite the division between articles -- and their targeted ages -- these stages aren’t necessarily sequential and frequently overlap.Stage 3: Career Preparation Means Finding Some Answers
It’s time for your teen to identify a small number of careers or jobs that look interesting and achievable, based on her developing self-awareness as a person with many facets, one of which is a learning disability. Students sometimes neglect a convenient resource for career planning: the school’s guidance department. Guidance counselors have an array of career and vocational aptitude tests and interest assessments. They can help you and your teen understand test results and set realistic goals. Further, guidance counselors have lots of information about postsecondary education. They can tell you about academic and training schools that offer services for students with learning disabilities.Your Teen Already Has Some Answers
By eleventh or twelfth grade, your teen’s experiences in school will provide valuable career guidance. School records -- grades, test scores, special education assessments, and teachers’ comments -- can help your teen interpret his or her strengths and needs. Your teen may also have a portfolio of work samples accumulated throughout high school. The collection can assist you and your teen as you formulate a clear progress report based on skill development. If your teen doesn’t have a portfolio, junior year is a good time to start one.The last two years of high school are also the time to request specific feedback from adults who know your teen well: teachers, tutors, supervisors of part-time jobs or volunteer work, coaches, mentors, counselors, and so on. Encourage your teen to ask these people their perceptions of his or her strengths, challenges, and skills. A trusted guidance counselor can help your teen with these valuable interviews and, perhaps, with getting letters of recommendation.
Stay Current on Your Teen’s Transition Plan
Many teens with LD move directly into the job market after high school because they don’t believe they’ll make it in postsecondary education. Yet it’s clear that any training or college classes increase a young person’s chances for a good job at an acceptable salary. Especially in an economic downturn when many people are competing for jobs, your teen’s competitive chances improve greatly when he or she can include postsecondary education on a resume. Educational opportunities after high school can take many forms besides the traditional four years of college: one- or two-year programs, technical schools, trade schools, internships and apprenticeships, online classes, work-study arrangements. Colleges frequently have services for students with learning disabilities. There may be local companies or organizations offering paid employment opportunities for people with LD, including on-site job coaching. You can help your teen see what’s out there.If your teen has an IEP, the school is required to keep you informed about any modifications to your teen’s transition plan. Be sure you and your teen attend all IEP meetings. If, for example, your teen has decided to pursue postsecondary education in some form, junior year is critical. It’s the time when your teen needs to find out the admission requirements to schools she’s interested in. That information, along with input from you, her IEP team, and other concerned adults, will help her insure that her transition plan includes the program of study expected by colleges or trade schools.
Legal Protections
It’s crucial for you and your teen to realize that when he leaves high school he is no longer eligible for the services guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The protections of IDEA disappear, and your teen will have to seek help on his own.Laws exist to protect adults with disabilities: Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Both can protect your teen from discrimination in employment, but these laws have restrictions:
- Your teen must be “otherwise qualified” for the job he’s applying for. He must be able to perform the “essential functions” of a job, with or without accommodations.
- Employers are only required to provide “reasonable” accommodations that allow an otherwise qualified employee to do a job if the employee discloses and documents his disability. If your teen decides not to disclose his LD, his employer can fire him for poor performance, even if the problems are related to his disability.
Disclosure Requires Self-Advocacy Skills
While your teen is still in high school, talk together about the issue of self-disclosure. Unless your teen tells an employer about her disability, she isn’t eligible for legal protection against discrimination. However, many adults with LD hesitate to disclose their disability. They’re embarrassed, afraid of being seen as inferior, even retarded. (And, unfortunately, according to the 2010 Roper Poll, learning disabilities are still misunderstood.) They’re concerned that expectations for them will be lowered and their chances of advancement reduced.Another issue is when to disclose: during the interview or after hiring? Depending on your teen’s disability and career choice, she may be able to work around her LD without officially disclosing it. For example, she might ask a coworker to proofread written work or to repeat complicated instructions. She may be able to move to a quieter work area without informing the boss.
Disclosure is a complicated issue. Your teen can’t really consider the pros and cons, however, if she lacks self-advocacy skills. Ideally, by eleventh grade, your teen understands and accepts her LD, knows her legal rights, and is able to ask for reasonable accommodations. Self-advocacy skills need to be part of your teen’s transition plan and must be practiced. The best time to practice is before high school graduation.
Stage 4: For Career “Fit,” Put a Priority on Real Work Experience
By eleventh or twelfth grade, your teen needs to take a close, realistic look at how his strengths, skills, and learning disability might mesh with particular jobs or careers. Paid or unpaid work during high school gives your teen invaluable experience that may help him get a better job after graduating. Help your teen find real-world experiences that emphasize hard work and skill development. Some schools allow students to work in the supplies store, cafeteria, copy room, or office. Students may assist groundskeepers and janitors. Such school-based jobs offer great experience in work-related skills and allow students to learn in a safe environment. Similar jobs might be answering the telephone in your place of worship or another familiar milieu, helping with planning and staffing community events, and volunteering with children or senior citizens.Keep current on your teen’s plans and provide reality checks. If, for example, your teen wants to be a reporter for an online news organization, but has serious language disabilities, you’ll want to discuss other, related careers that don’t require as much language facility. Some jobs or careers -- maybe most -- will require your teen to work around his learning disability or find accommodations that will allow him to succeed. This is easier with supportive supervisors and coworkers, in an accepting work environment.
There’s no real substitute, though, for a job outside familiar environments. Your teen needs practice developing a work ethic: managing job stress, getting along with diverse coworkers, dealing with interpersonal conflicts, asking for further or more detailed instructions, and fulfilling employer expectations about punctuality, dress, work pace, motivation, and initiative. If your teen hasn’t had a paying job yet, encourage him to get one before high school ends. Research has shown that working for pay during high school has positive, long-term career impact on people with LD. If possible, see that your teen has an authentic experience in the world of work.
Finding a Good Fit
If your teen is game, role play a job interview or a work-related conflict or question. Talk about how to handle rude, mean, or disrespectful people -- especially those who don’t know what learning disabilities involve. Practice those all-important people skills: being professional and polite, taking turns, giving and accepting compliments, and accepting criticism and correction as a way to get better on the job.Many students with LD need practice with social skills. Some, however, excel in what researchers call emotional intelligence. If your teen is notably empathetic and emotionally mature, she or he may have an edge in a tight job market. A national survey of hiring managers conducted in 2011 by CareerBuilder.com, an online job-search engine, found that employers rate emotional intelligence highly when they make hiring decisions.
For a good career fit, encourage your teen to find out as much as possible about interesting work, a process that began during the “career exploration” stage described in the companion article to this one. Someone interested in health care can visit or volunteer at a hospital, clinic, or rehab center. Someone interested in working with children can look into becoming a camp counselor or assisting at a daycare center. An artistic or mechanically skilled person might lend a hand at an arts center or welding shop. These experiences can help your teen narrow down career choices.
You can help by checking with your local Chamber of Commerce or community center about businesses willing to work with and train young people with LD. If your teen is amenable to help, make use of your community contacts to find potential jobs for him or her and ask your family and friends to do the same. Get information about how your local Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (VRA) can help your teen during and after high school. (Check NCLD’s Resource Locator to find your local listing.) The VRA is a state agency that provides services to young people with disabilities as they make the transition from school to work.
You can also guide your teen in seeking internships or apprenticeships, perhaps in the summer. Such experiences enable young people to watch and assist workers, learn new skills, and imagine themselves doing specific jobs. Your teen can decide if particular jobs are interesting enough to put up with the occasional, unavoidable drudgery and boredom.
Life After High School
To make a successful transition to the world of work, whether it’s following postsecondary education or directly after high school, your teen needs:- a realistic transition plan that ideally begins in middle school
- the ability to accept and understand her learning disability
- the willingness to adapt and be flexible in a job setting
- the courage to advocate for what she needs to be successful
Encourage your eleventh or twelfth grader to take increasing responsibility for planning his or her future after high school. All four stages of career development -- awareness, exploration, preparation, and fit -- are valuable parts of a young person’s maturation. With your support, your teen can weather the difficult but rewarding transition from high school student to independent adult.
Bonnie Z. Goldsmith has worked in the field of education throughout her professional life. She has wide experience as a writer, editor, and teacher.
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