Connexions

Moving Forward

Moving Forward is an introduction to ‘Transition Planning’ for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and gives information about the process, what happens when and what the options are.

Transition explained
The importance of transition
Key agencies
Who can help?
The Disability Discrimination Act
Choices at 16
Benefits
Housing
Useful contacts
Useful websites

All young people face major changes as they move from being teenagers to becoming adults and must make important decisions about their future. This change can be more complicated for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities as they are often involved with a number of support agencies.

'Transition planning' is about young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities deciding what they want to do in the future and about helping them to get the lives that they want.

The aim of transition planning is to co-ordinate support with families and services working together. Planning starts well in advance of leaving school to make sure each young person’s needs and choices are fully explored.

Moving Forward gives a brief introduction to transition and the many opportunities after 16. There’s a lot more information available and Moving Forward gives details of who can help and where to find more advice and information.

The Moving Forward Directory

The Moving Forward Directory aims to include contact information for all institutions offering post-16 opportunities to young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities across Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

Contact a Family Special Educational Needs advice service

Contact a Family - who work with families who have children with a disability or learning difficulty - provide a Special Educational Needs advisory service as part of their existing helpline/on-line service for families. It is staffed by experienced SEN advisers to be a one-stop-shop for parents and other family members caring for a child with SEN, on all education issues.

The telephone helpline will enable parents and carers to get in-depth, personalised advice from fully-trained SEN advisers.  General advice and guidance will be available on-line, via e-mail, the Contact a Family website, Facebook and Twitter.

Contact the helpline service on Freephone 0808 808 3555 between Monday-Friday, 9.30am-5pm, or visit the Contact a Family website.

Moving Forward was developed by the Connexions services in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, supported by the main organisations involved in the transition process. Although every effort has been made to ensure that this information was correct at the time of publication, contacts, telephone numbers and addresses are subject to change, which may make the information become gradually less accurate.