October 24, 2024 | Issue 65

ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool

is Live & Ready to Use!

Disability Rights New Jersey recently launched the ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool, a no-cost resource developed to empower students & youth with disabilities to take the lead in planning their futures by defining their interests, needs, and goals in preparation for adulthood.

What is ASPYIR?

ASPYIR is an innovative,

interactive self-assessment tool for transition-aged students and youth, ages 14 to 21, preparing to enter adulthood.

Why Should Students & Youth use ASPYIR?

ASPYIR puts students & youth in charge of planning their own future.

ASPYIR is a planning tool

for youth, about them

and authored by them.

How Does ASPYIR Help

Students & Youth?

ASPYIR empowers students & youth to take the lead on planning their future through a series of interactive questions that formulate a guide based on the answers they provide.

The outcome is a document they can share at IEP, VR, Support Coordinator meetings, and more, that can be used as a transition roadmap toward their goals in adulthood.

ASPYIR stands for Accessing Strategies to Prepare Youth for Independence and Responsibility.

The self-assessment tool asks students about their likes, dislikes, interests, needs, strengths, and preferences related to three core areas of youth development: education, employment and independent living.

Created by our Youth Practice Group (YPG), ASPYIR elevates the individual student voice in the transition planning process, equipping youth with a tool to enhance their participation in planning for their future.

Although ASPYIR was initially conceived to help students with disabilities advocate for themselves at their IEP meetings, the transition planning tool can benefit all students and youth, regardless of their abilities, to identify their strengths and needs. ASPYIR is not limited to students and can be a resource for youth post-graduation as they move into young adulthood and make choices about the direction of their lives.

ASPYIR Presentations Available Soon

Presentations of the ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool will begin in January, provided by YPG Advocate, Jessica Lax and will be geared toward service providers, educators, and advocacy groups.

This virtual exploration of ASPYIR will review its purpose and person-centered focus on the strengths, needs, and preferences of students and youth, as well as alternate strategies for utilizing the planning tool with students.

The "How-To" presentation will feature an interactive module to walk you through the education elements of ASPYIR, just as students would experience it. A sample of the results document will be shared.

We will also discuss different applications of the results beyond its use in IEP meetings.

Contact us if you are interested in hosting Disability Rights New Jersey for a presentation of the ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool. E-mail today to schedule a presentation: transition@disabilityrightsnj.org

Upcoming Webinar For Students & Parents

This event is cosponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and made possible through funding from IOLTA Fund of the Bar of New Jersey.

Transition & Self-Advocacy: How to Best Support Students

OCTOBER 30th, 6pm

Being your own Self-Advocate is one of the strongest skills you will have.

This webinar is designed to help high

school students and their families

understand the meaning of self-advocacy and its importance in transition planning in the high school years and beyond.

This webinar will provide practical strategies on how to become a stronger self-advocate or how to assist someone in developing their self-advocacy skills.

This webinar will feature useful information about transition planning, and introduce attendees to the ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool.

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HOW WE HELP

Disability Rights New Jersey, a nonprofit organization, is dedicated to advancing and protecting the human, civil, and legal rights of people with disabilities.

We aggressively investigate reports of abuse and neglect wherever a person with a disability may be receiving services.

We thoroughly monitor facilities and community-based programs to ensure that people living in those facilities and using those services are free from abuse and neglect, and that their rights are not violated.

We provide legal representation, without charge, to people with disabilities in cases that fall within our priority setting process.

We are dedicated to providing education, training, and technical assistance to people with disabilities, their families and advocates, the agencies that service them, and policy makers among others.

We provide state-of-the-art access to information and advice about assistive technology.

Read Our Story

Disability Rights NJ is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services - Center for Mental Health Services; Administration for Community Living: Administration on Disabilities; Center for Integrated Programs; U.S. Department of Education: Rehabilitation Services Administration, and the Social Security Administration

DISABILITY RIGHTS New Jersey | disabilityrightsnj.org

210 South Broad Street, Third Floor

Trenton, New Jersey 08608

1.800.922.7233 (in NJ only) 1.609.292.9742 (Voice)

1.609.777.0187 (Fax) Dial 711 for Relay Operator