ODEP - Office of Disability Employment Policy
Disability Employment Policy Resources by Topic
Youth in Transition
Connecting Activities
Young people need to be connected to programs, services, activities, and supports that help them gain access to chosen post-school options. All youth may also need one or more of the following:
- Mental and physical health services
- Transportation
- Tutoring
- Financial planning and management
- Post-program supports thorough structured arrangements in postsecondary institutions and adult service agencies
- Connection to other services and opportunities (e.g., recreation).
Youth with disabilities may need:
- Appropriate assistive technologies
- Community orientation and mobility training (e.g. accessible transportation, bus routes, housing, health clinics)
- Exposure to post-program supports such as independent living centers and other consumer-driven community-based support service agencies
- Personal assistance services, including attendants, readers, interpreters, or other such services, and
- Benefits-planning counseling, including information that will help them in transitioning from public assistance to self-sufficiency.
Related resources include:
- Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth with Disabilities Transitioning to Adulthood — Information about the kinds of PAS that can help a young person with disabilities become independent and transition to adulthood.
- Entering the World of Work: What Youth with Mental Health Needs Should Know about Accommodations — Fact sheet for youth with mental health needs addressing important concerns they may have regarding disclosure and accommodations.
- GovBenefits — Searchable database of federal government assistance programs.
- Caring for Every Child's Mental Health — Information from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) about mental health issues and services related to youth.
- Healthy and Ready to Work — Information for youth with disabilities and their families to maximize health potential during the transition to adulthood
- Center for Applied Special Technology — Organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through the research and development of innovative, technology-based educational resources and strategies.
- AbleData — Searchable database of thousands of assistive technology products
- Excellence in Economic Education Program — A U.S. Department of Education program that promotes economic and financial literacy for K-12 students.
- Medline Plus — Information from the National Institute of Health on teen health issues.
- National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice — Organization that assists practitioners, policymakers and researchers to identify and implement effective school-based delinquency prevention programs, education and special education services in juvenile correctional facilities and transition supports for youth re-entering communities.
- National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice — Center that promotes awareness of the mental health needs of youth in contact with the juvenile justice system and to assist the field in developing improved policies and practices.
- Find Youth Info — Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) website that promotes the goal of positive, healthy outcomes for youth.
