Session 8. MAKING DECISIONS Steps 1 & 2 of Do It!

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Dulcie McGee
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1 Sessin 8 MAKING DECISIONS Steps 1 & 2 f D It! WHOSE FUTURE GOAL 6: Yu will learn t make decisins using DO IT! Repeat after me: When yu left last time, yu were thinking abut MAKING DECISIONS. Remember? Ah, cme n...it hasn t been that lng! Oh yeah, nw it s cming back t yu, right? That stuff abut decisins being a prcess and meaning getting infrmatin, making chices, figuring ut cnsequences and acting? And hw fr sme decisins yu culd really use sme supprt and fr thers yu can pretty well manage alne? Yu lked at ne way t help yu make decisins called DO IT! Each letter in DO IT! stands fr ne step in the DECISION-MAKING prcess. Define yur prblem Outline yur ptins Identify the utcme f each ptin Take actin! Get excited Hw des this help yu, yu ask? Gd questin. Yu can remember DO IT!, can t yu? It s shrt, catchy, easy t spell and easy t remember. DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! Gt it? I thught s. Nw, all yu have t d is remember DO IT! and think abut what each letter stands fr. That can help yu think abut hw t make a decisin. Dn t wrry, yu will g thrugh what each letter means s yu can be sure t remember it. Why bther? Well, a lt f Other Peple are ging t be MAKING DECISIONS abut yur future at the transitin planning meeting. Yu remember that, dn t yu, transitin planning... THE TRANSITION PLANNING PROCESS...is a bridge t yur future. Transitin skills are things yu need t knw t get frm ne pint in yur life t anther. It is like walking acrss a bridge frm schl t the adult wrld. 79

2 Never mind, I dn t want t knw. If yu dn t have ne, g back t yur cach Transitin planning is building that bridge. Transitin planning means making decisins abut what yu need t learn t be successful as an adult. That s what Whse Future Is It Anyway?is all abut. If yu really want t take mre cntrl planning yur future, if yu really want t take mre cntrl in yur IEP and transitin planning prcess, if yu really want t mve away frm hme, get a gd jb and have mney...well, yu gtta learn t make decisins. Or, yu can live at hme with yur parents frever with n mney. Or wrk in a real bring jb fr n mney. And never g t cncerts r mvies. It s yur chice. I thught s. OK. Back t DO IT! and get anther ne. Take a gd lk at this thing. Lts f decisins t be made here, that s fr sure. And imprtant nes t...like where yu re gnna live, wrk and play. Only the mst imprtant decisins in yur life! Yu really ught t be invlved in these. All right, let s chse an area where decisins are ging t be made abut yur future. Yu lked at these areas back in SESSION 5. Remember, thse desired utcmes, what yu expect t happen? Like, if yu crank yur stere up put in a CD and press play, the music will play real lud. Remember that IEP r transitin flder yu lked at befre? Great, get that ut again. What? Dn t have it? Lst it? Dg ate it? Dg did what t it? What was yur dg ding in yur ntebk? And yur dad will cme and yell at yu t turn it dwn. Remember the utcmes yu expect when yu graduate? 80

3 An emplyment utcme is what yu expect t d abut wrk. A residential r living utcme is where yu expect t live. At hme, with a rmmate, in a huse r an apartment. A pst-secndary utcme is what yu expect t d abut mre schl after yu graduate. Like ging t cllege r vcatinal schl, r just taking classes t learn smething yu want t knw mre abut. A recreatin r leisure utcme is what yu expect t d with yur free time (and mney!). Like exercising, ding sprts, traveling r ging t mvies. Define yur prblem Outline yur ptins Identify the utcme f each ptin Take actin! Get excited Right, Define yur prblem. This means figure ut what yu have t make yur decisin abut. Nt a prblem, like what happens when yu accidentally drp yur dad s cellular phne, shattering it t sixty pieces. A prblem like figuring ut what yu want t d. Or, in this case, where yu want t live? Sunds simple, right? I mean, yu dn t need a whle step in this prcess t say yu want t figure ut where yu will live. Right? Nthing is ever simple. Especially decisins abut yur life. There is a lt t think abut. T much t think abut. I get a headache just thinking abut thinking abut it. OK, what yu are ging t get t d is t learn better decisin-making using ne f these utcmes: residential and living. Ready? What is step 1 in decisin-making? That s why yu have t define yur prblem. There are a lt f things that yu need t make decisins abut. T cme t a gd decisin, yu need t be able t say very clearly what yu are making yur decisin abut. S, step 1 is t learn t state yur prblem very clearly. Yu shuld prbably write it dwn r say it ut lud. In this case, it is pretty easy: 81

4 I am ging t make a decisin abut where I might want t live when I graduate frm schl. See, this is clear. Nw, step 2 is t Outline yur ptins. Yu ve figured ut what yu want t make a decisin abut. Nw it s time t lk at yur ptins in making that decisin and get infrmatin abut each ptin. Outline. That means t make a list. Optins. That means all the things yu can chse frm. Why d we need ptins? They may be called yur alternatives. They help us cmpare things that we want, s we get the things that are mst imprtant t us. S the next step is t cme up with a list f the different things yu culd chse frm when making yur decisin. T d that yu will need t get sme infrmatin. Which ptins yu cme up with depends n... well, it depends n yu! Why? Because yu are unique. Lk at these tw peple. Bth are ging t make decisins abut where they want t live after they graduate. Rsita grew up in a small twn near the Gulf. When she was grwing up, her family lived in ne huse that had been her grandparents' hme befre. She had hrses and was respnsible fr grming them daily. There were always a lt f peple living with them...grandparents, aunts, uncles, brthers, sisters, cusins. The huse was big enugh that there was always enugh rm. Rsy really liked t g t the beach nt far frm her hme s that she culd swin, fish, gather shells and just hang ut. She really culdn t imagine living anyplace where she culdn t hear the waves. She rides a bus t a schl in a nearby twn and when she graduates she thinks she wants t wrk at a feed and tackle stre in her hmetwn. Andrew s family was in the military Everyne is different. Even if tw peple are ging t make a decisin abut the same thing, like where t live, they might have very different ptins. Right... based n individual needs, preferences and abilities. and he has lived in ten different states. Since his parents' divrce he has lived with his mm in an apartment near dwntwn. It s a nice place, tw bedrms, just enugh fr the tw 82

5 f them. There is an elevatr and the drs are wide enugh t accmmdate his wheelchair. He ges t schl right dwn the street and after schl wrks at the grcery stre ne blck ver. He spends a lt f time at the basketball curt with schl buddies. He thinks he wants t wrk selling stuff in stres because he likes peple, but is sure he wants t have his wn place sn. Nw, think abut it. Will Rsy want t live in an apartment in a large city when she graduates? Andrew prbably isn t ging t g lking fr a large huse with lts f land because he wants t mve ut quickly and prbably can t affrd mre than an apartment. Yu see hw many things there are t lk at. That s why yu need t think abut yur ptins. Even if yu think yu knw what yu want, there are still a lt f ptins. Fr example, if yu think yu want t live in an apartment, yu still have a lt f ptins t think abut. D yu want a ne r twbedrm apartment? Upstairs r dwnstairs? In what part f twn? Fireplace r nt? See, nthing in life is ever simple! What kinds f places t live might be in Rsy s twn? Hw will Rsy handle a rmmate? What kind f place t live might be gd fr Andrew? What will he need t think f when he mves t accmmdate fr the use f his wheelchair? Will he want t stay in the same city? Of curse, yu can t answer all these questins. Only Rsy and Andrew can. But yu can tell that the ptins abut where t live will be very different fr each f them. Rsy prbably wn t even bther t think abut living in a high-rise apartment building because they dn t have thse in her twn. Plus, she s lived in a ranch huse with lts f rm, land and peple all her life. That s why yu need t Outline yur ptins. The way t d this is t start by thinking f a lt f ptins and thrw ut the nes yu are abslutely sure yu dn t want. Like, if I asked yu t lk at these fur things and tell me which tw are alike, what is the first thing yu wuld d? Right, yu wuld thrw ut the aardvark. The aardvark desn t belng because it s nt a persn! Yu thrw it ut because it just desn t fit! It desn t match what yu re lking fr. Well, the first thing yu shuld try t d in utlining yur ptins is t thrw ut all 83

6 yur aardvarks the things that just dn t fit what yu want. That means t thrw ut all the things yu are psitive yu dn t want t d. Like Rsy wuld thrw ut living in a high rise apartment. The Outline yur ptins exercise lets yu think thrugh what things yu want t keep n yur list. Check next t all the answers that seem best fr yu. When yu finish, yu will have a better idea abut the things yu have t chse frm. This gives yu a place t start. Yu dn t have t cme up with a final decisin. Just wrk thrugh sme f yur thughts. Outline yur ptins Where yu want t live in the same city r twn where I live nw. in a different city r twn. Write the name f the city r twn: Wh yu want t live with: alne with my family with rmmate(s) What kind f place yu want t live in: an apartment a huse. a trailer a drmitry Hw yu will pay fr where yu live: rent lease buy What yu will need t be near: relatives wrk shpping transprtatin leisure activities wrship schl restaurants exercise ther Nw, use this t thrw ut yur aardvarks the things that just dn t fit what yu want. Thse are the areas yu did nt check. The next step is t get infrmatin n things that are left. That s why yu threw ut the nes yu weren t interested in. Why waste a lt f time getting infrmatin yu are abslutely nt ging t use, right? 84

7 Take a lk at what yu checked. On mine, I thught an apartment in the same city I live in nw wuld be a gd plan. I will need a rmmate, t be near a bus stp, and and a grcery stre. S, I need sme infrmatin abut apartments. Later n yu will learn mre abut the resurces in yur cmmunity t help yu get infrmatin. Fr nw, where culd I get infrmatin abut apartments and rmmates? Well, I knew a business that helps peple find apartments. I made an appintment t see smene there and tld them that I wanted an apartment near stres and a bus stp. The apartment-finder wanted t knw hw much I wanted t spend a mnth and I tld him what I had in mind and that I was ging t get a rmmate. He tld me abut six different apartment cmplexes that might be what I wanted. I gt sme brchures abut each ne and a map f where they were lcated. I went hme and started a list f the apartment cmplexes. I listed their name and where they were lcated. A gd start, but I ve still gt sme wrk t d. Take the rest f yur time and cme up with a list f ptins fr where yu might want t live. Yur list may be a lt different frm mine. Unique, remember? Yu might nt have the time t g ut and get all the infrmatin yu need. But, yu can talk t peple wh can supprt yu as yu make this list. Talk with a teacher, parent r neighbr abut ptins yu might have. They can prbably help yu cme up with a list. Okay. Let s lk at what yu ve cvered this sessin. Yu lked mre clsely at the D prcess. Yu learned that step 1 in the prcess was t D the prblem that yu had. Yu saw that defining yur prblem meant figuring ut what yu want t make a d abut. Yu learned that step 2 in the prcess was t O yur ptins. Yu fund ut that utline means make a l and ptins are the things yu c frm. Yu figured ut which yu culd thrw ut immediately. They just dn t fit what I want! 85

8 Yu learned that t utline yur ptins yu had t get i abut the different ptins yu might be lking at. Yu saw that everyne is an individual and everyne s ptins will be d. Finished talking with peple wh culd help yu cme up with a list f ptins abut where yu might live when yu graduate. Cmpare ptins and decide what is mst imprtant t yu. Made a list f all these ptins n a sheet f paper. Okay. S that s it fr nw. Befre the next sessin, yu shuld have: Later. 86

9 Sessin 8 Summary Sheet Steps 1 & 2 f D It! WHOSE FUTURE GOAL 6: Yu will learn t make decisins using DO IT! Yu lked mre clsely at the DO IT! prcess. Yu learned that step 1 in the prcess was t Define the prblem that yu had. Yu saw that defining yur prblem meant figuring ut what yu want t make a decisin abut. Yu learned that step 2 in the prcess was t Outline yur ptins. Yu fund ut that utline means make a list and ptins are the things yu chse frm. Yu figured ut which ptins yu culd thrw ut immediately. Yu learned that t utline yur ptins yu had t get infrmatin abut the different ptins yu might be lking at. Yu saw that everyne is an individual and everyne s ptins will be different. 87

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