Special School District specialist outlines practical steps to build independence for students with disabilities

Alice Jensen, a transition specialist with the Special School District of St. Louis County, told families that building independence and self-determination early improves graduation and employment outcomes for students with disabilities.

"Students who have higher levels of self-determination have higher graduation rates," Jensen said, and added that self-determination increases college enrollment, access to community life and reduces victimization.

Jensen defined three related concepts—autonomy (making choices), independence (doing tasks alone) and self-determination (setting and acting on goals)—and offered concrete at-home practices parents can use. She recommended age-appropriate household chores such as putting away toys, doing dishes and helping cook to develop work ethic and teamwork. For self-care, she urged routines and visual checklists to support dressing and hygiene.

On money skills, Jensen suggested starting with tangible experiences — small cash purchases — so students can grasp value, then gradually introducing debit-card concepts. To build decision-making, she advised beginning with limited choices (for example, two preferred items) and modeling the decision process while allowing safe failures as learning opportunities.

Jensen emphasized communication and self-advocacy: teaching students about their strengths and how their disability affects them so they can request support. She advised caregivers to allow longer processing time — up to 15 seconds for some students — before prompting, and to use visuals, choice boards or communication-device options that school teams can help implement.

The presentation included behavior supports such as social stories (short scripts describing expected behavior) and social narratives that tie skills to a student's interests; Jensen described using theater-related narratives to explain workplace expectations. She also discussed pacing strategies — using timers and small rewards to speed tasks when appropriate or encouraging slower, higher-quality work when needed.

Jensen introduced Charting the LifeCourse as a planning framework that places the student at the center of IEP conversations. "Nothing about me without me," she said, describing the tool's sections for vision, past experiences and the gap that identifies skills families and schools can work on together. She said the district is training middle and high school staff this year and plans elementary training next year; materials and linked resources are available on the SSD transition web page.

Resources Jensen highlighted included local industry standards for competitive employment, independent living standards, K–5 functional skills sheets, ID Gateway (a regional resource guide), and a family navigator service ("I believe it's five, it might be six" navigators in St. Louis County). She encouraged families to use the SSD website and the district's electronic family-transition checklist for age-based planning.

A FACE representative closed by thanking Jensen and announcing FACE events: a Family Cafe on Dec. 10 at Northtech High School from 6 to 8 p.m.; a Hub Huddle with Castle Community Action Agency at Northtech (10 a.m.–2 p.m.); a Community Action Agency event on Dec. 12; and an adult transition night on Feb. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. Attendees were directed to www.sdmmo.org/og/face and a QR code on the presentation screen for links and additional details.

Jensen closed by urging caregivers to set high expectations, celebrate small steps and contact district transition staff for follow-up information. The presentation materials and links are available on the Special School District transition web page.