The term 'Preparing for Adulthood' (PfA) describes the pathways in preparing young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and other additional support needs for adulthood, enabling them to gain the necessary independence skills to do so.
The Preparing for Adulthood process begins with the Year 9 Annual Review at age 14. This is when your EHC plan will be amended to incorporate the PfA outcomes which focus on the support you will need to prepare for becoming an adult and what you would like to achieve.
These outcomes, agreed with you, your parents, children's services and your school, are grouped under 4 key pathways which are:
- Education and employment: Options like internships, apprenticeships, self-employment, volunteering, college, and university.
- Independent living: Having choice and control over their lives, support, accommodation, and living arrangements.
- Friends, relationships and community: Building friendships, supportive relationships, and contributing to the community, keeping safe online and in the community, local youth and afterschool clubs.
- Good health and wellbeing: Managing health needs, health services, understanding emotional wellbeing, staying active, relationships and sexual health.
More details about the 4 key pathways
Employment
- School to help with a vocational profile from Year 9, and particularly important for this to start early for children with SEN in special schools
- Build on strengths and interests highlighted in vocational profile
- Consider potential apprenticeships
- Consider supported internships and or traineeship
- Develop skills for applying for jobs such as CV writing skills and preparing for interviews
- Understanding support from the council, from the council in finding a job and getting work experience
- Exploring potential voluntary work and work experience from Year 11
- Knowing how to access support from the Job Centre post-education
Good health and wellbeing
- Managing health needs, for example, asthma, eczema
- Immunisations (such as BCG)
- Nutrition and healthy eating
- Articulating pain or health problems
- Starting puberty, menstrual hygiene management
- Knowing when you need to see the GP
- Annual Health Check with GP if registered with a learning disability
- Annual health assessments for children looked after
- Understanding and managing emotional wellbeing and mental health
- Staying physically active and healthy
- Understanding relationships, including sexual relationships - choices, safety and good sexual health
- Managing more complex health needs e.g. diabetes
Independent living
- Being able to communicate needs with support, make choices and have control over the decisions that are made about care and support
- Cooking at school and at home and understanding money
- Practice shopping
- Moving around the school independently
- Travel training: transport and road signs, safety on the roads
- Understanding correspondence and bills
- Developing useful life skills such as self-care (bathing, brushing teeth, brushing hair etc.)
- Continuing to develop independent living skills as part of a study programme
- Sleepovers and residential trips
- Understanding consent, what is mental capacity and best interest decision making, who can help with this
- Organisational skills and managing time
- Learning to be safe in the home and in the community
- Understanding different types of living arrangements
- Actively planning for future living arrangements with family, social care and housing
Friends, relationships and community
- Accessing youth and after-school clubs
- Knowing the local area
- Understanding bullying
- Managing change
- Making decisions about how to spend free time
- Managing social media and other technology
- Online gaming and staying safe
- Building resilience
- Developing new friendships and supporting circles of friends in early years settings, schools and colleges.
- Personal budgets - how could they be spent post 16 to further support preparing for adulthood
- Keeping safe in the community and on the streets (being aware of grooming, abuse and exploitation)
- Knowing where to go for help and how to use the emergency services.
Contact the transitions team
If you need advice and support with this area please contact us.
- 020 8753 2080
- youngpeopleintransition@lbhf.gov.uk
- Emergencies outside office hours: 020 8748 8588