Transition Services

The completion of high school is the beginning of adult life. Entitlement to public education ends, and young people and their families are faced with many options and decisions about the future. The most common choices for the future are pursuing vocational training or further academic education, getting a job, and living independently.

For students with disabilities, these choices may be more complex and may require a great deal of planning. Planning the transition from school to adult life begins, at the latest, during high school. In fact, transition planning is required, by law, to start once a student reaches 14 years of age, or younger, if appropriate. This transition planning becomes formalized as part of the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Transition services are intended to prepare students to make the transition from the world of school to the world of adulthood. In planning what type of transition services a student needs to prepare for adulthood, the IEP Team considers areas such as postsecondary education or vocational training, employment, independent living, and community participation. The transition services themselves are a coordinated set of activities that are based on the student's needs and that take into account his or her preferences and interests. Transition services can include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other post- school adult living objectives, and (if appropriate) the acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational assessment.

The student and his or her family are expected to take an active role in preparing the student to take responsibility for his or her own life once school is finished. Where once school provided a centralized source of education, guidance, transportation, and even recreation, after students leave school, they will need to organize their own lives and needs and navigate among an array of adult service providers and federal, state, and local programs. This can be a daunting task one for which the student and his or her family need to be prepared.

This Transition Summary provides ideas and information on how students, families, school personnel, service providers, and others can work together to help students make a smooth transition. In particular, this document focuses on creative transition planning and services that use all the resources that exist in communities, not just the agencies that have traditionally been involved. This publication also provides:

* definitions of some terms used in transition planning,

* lists of individuals and agencies that can help the IEP Team create a successful transition plan,

* guides to finding the groups and agencies that provide transition services,

* examples of creative transition plans, and

* ways to improve the transition system by working at the community level.

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Brief Legal Overview*

If students are to mature into independent, productive adults and become increasingly responsible for their actions and accomplishments, they need to acquire the skills that are of value in the world of adulthood. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) acknowledges this and contains provisions meant to encourage student involvement and shared decision making.

Since 1990, transition services have been a requirement of law for students who are 16 years or older, or younger if deemed appropriate by the IEP Team. The services are planned at the IEP meeting to which students must be invited. Thus, the 1990 IDEA legislation provided students with an enormous new opportunity to be involved in planning their own education, to look into the future, to voice their preferences and concerns and desires, to be heard, to share in making decisions that so directly affect them.

Now, under the latest reauthorization of the IDEA in 1997 (IDEA 97), this involvement has been expanded. In addition to transition services beginning at age 16, a statement of transition service needs is required at age 14. At this time, and updated annually thereafter, the IEP Team looks at the child's courses of study (such as advanced placement courses or vocational education programs) and determines whether or not those courses of study are leading the student to where the student needs to be upon graduation. What other courses might be indicated, given the student's goals for life after secondary school? Beginning to plan at age 14, with an eye to necessary coursework, is expected to help students plan and prepare educationally. Then, at age 16, or younger if appropriate, transition services are delivered in a wide range of areas.

IDEA 97 has also outlined procedures for the transfer of parental rights to the student when he or she reaches the age of majority under State law. Both the parents and the student must be notified of any transfer of rights that will take place at that time. Students are to receive the notification at least one year before they reach the age of majority. A statement must be included in the IEP that the student has been informed of the rights, if any, that will transfer to the student on reaching the age of majority. After the student attains the age of majority, if rights transfer, the school must provide any notice required by the law (e.g., procedural safeguards notice, notice regarding an upcoming IEP meeting) to both