Transition from School to Adult Life
for Students with Disabilities, Ages 14 - 22


What Is Transition Planning and What Does It Do For You?

It's never too early to begin identifying your skill and interest areas and thinking about how to best use them in your life after high school. Having ideas of what you want to do for a job or a career can help you decide what to do now to make it happen in the future.

Transition planning:

  • Begins at age 14 in Illinois and continues until you graduate or through age 21 (sometimes it may take longer for a student with a disability to complete all of their courses and also do their transition work)
  • Helps you prepare for life after high school
  • Helps you plan for and choose high school classes
  • Helps you decide what skills you need to develop to live in your community after high school
  • Gives you the chance to explore work and career options while still in high school
  • Helps you connect with education and training programs, colleges, support services, and employment services so that you can move on to life after high school
  • Helps you to learn about yourself, your interests, what works and what doesn't work in your life, what your skills and talents are, and who can help you reach your goals
  • Gives you information to use in your resume

There is a federal law that says what must happen in transition planning for youth still in school. It is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. You and your parent or guardian share your vision for life as an adult in the following areas:

  • Employment and/or career
  • Continued learning through college, adult education, vocational education, or community college
  • Life in your community including recreation and health care
  • Living options such as your own apartment, a college dormitory, or living in a shared home or apartment with supports.

Your dreams for your life in any or all of these areas can be used to make decisions about the classes you take while in high school to best prepare you and the supports you need to be successful now and when you move on to adult life.

Why Should You be Involved in Developing Your Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Transition Plan?

When you get involved in developing your IEP/transition plan you can:

  • Learn more about your strengths, abilities and skills
  • Learn more about your disability
  • Learn about accommodations and how to ask for what you need to be successful
  • Learn about your rights and how to speak for yourself
  • Learn to take charge of your life (skills like speaking up for yourself, making decisions and choices, clearly telling others what you need, social skills that help you get and keep jobs, and more)
  • Learn about your goals and what you want for your life now and in the future
  • Become more active in your own education and life plan

So don't wait until graduation or age 21 to think about what you want to do or you may:

  • sit at home with nothing to do
  • be stuck in a "dead end" job
  • wait...and wait...and wait for services from adult community service agencies
  • spend your days at a job training workshop earning far less than minimum wage and have little assistance in finding a "real" job

DO make a plan for yourself. DO ask your family, friends, neighbors, school teachers and counselors to help you along the way. Do use links here to get started. DO start thinking about the following things, and talk about them as your transition plan is written:

  • Your interests and hobbies
  • Your strengths and talents
  • Your work experiences (paid, volunteer, at home, at school, in
  • Positive personality traits (what you like about yourself and what others like about you)
  • Specific challenges you have and how you might deal with them
  • Supports you need to be successful

There are many web sites devoted to resources that can assist young adults who have a disability as they move into work and life beyond high school.

Here are web sites and resources that provide tools to get to know yourself better and make choices about what you want to do.

Access Living Youth Center
REAL information for your REAL life with a disability: dating, activism, getting news, disability pride, participating in Chicago events
http://www.alyouthinfo.org/index.html

Youthhood
At this site you can start thinking about what you want to do with the rest of your life. This Web site was built to help you plan for the future. What will you do after high school? Will you work? Go to college? Live in a place of your own? By using this Web site, you can plan for your future right now!
http://www.ncset.org/websites/youthhood.asp

National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability
This site has information and resources help students and families understand issues about youth with disabilities at work. Materials developed by NCWD/Youth talk about what young people need to be successful in the workplace. Information and resources:
http://www.ncwd-youth.info/who_Are_You/youth_and_Family/index.html
Questions and answers (separately for youth and families) to guide the growth of a young student into a young adult who is taking charge of his or her own life and actively pursuing interests.
http://www.ncwd-youth.info/resources_&_Publications/
hot_Topics/youth_Development/youth_family.shtml

Youthlink
Youthlink provides links to Youth in Action and the Global Youth Action Network. Youth in Action grows youth-led action within communities, and the Global Youth Action Network brings youth organizations together from around the world.
http://www.youthlink.org/

ARC of Illinois - Family Manual for Transition to Work and Adult Services
A manual you can print out with much information about resources, options, and steps to take at different ages to move from high school into the adult world.
http://www.thearcofil.org/advocacykits/index.asp

Illinois Lifespan Advocacy Information and Referral
Part of Illinois Lifespan's toolbox to help a young adult create a vision, speak for him or herself, and use current information and resources to pursue their dream. 1800-588-7002
http://www.illinoislifespan.org/toolbox/
transitionservices/index.asp

Think College
Search here for postsecondary education programs that support students with intellectual disabilities. Site also includes resources and a discussion board for students.
http://www.thinkcollege.net/

College Funding Strategies for Students with Disabilities
Article with options for paying for college, including scholarships, loans, and other means.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/
Brochures/Academics/financial-aid.html

DO-IT
Many capable individuals with disabilities face challenges as they pursue academics and careers. They are underrepresented in many rewarding career fields, including science, engineering, business, and technology. DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) serves to increase the number of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs and careers. It promotes the use of computer and networking technologies to increase independence, productivity, and participation in education and employment.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/
Resources/college_prep.html

Band-Aides and Blackboards
This is a project that deals with diversity, or difference. Not the sort of diversity that you usually hear about, though, like racial diversity, ethnic diversity, religious diversity, and so forth. Instead, it's about differences involving health and illness, medical conditions and physical differences.
http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/faculty/jfleitas/
bandaides/contteen.html


Planning Tools

A Workbook for Your Personal Passport
This personal guide can help a young person with a developmental disability get things important to him/her and learn ways to speak up and share that with others in a helpful way. http://www.allenshea.com/AllStatesPassport.pdf

Disability Disclosure Workbook
Designed to help youth make informed decisions about whether or not to tell others about their disability and to understand the impact of disclosure on education, work and social life.
http://www.ncwd-youth.info/
resources_&_Publications/411.html

Illinois Department of Human Services
The mission of the Department of Human Services (DHS) is to assist Illinois residents to achieve self-sufficiency, independence and health to the maximum extent possible by providing integrated family-oriented services, promoting prevention and establishing measurable outcomes in partnership with communities. Within DHS, their Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) helps high school students who have disabilities plan for their futures after high school graduation through Transition and STEP (Secondary Transitional Experience Program) programs. There are counselors located in all local offices and transition specialists who work with individual schools and school districts to identify eligible students for the Transition and STEP programs. Prior to graduation from high school, referrals are made to adult service providers within the offices. Services can also be received by phoning, email, or entering the local office. Physicians/local schools/service providers may also make a referral on behalf of the individual with a disability. For additional information and to find your local office, click the following link: www.dhs.state.il.us/ors/

PEDIATRIC NETWORK
This site has stories about youth and young adults that have gone through transition and other things in life while having chronic illnesses. www.pediatricnetwork.org

Leadership Groups

FAMILY VOICES - Kids As Self-Advocates (KASA)
KASA is a national, youth lead group of youth with special needs and our friends, speaking for ourselves. We are leaders in our communities, and we help spread helpful, positive information among our peers about various issues.
www.fvkasa.org

NCD- NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY - The Youth Advisory Committee
The Youth Advisory Committee provides advice to the National Council on Disability (NCD) on various issues, and help the Council plan and set priorities. NCD seeks this input to make sure their activities and policy recommendations meet the needs of youth with disabilities.
www.ncd.gov/newsroom/advisory/youth/youth.htm

NATIONAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP NETWORK
The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) guides youth who may become disability leaders. It seeks leadership development, education, employment, independent living, and health and wellness among young leaders. It also helps include young leaders with disabilities into all aspects of society at national, state and local level, and talks about issues important to youth with disabilities and the policies and practices. www.nyln.org