Explore strengths, interests and goals
To guide future job ideas, help your child explore what they're good at and what they enjoy. Talk about hopes and dreams. Brainstorm ways to build work-related skills.
Employment should be rooted in what your child wants to do. Together with your child's support team, set work as a possibility. Use your child's strengths and interests to guide conversations about career opportunities.
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Meaningful work experiences in high school are a strong predictor of employment success as an adult. the key is meaningful - in the community, doing or learning about actual tasks required for a specific job, and related to your child's interests. Having a paid job in high school can make a big difference in your child's future. Research shows that teens who work are more likely to find and keep jobs as adults - and often enjoy better job stability, higher wages, and stronger career growth.
These experiences may include:
Paid entry-level job.
Internships.
Volunteering.
Job shadowing.
Informational interviews.
Your child's school may have a work-based learning program, which gives students a chance to learn about jobs by doing real work in the community. These experiences help students explore careers, build job skills and understand what it is like to have a job.
Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS) and State Services for the Blind (SSB) may also support and provide work-based learning experiences when school work-based learning services aren't available or don't fully meet your child's needs.
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