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Background
Transition happens many times in your child’s life. It happens any time your student moves from one stage of life to the next. When it comes to the IEP, however, “transition” addresses a specific life stage and puts a plan in place for how the student will make that move. Transition in the IEP helps the student move from public school to post graduation and adult life. What will the student do after high school? Will the student work? Will the student attend college, vocational school, or some other post-secondary training? What supports will the student need? Who will provide the supports?
Whether your child is in pre-school, junior high, or high school, it is neither too early nor too late to think about life after high school. We talk in more depth about the future in our section entitled “The Future is Coming”. We know that thinking about the future can be scary, but the outcomes when you don’t think about it are far more frightening!
Previous versions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) required that the ARD committee develop an Individual Transition Plan (ITP), which was separate from IEP development. The plan included transition services when the student turned 14 years of age. Currently the law requires transition services to be included, as part of the IEP as a child turns 16.This fact does not mean you cannot begin earlier, and perhaps you should! Many students will graduate at 18, and 2 years may not be enough time to get the kinds of plans and supports in place he or she is likely to need. Remember, students begin planning their high school courses of study in their 7th or 8th grade year in order to ensure they have the right courses needed to go on to college or work. It should not be any different for students with disabilities.
According to IDEA, the IEP must:
- Be based upon completed, age appropriate, transition assessments.
- Include coordinated, measurable, annual,postsecondary goals (this is an outcome, not a process, that will occur after the student leaves high school - after graduation related to:
- training, education: for a specific vocational or career field, apprenticeship, on the job training, 2-4 year college/university, Voc-Tech programs;
- employment: this can be paid (competitive, supported or sheltered), unpaid (internship), military, and
- where appropriate, independent living skills (adult living, daily living, financial, transportation, etc)
- Transition services (including courses of study) needed to assist the student in reaching those goals.
The measurable, post secondary goals must include education/training and employment. They can be combined into one goal or listed as separate outcomes for each area. Post secondary goals for independent living are optional (where appropriate.) The post secondary goals should be measurable for intended outcomes one year after they graduate from high school (Indicator 14). For example:
- After high school, Rachel will attend Texas A&M University in the teacher education program.
- After high school, Bill will participate in the Reach Adult day training program with appropriate staff with one to one support.
- After high school, Jan will open a small business creating jewelry.
Initially (if you start early), your student’s goal could be based on a vision of what he or she might like to do. This vision expressed in a written statement in the IEP encourages the student to focus on career exploration and assessment of strengths, preferences and interests. As the student and ARDC meet annually, the post secondary goal can change or become more refined.
The 2004 reauthorization of IDEA requires states to report data relating to transition. Specifically data is collected on students ages 16 & above who have IEPs that include coordinated, measurable, annual IEP goals and transition services. That information is then reported to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) through the State Performance Plan and Annual Performance Report. The National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center has developed an Indicator 13 Checklist that will help you evaluate whether your child’s IEP meets the transition requirements.
What Parents Need to Know
Planning for your child’s transition from high school is really a life-long process. Every ARD meeting you attend should have an eye to the future, to the possibilities for your child, to what the adult world has to offer and will require. Unfortunately, that’s not always what happens; it’s easy for transition planning to become just another checkbox in the ARD meeting. As the parent, you can help ensure that transition planning is all that it should be.
That being said, let’s look at what transition planning is supposed to be:
- It is an integral part of the overall IEP. It is not a separate document or a separate process.
- Transition planning should consider all aspects of life after high school as possibilities for the student. There is a wide range of options. You may have to think creatively to make some of them a reality for your student, but be careful not to let any disability issues keep you from considering all the choices. Among those options: post-secondary education (4-year University, community college, vocational training, adult education), adult services, employment, self-employment, community life, volunteer opportunities, and independent living. What does the student want to do after high school? What do ARD team members envision? As the parent, what is your vision for your child?
- The student should always be involved in transition planning to the greatest extent possible. Preparing for transition is an important time to work on self-advocacy skills (introducing and advocating for oneself) and to get ready mentally and emotionally for life after high school.
- Adult services representatives should be included in the planning process. This might include a representative from DARS (Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services), the Social Security Administration, Adult Services agencies and/or a Center for Independent Living Center. DARS has recently hired many counselors who are responsible for working with area high school students planning for transition.
- Transition planning is exactly what it says…planning. The ARD committee comes to a shared vision with the student and his/her family and creates a plan for getting there. Those plans become reality through the goals and objectives written into the IEP as transition services.
What do we mean by Transition Services? The law (CFR §300.43) says transition services must be in the form of a coordinated set of activities for a student with a disability that:
- Is designed to be results-oriented (This means the services are intended to get results!)
- Is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the student. (Academics are an important part of the student’s school experience – not just functional or daily life skills.)
- Is designed to facilitate the student’s movement from school to post-school activities (the services will lead to the next steps after school.)
- Is based on the student’s individual needs.
- Takes into account the student’s strengths, preferences and interests.
- Includes instruction, related services, community experiences and the development of employment and post-school adult living objectives.
- When appropriate, can include acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation. Daily living skills are not necessarily appropriate for every student. Students should experience academic opportunities all the way up to graduation.
What in the world does all that mean for your child? Here is the bottom line: Transition services will be most useful for those who truly have post-secondary goals; in other words, when you have an idea where you are headed you are better prepared to know what you need. So let’s take it from there.
What will the adult world look like for your child? Know that the environments and supports you create for your child in elementary, junior high and high school will determine the kinds of environments and supports that child will need in the adult world. The sooner you can build self-advocacy, independence, social skills, and relationships with others, the more likely an adult life in the community will become.
Given that understanding, you can use the transition planning process to work actively on skills your son or daughter will need in those adult settings. What classes are offered at the high school that can develop independent living skills? Remember, you do not have to look to the special education department for these opportunities; many high schools offer classes in cooking, money management, and other related skill building classes. Additionally, what IEP goals can be written to provide specific skills and growth opportunities? Do the IEP goals and the courses the student is taking help them move toward their Post Secondary goal? If yes, then keep the class/course and IEP goals. If not, perhaps you need to rethink the classes the student is taking or the goals in the IEP.
Far too many students graduate to their living room couch, where their worlds become lonely and limited. Transition to the adult world is what you and your child make it. Look ahead to the future and make a plan!
Resources:
Transition Planning In Federal Law – IDEA, State Law & Rule (pdf)
Measurable Post Secondary Goals (pdf) from The Advocacy Institute
Visual Transition Plan (pdf) – Thank you to whoever provided us with this document.
Transition in Texas The Statewide HS Transition Network – Region 11 Education Service Center
TEA & Texas Agrilife Extension Services – Career and Technical Special Populations Training & Resource Center – Instructional videos on Career & Technical Education, Educational Resource Library, parent resources
National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC) – Learn more about Age Appropriate transition assessments, Indicator 13 checklists, Student Focused Planning lessons and much more.
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) – Transition to Adulthood
National Center on Secondary Education & Transition (NCSET)
NCSET's Website for Youth - Dynamic curriculum based tool to help young adults plan
National Alliance for Secondary Education & Transition (NASET)
University of Montana - Rural Institute's Transition Project – Learn more about customized employment, self employment, etc.
Health Care Transitions – Activities & resources designed to make teens with special health care needs take charge of their own health care.
IRIS Star Legacy Training Modules – Facilitating Transition for Students with Disabilities from HS to Post School Settings
Imagine Enterprises – Self Determination, Transition, Employment
Revolutionary Common Sense Articles used with permission of Kathie Snow, Disability Is Natural:
- Beyond High School: College & More!
- Going for the Gold: Self-Employment
- On Becoming a Business Owner
- Go Beyond Goals: Think Outcomes!
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