Transition Services for Students with Significant Disabilities in College and Community Settings - 14413

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Traditionally, students with significant disabilities, such as autism, intellectual disabilities, 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 foundation for designing, implementing, and evaluating transition services for students with significant disabilities in a college or community setting. 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 chapters:
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.
II: Implementation describes in detail how to implement new transition services, focusing both on the policy and procedural aspects of service delivery, and the daily operations entailed in providing such services. A thorough overview of issues such as staffing, referrals, transportation, and budgets is provided. Also emphasized in chapter II is the need for matching the college or community setting to the student's learning needs. Examples of managing scheduling student supports and monitoring student and staff activities are provided.
III: Evaluation describes a variety of methods to evaluate transition services, such as compiling data on student and staff activities, gauging participant satisfaction, collecting exit data, and conducting follow-up activities.

Each form is available in the Additional Resources in Microsoft Excel format. Users can modify each form to meet individual needs, fill out and update forms via the computer, attach and e-mail forms to others, and maintain digital 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 using a fictional public school system. Each example included is based upon the 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 for school personnel, families, and students involved with transition services.