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Make a plan that supports your youth’s best life. Explore Charting the LifeCourse for Families »

Envisioning a best life

Your youth can develop a vision for their future. By truly listening to your youth express what they want and don’t want, together you can take steps to plan for their best life.

Key things to know:

Envision your youth’s best life

You want the best life for your youth. Helping your youth to build a vision for their best life can reinforce self-determination and provide motivation during transition planning. Developing a strong vision for your youth will ensure that everyone who supports them will be working toward the same goals. In this process you’ll consider the following questions:

  • What things are important to your youth to have their best life?

  • What does your youth need to build their best life?

  • What supports will help your youth live their best life?

Get to know Charting the LifeCourse

Charting the LifeCourse is a framework and system of tools developed for families by families that can help you and your youth envision what their best life looks like after high school and identify the resources and supports needed to reach that vision. LifeCourse helps parents, siblings and family members share their ideas, hopes, and fears for the future.

Charting the LifeCourse is about:

  • Having different conversations

  • Encouraging high expectations

  • Having life experiences to move in the desired direction

  • Integrating multiple types of support

Visit the Hub’s Charting the LifeCourse for Families section to get to know more about the framework and review the life domains. Then discover and learn about the tools and activities that can help support you and your youth through this time of transition planning.

Video resource

A parent’s perspective: Starting conversations with your youth

Watch “Communicating, Connecting and Creating a Vision” »

“Charting the LifeCourse really helped me to take the time to be able to listen to what my son Connor’s vision was.” —Crystal

Supporting youth as they develop their best lives:

The Charting the LifeCourse tools and activities help you and your youth envision their best life.

If you haven’t already, be sure to visit the Hub’s Charting the LifeCourse for Families overview page, get to know the framework and foundational tools. Your youth’s support team or a Hub expert can also assist you and your family in using the following tools and activities.

Tools and activities:

Charting the LifeCourse™ was developed by the Charting the LifeCourse Nexus housed at the University of Missouri.

To support your loved one with a disability as they develop their best lives, consider the importance of self awareness. Self-awareness is critical for your youth as they develop and prepare for their independence and important decisions ahead. Youth who are more self-aware are better able to:

  • Understand who they are and what they stand for, including preferences, interests, needs and strengths

  • See what impacts them and how they impact others

  • Communicate their needs and ask for support

  • Make connections between life experiences and career goals

  • Set high expectations for themselves and accomplish their goals

The one-page profile (PDF) from Charting the LifeCourse can help your youth describe themselves and figure out who they are.

Does your youth speak up for themselves and the things that are important to them? Self-advocacy is one of the most critical skills you can help your youth attain in living their best life. A strong self-advocate knows their rights and responsibilities and speaks up for those rights. Self-advocates take responsibility for the choices they make and ask for help when needed.

Watch this 4 minute video and learn about different environments and experiences where these young people advocated for themselves in work, in school and with family.

Self-Advocacy

As a part of the transition planning process, you, your youth and their support team will identify their strengths and needs as they relate to the topics of Minnesota’s transition framework, and together decide which ones to prioritize.

The transition framework’s best life topics include:

Self-awareness

  • My strengths, interests, preferences, and needs

  • My resources (formal and informal)

  • My team (people who can help me create my best life vision)

Life vision

  • My best life vision

  • Budget for my best life

  • Connection to independent living, employment and postsecondary education and training

Advocating for my vision

  • Self-determination and advocacy basics

  • Disability rights

  • Advocating with loved ones and helpers

Planning for a good life

  • Person-centered planning concepts

  • Personal learning plan

  • Individualized Education Program (IEP)

  • VRS/SSB employment plan

  • Waiver plan

Tools introduction

  • Charting the LifeCourse

  • Disability Hub MN and My Vault

 

Charting the LifeCourse Transition to Adulthood guide

Your youth is moving into young adulthood and from school to adult life. Learn about the things to think about and do to prepare for this change.

Download the guide (PDF) »

Charting the LifeCourse Guidebook for Families

The Hub’s Charting the LifeCourse Guidebook for families introduces you to the framework, and features sample, filled out tools and activities. [Note: Guidebook needs a few updates.]

Download the Guidebook for families (PDF) »

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