This document provides guidance for developing transition plans to support students moving from school to adult life. It outlines key aspects to consider including a student's strengths, dreams, needs, goals and the services and activities needed to accomplish their plan. It stresses connecting transition goals to a student's IEP and drawing on both school and community resources. Building a strong network of community support is also emphasized. The transition plan should be reviewed at least yearly and the process benefits all students.

1. TRANSITION
FROM
SCHOOL TO
ADULT LIFE
MARY ALYSSA G. BOTIN

2. DEVELOP PLANS BASED
ON STUDENTS
STRENGTHS, DREAMS AND
NEEDS

3. Strengths
 refers to a student’s
personal qualities,
skills, interests, and
preferences.

4.  Strengths-based approach
is an alternative to
traditional models of
planning and assessment,
which tend to focus on
identifying student’s areas
of weaknesses in an effort
to remediate them and
teach new skills.

5.  Strengths-based
planning focuses on
what a student CAN
do rather than on
what he cannot do.

6. Dreams
 refer to what a
student wants to
achieve both
during and after
high school.

7.  Dreams may be related to any of
the following:
◦ Study
◦ Employment
◦ Postsecondary education
◦ Vocational training
◦ Independent living
◦ Relationships
◦ Community participation
◦ Personal interests

9. Needs
 refer to the skills and
opportunities that a
student requires in order
to live in the community
and wishes to acquire in
order to pursue his
dreams.

10. CONNECT TRANSITION
GOALS TO OTHER GOALS
IN YOUR STUDENTS’ IEP

11. Strengths
Dreams
Needs

12. Goals/Objectives
Services
Activities

13. How are we going
to accomplish this
plan?

14.  (1) Develop a list of long-
range transition goals that
articulate the student’s
dreams related to the
areas of employment,
postsecondary or
vocational education,
independent living, health,
relationships, community
participation, or personal

15.  (2) The rest of the IEP
and transition team
including you should
decide what “needs” to
occur in the coming year
in order to move the
student closer to his
long-term transition
goals.

16.  (3) The IEP team can
then use these
decisions to inform and
identify annual IEP
goals and related
transition activities that
are appropriate for the
students.

17. ALL educational goals, activities,
and services should support a
student’s progress toward his
transition goals and dreams.

18. HELP STUDENTS DRAW ON
A RANGE OF SCHOOL AND
COMMUNITY RESOURCES

19. Guideline #6
 student’s transition plan
should include a variety
of transition-related
objectives and activities
that tap into school and
community resources.

20. For example
 obtaining part-time and/or summer
employment
 receiving training and supports related
to finding and maintaining employment
 participating in consumer and vocational
training
 obtaining driver license
 learning how to manage finances and
live independently
 Participating in community recreational
activities

21. BUILD A STRONG
NETWORK OF SUPPORT IN
THE COMMUNITY

22. Network
 refers to people who
care about the student,
live and/or work in her
community, and are
willing to support her
during and after high
school

23. What do you think are the
reasons why it is important to
build a strong network of
community support around
students with disability?

24. 1.
Students who are
connected to a
community network are
more likely to have
experiences and
opportunities available to
them.

25. 2.
People in a student’s
network may also
become friends who will
help him to develop other
friendships and to
participate in recreational
activities in the

26.  You can help a student build a
network of community support
by asking community members
who the student and her family
know to attend IEP and
transition-planning meetings to
help with brainstorming ideas
for possible employment,
living, and/or recreational
opportunities.

27.  You can also help build a
student’s network of
support by involving
community members in
specific activities listed
on his transition plan.

28.  You may want to
encourage students to join
local organizations or clubs
of interests, youth or adult
advocacy groups,
community services groups,
or groups affiliated with
places of worship.

29. REVIEW THE PLAN AT
LEAST ONCE A YEAR

30. The annual review of the IEP and
transition plan provides your team
members with a natural
opportunity to give feedback on
the student’s progress in
achieving annual transition goals
and objectives, as well as to
consider whether team members
need to clarify or revise the goals
they developed at the outset of
transition planning.

31.  To deal with these changes, it is
common for teams to invite adult
services providers to transition-
planning meetings during the student’s
final 2 years of high school.
 You can help the annual review
meeting become a time of celebration
by inviting the student and other team
members to tell stories of the student’s
accomplishments during the past year.

32. REMEMBER THAT
TRANSITION PLANNING
BENEFITS ALL STUDENTS

33. A growing movement in public
education stresses focusing on
the school-to-adult life transition
of ALL students.
 The federal government
responded by passing the School-
to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994
(PL 103-239) and by making
related policies and practices in
education that focus on school and
work based learning opportunities.

34. Educators in today’s schoolsare
beginning to realize that expanding
curriculum and collaborating with the
community leads to the development
of a community that supports its
schoolsand its school system.