Do you have a child with autism or a learning disability that is 16 years or above, and still in high school? Do you worry about what will happen to your child when they graduate? The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), requires that each child with a disability, 16 years or above must have a transition plan. This article will discuss the 9 items that need to be included in a transition plan.

Transition Services means a coordinated set of activities, designed in a result oriented process that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of children with disabilities.

Below are the 9 important items that should be in a transition plan:

1. Transition Assessments: To determine needs, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and interests for post school outcomes. Also a functional vocational evaluation, if your child needs it.

2. Post Secondary Goals: These goals should be measurable and written in the areas of employment, post secondary education, post secondary training, and independent living skills.

3. Course of study related to child’s post school goals. This means that the classes a child takes need to be related to their post school goals. If your child will be going to college, they should be taking college preparation courses etc.

4. Instruction needed: Any particular instruction that your child needs, in order to meet their post school goals. This instruction could be vocational, could be academic, could be functional; just depending on your child’s needs and post school goals. Make sure any instruction, is written in your child’s IEP.

5. Related services needed: Any service that will help your child toward meeting their post school goals. For Example: Occupational therapy could be given to increase your child’s fine motor skills, to increase their chance of being employed.

6. Community Experiences: This is especially important for students with moderate to severe disabilities. They will learn how to grocery shop, department store shop, do banking, access recreation etc.

7. Development of Employment: Means working with the student, to help them learn skills so that they can be employable, after high school.

8. Daily Living Skills: Especially important for students with moderate to severe disabilities. These include; grooming, shopping, budgets, cooking, cleaning, recreation, bus riding if appropriate.

9. After graduation support services: List of agencies that will be involved with your child after graduation. Make sure that the agency is invited to your child’s last IEP meeting, to ensure a smooth transition.

By including all of these items in your child’s transition plan, the plan will be comprehensive, and will help your child become closer to meeting their post school goals.

By: JoAnn Collins