Tommy’s “transition” plan is somewhat lacking. The school offered to do their part by giving him school credit for only attending half the day next year and spending the remainder of each day at a job site. We asked what job they would be teaching him. They looked at us like we were the ones in need of an IEP. “YOU go find him a job and YOU explain to his employers about his disability and YOU drive him to and from work every day. WE will give him school credit for doing it.” Ummm, yes I’m sure employers will jump for joy when we hand an application over and request a parent conference before the interview process begins. We continued to complain about how unprepared Tommy is to even apply for a job. Monday, I got an e-mail from Tommy’s teacher explaining that they did some job application “practicing” and if we wanted to see what Tommy wrote, we should just go to the grocery store’s website. “His screen name is drunkenmonkey and his password is nostrils.” What?!? Didn’t this learning process begin with a discussion of what you should and shouldn’t use as your online identity when applying for jobs? You practiced by actually applying for a job? Tommy was stunned and confused (new Led Zeppelin song title) when the grocery store called him yesterday to request an interview. He handed me the phone and asked me to call the store and handle it. Oh noooooo Mister I’m-ready-for-a-job-now. You can call the grocery store and deal with this yourself. At least we know one place he shouldn’t even bother applying now that he submitted an application with a stupid screen name when he wasn’t really interested. Burned that bridge without even crossing it. I feel so much better about his transition plan now.