You will assist the student in identifying Plans for Adult Life.  These are their dreams for what they hope to be doing after leaving public K-12 school. There must be a plan noted under Training/Education as well as Employment.  You should also identify one or more plans under Independent Living if the student has needs in that area.   There are pull down menus on the Transition to Adult Life page for transition plans, which may include:

Training/Education:

• Attend two-year college
• Attend training school

Employment- to be employed in:

• Agriculture
• Education

Independent Living

• Rent an apartment
• Drive a car
• Supported living

   It is important to remember that there must be at least one Annual Goal associated with each of the plans for adult life.

As a Special Education Case Manager, you will conduct transition assessments In preparation for the IEP meeting. These assessments should be updated every year.  Although you may administer the same assessment again, you may also choose to administer different assessments, or review the results from the prior year and reflect with the student if they still seem accurate. You must have done assessment in the areas of career interests and skills related to employment.  Interests are those areas in which the student thinks they might like to work, and skills are their attributes and abilities for employment.  If there is a strong nexus between a student's interests and skills, they are most likely to be successful in that career field.  It is your responsibility to provide counseling to assist the student in identifying areas of employment that are of interest to them in which they are most likely to be successful

In addition, if the student has needs in the area of independent living, you should conduct assessment in that area as well.

You will note the transition assessments that you administered to the student at the top of the Transition to Adult Life page. 

Many districts offer Vocational Assessment to all students in certain grades.  It is fine to use these assessments as one measure of transition assessment, as long as there is assessment in both career interests  and skills. 

 See the tab at left for a list of many Transition Assessments

There is a Transition Counseling Worksheet that can be used to work with a student in developing all of the components of Transition Planning:

• Transition Counseling Worksheet (Annotated with notes for what to say while administaring)
• Transition Counseling Worksheet (Not Annotated)

You will develop Annual Goals to assist the student in making progress toward their Transition Plans.  There must be at least one in Training/Education and one in Employment.  There may be additional goals in the area of Independent Living.  In general, students with more significant cognitive impairments will need Independent Living goals to assist them in achieving independentce as adults.  However, students with less significant disabilities may benefit from independent living goals in budgeting, banking, driving a car, etc.  The goals will be noted on the Annual Goals pages of the IEP.

It is important that the transition goals evolve and become more specific as the student enters their final years in school.  For example, as a freshman, they may have a goal for online exploration of careers.  But once they have identified one or more careers of interest, in subsequent years they should have opportunities for more indepth experiences such as watching videos on careers and comparing them to each other, researching prerequisite skills for chosen careers, interviewing someone in a career field, a limited job shadow or intership, or an actual volunteer or employment experience. 

You will report progress on transition goals to parents at the same intervals in which you report progress on other IEP goals. If there is difficulty in obtaining an transition goal, the IEP team should reconvene to discuss the barriers and come up with a solution.

Examples of goals might be:

Training/Education:

• Exlpore technical schools in area of interest
• Visit a local community college
• Apply for Financial Aid

Employment:

• Explore careers on line and their prerequisite skills
• Participate in a job shadow in a job of interest
• Create a resume

Independent Living:

• Read a bus schedule
• Complete a monthly budget
• Practice completing rent application

Handbooks with resources for developing IEP goals for transition:

Working with students with autism?  Here's a booklet with checklists and ideas for transition goals: Transition Resources for Diploma- Bound Students with Autism

Working with students with mild/moderate disabilities?  Here is a booklet with checklists and ideas for transition goals: Training and Education for Adults with Moderate/Severe Disabilities Resource Guide