Direct Services • Indirect Services

Transition

Planning and the IEP

Introduction

Transition Steps
College and Career Planning (pdf)
Download the entire Transitions Manual(pdf)

Transition planning when it works right, will enable a student to exit high school directly into a well thought out and prepared-for plan for adult life. Depending on the student's needs, what follows high school may be college, a job, or some other alternative. Without a sound transition plan in place, a disabled student is at a high risk for falling through the cracks and becoming one of the large portion of disabled students who do not go on to be as successful as the general population. A good plan keeps the learning and growing momentum going - and without a good transition plan the exiting student's progress may stop and the student may never fully recover.

One of education's most important goals - arguably its most important goal, is to prepare students for successful adult life and because transition planning is so crucial in determining success for students with disabilities, the IEP process needs to be closely tied to the transition plan. Transition planning should therefore not be viewed as a requirement or an afterthought of an IEP, rather, it should be the starting point of the IEP and the transition plan should be the foundation from which the IEP is developed.

Transition Steps