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Transition Capacity Building

Project Overview

Students with disabilities face challenges in their transition from school to adult life, especially in the transition from school to employment. Federal legislation requires local and state education agencies to work with the state vocational rehabilitation agency to facilitate a smooth transition from school to employment. Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) have developed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to help guide the two agencies for collaborations. To effectively implement the MOU, TWC has proposed and funded several initiatives to enhance Texas’s quality of transition services. One of the measures is for Texas A&M University’s Center on Disability and Development to provide training and technical assistance to regional and local transition teams to build statewide capacity in providing quality transition services to students with disabilities.

Texas Workforce Commission

Texas Workforce Solutions-Vocational Rehabilitation Services
101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas 78778-0001  •  800-628-5115
Equal Opportunity Employer/Program
Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.
Relay Texas: 800-735-2989 (TTY) and 711 (Voice)
The Texas Workforce Commission accepts calls made through any relay service provider.

For purposes of the VR program, the Federal VR grant paid 78.7 percent of the total costs of the program. In Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2019, the VR agency received $221,936,258 in Federal VR funds. Funds appropriated by the State paid 21.3 percent of the total costs ($60,066,611) under the VR program. 

Visit the Texas Workforce Commission website.

Regional Conferences

Building Transition Capacity for Younger Teens

Gulf Coast Regional Conference
September 12-13, 2023
North Texas Regional Conference
September 19-20, 2023
Texas Statewide Conference
October 24-25, 2023

Collaborations


Region Information

TWC Region 1

Region 1 contacts

TWC contact: Andrew Castillo

ESC Region 9 (Wichita Falls): Jennifer Steinbacher

ESC Region 14 (Abilene): Casey Westmoreland

ESC Region 15 (San Angelo): Valerie Moos

ESC Region 16 (Amarillo): Crissy McDaniel

ESC Region 17 (Lubbock): Elizabeth Archer

ESC Region 18 (Midland): Mary Groomer

ESC Region 19 (El Paso): Leah Wood

TWC Region 2

Region 2 contacts

TWC contact: Rosla Hocker

ESC Region 10 (Richardson): Sandye Cox

ESC Region 11 (Fort Worth): Carla Johnson

ESC Region 12 (Waco – Navarro County): Kayla Daniel

TWC Region 3

Region 3 contacts

TWC contact: Dae Eun Shin

ESC Region 6 (Huntsville – Milam, Robertson, Leon, Madison, Brazos, Grimes, Burleson, and Washington Counties): Suzanne Jones

ESC Region 12 (Waco): Kayla Daniel

ESC Region 13 (Austin): Elizabeth Danner

ESC Region 15 (San Saba): Valerie Moos

TWC Region 4

Region 4 contacts

TWC contact: Leann Bolwerk

ESC Region 5 (Beaumont): David Earl Ochoa

ESC Region 6 (Huntsville – Houston, Trinity, Polk, and San Jacinto Counties): Suzanne Jones

ESC Region 7 (Kilgore): Jackie Reavis

ESC Region 8 (Mount Pleasant): Matt Williams

TWC Region 5

Region 5 contacts

TWC contact: Kristen Davis

ESC Region 3 (Victoria – Colorado, Wharton, and Matagorda Counties): Dr. Elyse Lieberman

ESC Region 4 (Houston): Theresa Cortney

ESC Region 6 (Huntsville – Austin, Montgomery, and Walker Counties): Suzanne Jones

TWC Region 6

Region 6 contacts

TWC contact: Mayra Gutierrez

ESC Region 1 (Edinburg): Noelia C. Perez

ESC Region 2 (Corpus Christi): Lisa Gebert

ESC Region 3 (Victoria): Dr. Elyse Lieberman

ESC Region 20 (San Antonio): Sam Gonzalez

Events


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Our Journey to Success: A Conversation on Disability, Inclusion, and Diversity

One of our project goals is to create a video series that will support families, educators, and community partners with real life experiences.

We are inviting families/guardians who are open and willing to share their journey of raising a child with disabilities as it was impacted by their cultural heritage, including Black, Hispanic, and Asian American.

Families, individuals and guardians will be interviewed and videotaped answering questions describing their personal experiences ranging from gaining a diagnosis to challenges and supports encountered over the years.

Share Your Story & Help Other Families

The Capacity Building Project is inviting families/guardians who are open and willing to share their journey of raising a child with disabilities as it was impacted by their cultural heritage, including Black, Hispanic, and Asian American.

Families, individuals and guardians will be selected to be interviewed and videotaped answering questions describing their personal experiences ranging from gaining a diagnosis to challenges and supports encountered over the years.

If you’d like to get involved or have additional questions, contact one our representatives:

Resources & Trainings


ARD Mechanics

Training date: 9/16/21

Have you ever been involved in the ARD process and not quite understood all the acronyms, paperwork or protocol? Here is your opportunity to have the ARD process broken down into what happens before, during and after the meeting.

After retiring as a special educator Lucinda Thelen, M.Ed., CAPE is now a Program Aide for the Center on Disability and Development (CDD) at Texas A&M University. Her teaching experiences include working with students with Autism, Adapted Physical Education, general education and as an adjunct professor at A&M. Lucinda earned her M.Ed. from A&M in Educational Psychology with an emphasis on Low Incidence Disabilities. In 2007, she was named Education Region 4’s Secondary Teacher of the Year. With her National Certification in Adapted Physical Education, she has published for TAHPERD as well as being named their Texas Adapted Physical Educator of the Year. Lucinda is most proud of being a mother to an adult son with autism.

Training objectives:

  • Gain a greater understanding of Special Education Acronyms.
  • Learn about the ARD process and agenda.
  • Understand the role and responsibilities of each member on an ARD team.

Resources:

Watch the webinar

Demystifying psychoeducational evaluations and how they relate to the workplace

Training date: 8/12/21

Jeanette T. Smith is a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP) in the state of Texas. She received her Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Houston-Victoria. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate within the Texas Tech Educational Psychology Ph.D. program. In her role as LSSP, she conducts psychoeducational evaluations for students 3-21 years of age; facilitates Annual, Dismissal, and Review (ARD) meetings for special education students; provides counseling as a related service; creates Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) for students; and consults with teachers as well as families regarding behavioral interventions pertinent to their students’ needs. She has been practicing in Texas public schools for the last nine years.

Training objectives:

  • Understand the basic components of psychoeducational evaluations (e.g. cognition, academics, adaptive functioning, etc.).
  • Understand the technical jargon used within evaluations.
  • Understand how information contained within evaluations can relate to the needs of an individual in a workplace setting.

Resources:

Watch the webinar

NTACT Training on School Based Enterprises

Training date: 7/21/21

The guest speakers will be Catherine Fowler and Janie Vicchio.Catherine Fowler is the co-director of the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: the Collaborative (NTACT:C), funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). Her work with NTACT:C, other grants, and as adjunct faculty at UNC Charlotte focuses on the successful, respectful, and meaningful integration of individuals with disabilities in society.

Janie Vicchio is a graduate research assistant for the National Technical National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: the Collaborative (NTACT:C) funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). Her work with students with disabilities focuses on employment and promoting independence.

Training objectives:

  • Increase knowledge of work-based learning experiences.
  • Increase knowledge of school-based and work-based enterprises.

Resources:

Watch the webinar

Virtual Training on Self-Determination: Putting Your BEST Foot Forward

Training date: 6/24/21

Training objectives:

  • Understand how the fundamental principles of self-determination can be defined for the classroom.
  • Explain and recognize how students and teachers can utilize BEST lessons to meet self-determination skills in the classroom.
  • Share strategies to teach and practice self-determination with students.

Resources:

Watch the webinar

Engaging and Partnering with Families

Training date: 4/13/21

Facilitating individualized and successful work experiences for students takes comprehensive information about the student and partnership with the family. Here, we focus on the process of identifying student interests and abilities as well as potential work experience opportunities by using a structured family interview to enhance information gathering. The result of these steps should be 1) having gathered enough student information to begin looking at employers to interview, and 2) families who are willing to consider competitive employment and offer to help finding potential sites and supporting the process. Following these steps helps to avoid poor job matches and miscommunication with families.

Resources:

Watch the webinar

Barriers to Employment for Hispanics with Disabilities

Training date: 1/21/21

Speakers: Veronica Estala-Gutierrez and Rosalba A. Calleros

Training objectives:

  • Applying active listening skills to build effective relationships between professionals and families.
  • Understanding cultural background.
  • Finding effective ways of communication to overpass language barriers throughout the whole transition process.
  • Encouraging networks of support.
  • Facilitating realistic and sustainable long-term plans.
  • Focusing on strengths, abilities and preferences.

Resources:

Watch the training video