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Technical Assistance on Transition and the Rehabilitation Act

TATRA Overview

PACER's Technical Assistance on Transition and the Rehabilitation Act (TATRA) Project and other Parent Information and Training programs funded by the US Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) focus on helping families prepare youth with disabilities for employment and independent living. Projects provide information and training on transition planning, the adult service system, and strategies that prepare youth for successful employment, postsecondary education, and independent living outcomes.

Current vocational rehabilitation policy emphasizes the preferences of individuals with disabilities and recognizes the importance of family expertise. Because they know their family member's strengths, families help make critical contributions to employment. In addition, parents often provide critical supports for their sons and daughters with disabilities long after they reach adulthood.

What’s New:

• TATRA Project resources on "Family Involvement and VR: Research to Practice"

  • TATRA staff recently presented a session titled "Family Involvement: Research to Practice," at the National Council on Rehabilitation Education's October 2009 conference. These materials are now available. The session highlighted strategies promoting family involvement in the transition and vocational rehabilitation processes and related these strategies to the findings of a number of recent studies. These studies have identified a general lack of family involvement in current practices of state vocational rehabilitation agencies serving transition-age youth; linked family involvement with academic achievement and post-school success; documented outcomes from transition-focused parent-training projects funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration; and described some promising practices. While future studies may result in more definitive findings, the presentation suggests several promising family involvement practices that state VR agencies can implement to help address the employment and career development needs of transition-age youth with disabilities.
  • 
    See the Presentation
  • Family Involvement Resources

    (click to open)

    • An Assessment of Transition Policies and Practices in State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies, ED-04-CO-0042. The Study Group Inc. (Final Report—June 2007)
    • National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
    • National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth
    • NCWD Guideposts for Success
    • National Longitudinal Transition Study 2
    • National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center
    • NSTTAC Parent and Family Involvement Annotated Bibliography (2009) National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center
    • The Rehabilitation Act: Outcomes for Transition-Age Youth (2008) National Council on Disability.
  • Examples of YTD intervention components