PRO-ED Series on Transition

Traditionally,
students with significant disabilities, such as autism, mental
retardation, or multiple disabilities, receive transition services in a
public high school setting until they are 21 or 22 years old. While this
is an appropriate setting for students with disabilities during ages
14-18, it may not be the most appropriate or motivating setting for
older students with significant disabilities. Growing numbers of
parents, researchers, and practitioners are advocating that these older
students should receive transition services in the same college and
community settings that are experienced by their 19-21 year old peers
without disabilities.

This user-friendly book provides a base for
those who design, implement, or evaluating transition services for
students with significant disabilities in a college or community
setting. If you've never had experience in these processes, this book
will help you get started. Transition services provided in college and
community settings benefit these older students by increasing their
access to new environments and activities and by providing opportunities
for flexible scheduling and interagency collaboration.

The book has three parts:

• Part I:
  Planning and Development - provides a comprehensive overview of steps
  necessary to identify the need for and create new transition services.
  These steps include how to create and convene a planning committee, how
  to conduct needs assessment activities on current student services and
  community partnerships, and how to plan for new services or programs
  outside of the high school.
• Part III:
  Evaluation - overviews a variety of methods used to evaluate transition
  services, such as compiling data on student and staff activities,
  gauging participant satisfaction, collecting exit data, and conducting
  follow-up activities.
• Part II:
  Implementation - describes in detail how to implement new transition
  services, focusing both on the policy and procedural aspects of service
  delivery, as well as the daily operations entailed in providing such
  services. A thorough overview of issues such as staffing, referrals,
  transportation, and budgets is provided. Also, Part II emphasizes the
  need for matching college or community setting to the students' learning
  needs. Examples of how to manage scheduling student supports and
  monitoring student and staff activities are provided.

Each
part contains reproducible copies of all blank forms that can be used
by readers. In addition, each form is available on the accompanying
CD-ROM in Microsoft Excel format. Users can modify each form to meet
individual needs, fill out and update forms via the computer, attach and
email forms to others, and maintain computer records of their planning,
implementation, and evaluation efforts. The authors have created a
number of profiles to illustrate how strategies suggested in this book
could be implemented by a fictional public school system. Each example
included is based upon real experiences incurred with school system
personnel involved in this process. A list of references helps those
interested in learning more about this form of transition service
delivery. This is a helpful resource that school personnel, families,
and students involved with transition services really need and can use.

124 pages 8.5 x 11 softcover with CD/ROM 2005