As your child becomes a teenager, it’s important to think about what happens after high school. Will they continue to receive special education services? Will they get a job? Will they live independently? Your child’s school will help you and your child set goals, make a plan, and get services to help them make progress toward those goals. This is called transition planning, and it starts during ninth grade.

What is the purpose of transition planning?

The transition planning process helps to:

• Identify your child’s goals, hopes, dreams, and interests. These goals may relate to education, employment, and independent living.
• Assess their current functioning.
• Identify areas where they need to gain skills to accomplish their goals.

What does the process look like?

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) team figures out what transition services your child needs. Some of them could be services they are already receiving or new services that were not available to your child before. Examples of transition services are:

• Classes at school or somewhere else. These may include the regular or special education that your child is already in or additional classes to help with life skills. For example, your child may need to take a class about how to use public transportation taught at a Center for Independent Living.
• Other services could include:
  • Services your child is already receiving such as speech therapy or assistive technology
  • Services from a social worker or other outside agency
  • Learning about money management or other financial skills
  • Work experience at school or at a business
  • Learning about healthy eating or other daily living skills
• If your child is planning to get a job, they may be eligible for Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS). These are services from a vocational rehabilitation (VR) program and may include:
  • Job exploration to figure out what they might be good at
  • Learning social skills that will help them be successful at work
  • Learning to advocate for themselves at work