Transition into Adult

Question 1

What is Transition?

Answer 1

Successful Transition Involves:

• —Self-Determination
• —Financial independence
• —Living arrangements
• —Community Mobility
• —Peer relationships
• —Self-esteem

Successful Transition Requires:

• —Employment opportunities
• —Post-secondary education opportunities
• —Living opportunities
• —Financial and income opportunities
• —Friendship & socialization
• —Transportation
• —Health & medical access
• —Legal and advocacy access

IDEA:
Individual Transition Plan (ITP)

• —IEP team must consider a student’s transition-related needs by age 14 and have an ITP plan in place by age 16
• —Linkage to community agencies needs to be initiated (vocational rehabilitation agencies, sheltered workshops, etc.)
• —A Collaborative team (school personnel, the student & family, agencies) works to develop the plan as part of IDEA

Question 2

What is transition and what is the best practice in transition planning?

Answer 2

• —Early, paid work experience
• —Student involvement in transition planning
• —Development of student social competence
• —Development of Life skills
• —Use of assistive technology
• —Interdisciplinary and interagency collaboration
• —Identify student desired outcomes after graduation
• —Coordinate activities/strategies to lead to desired outcomes while student is still in school
• —Link to community resources
• —Create alternatives if original programming, service or supports don’t work out
• —Involve student in IEP planning process
• —What are students transition goals? (Future plans)
• —What is student able to do now? (Current level of function)
• —What does the student need to learn to do to reach level of performance needed to reach transition goal? (Student Needs)
• —Who, what, when, where, who?
• —Personnel Responsibility for implementation of the transition plan (Characteristics of services)

Question 3

What is involved in the ITP?

Answer 3

—IDEA Transition Plan

• Parent & student input & participation
• —Interest inventories and interviews
• —Curriculum-based standardized testing
• —Vocational assessments
• —Assistive technology assessments
• —Behavioral observations & Personality scales
• —Situational assessment in home, school, community
• —Life skills inventory
• —Aptitude tests
• —Employability skill inventories
• —Awareness of accommodations needed because of disability (civil rights according to ADA & section 504)

Question 4

What are the legal policies that support students in transition to adult life?

Answer 4

• —IDEA & transition planning
• —Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
• —Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)