ALBERTVILLE, Ala. — Parents often wonder what's next for their children after high school, especially for those with special needs. That's why two special education teachers from Albertville High School are bringing together the Marshall County community to help answer some of those questions.
Special Education Teacher, LaWanda Mitchell, shares, "parents need to become as informed as they can to help them make decisions regarding their future, and they need to start planning early. It's just like for a typical student planning to go to college or planning for a career."
Some of that early preparation looks like an "Individualized Educational Plan" also known as IEP, that lays out a child's special education instruction.
Once these students get to high school they follow a transcript with required courses and their chosen electives.
Special Education Teacher, Paula Kaylor, says, "we work with students 9th through 12th grade....We teach them daily living skills. We teach them their academic standards. We're very fortunate at the high school, we have a lot of collaboration with our gen ed teachers."
Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Kaylor want to make sure their students are supported and learn the skills needed for after high school.
"We want them to be as independent as possible. We really work on their advocacy skills," Kaylor said.
At Albertville High School, these students are involved in all sorts of extracurriculars, whether it be drama, art, and starting next year, a drum line.
On top of it all, they have a weekly job schedule where they get to work at the Exceptional Aggies Café inside LifePoint Church.
"We teach them how to prepare food, how to serve customers, how to count money and we work on interpersonal relationships, how to interact with your coworkers. And our goal is that when they leave us, they will be able to get supported employment through their experience," Mitchell said.
And as many parents wonder 'what's next' for their children after high school, that sparked these teachers to create an annual seminar called "Stepping Stones," where presenters share about the many community resources out there.
"It was developed for information for our parents so that they would understand what the next steps are and what programs are available to them," Mitchell said.
Stepping Stones received a lot of positive feedback and they hope to do it for both the fall and winter next year with the dream of it expanding beyond Marshall County.
"Hopefully this will be something that happens with all the counties because it is a true need and the parents need this information and they need it at least 7th grade, if not before," Kaylor said.