Life After School
Introduction
Transition services, provided in Special Education, help students with disabilities prepare for adult life. These services are for students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). An IEP is a written plan created under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It lists the student’s goals, objectives, and services for receiving special education. If a student has an IEP and is at least 13 years old, school districts must provide transition services. These services help students get ready for:
- College
- Technical school
- Work
- Adult education
- Adult services
- Living on their own
- Taking part in their community
Frequently Asked Questions About Special Education
South Carolina law requires transition services to start with the IEP that is in place when the student turns 13. Transition planning can begin before the student turns 13 if the student’s IEP team wants.
Transition planning should include:
- Student: The most important person for transition planning is the student. The transition plan is created to meet their personal needs, goals, and preferences. The student will be invited to IEP meetings when transition planning will be discussed. If the student is unable to attend the meeting, the IEP team has to make sure that the student’s interests and preferences are included in the process.
- Teachers
- Parents
- School district transition staff (examples: transition coordinators or career specialists)
- Others who work with the student (examples: therapists or counselors)
- Outside agencies that may pay or provide transition services (See next section for examples)
- Someone from the school district who can make decisions about paying for things on the transition plan.
School districts should invite outside agencies that may provide or pay for transition services to help with student transition planning. Parents or adult students must give permission before an outside agency can attend the IEP meeting. These agencies should start helping while the student is still in school. These agencies may provide services like job coaching, help finding a job, or support for living on their own. If no one from the agency comes to the meetings, the IEP team should meet to decide on other ways to provide the services.
Examples of agencies include:
- SC Vocational Rehabilitation Department
- Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities
- SC Commission for the Blind
- Centers for Independent Living, like Able SC, AccessAbility, and Walton Options
- Check with other service providers that you work with, such as your case manager.
The transition plan should be based on the student’s needs. To help decide those needs, the IEP team should consider:
- What the student is good at.
- What the student likes.
- What the student wants to do after school.
The student’s IEP must include:
- Goals to help the student be ready for life after high school.
- Classes that will help the student be ready for adult life (also known as “course of study”).
- Services to help the student be ready for adult life.
- Who will be in charge of getting each thing done?
School districts can offer services like:
- Teaching the student how to write a resume.
- Counseling or therapy to help the student be ready to work.
- Visiting a job site and work experiences.
- Teaching daily living skills.
- Teaching how to understand work evaluations.
- Teaching and practicing how to request disability-related accommodations at college or technical school.
To create the right transition goals and services, the school district must complete assessments or evaluations that are based on the student’s abilities or needs. These evaluations should include conversations with the student and parents. They should also include testing to learn more about the student’s:
- Interests
- Personality
- Strengths/general abilities
- Physical ability
- Mental ability
- Needed supports
- Classroom learning style
- Potential in an area of work
- If the student is working, there should be a report about how the student is doing in the job.
Results of these evaluations should be used to inform the IEP team for planning the transition services, not limit the student’s options.
Learn more:
Transition plans should be reviewed and updated at least once a year. A student’s interests, likes, and needs can change over time, so the plan should be updated to reflect those changes. If needed, an IEP meeting can be requested to review a transition plan before the annual review.
In South Carolina, all students must have an Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) by the end of the 8th grade. This plan is specific to the student. It lists the classes that the student will need to complete to graduate. The IGP should help the student prepare for and transition into work, work training, or college. The IGP must:
- Make sure that the student’s work goals match the classes they are taking.
- Be based on the student’s interests.
- Include academic subjects needed for graduation.
- Include work experiences (examples: internships and mentoring).
- Be flexible to allow change in the student’s work interests.
- Include parts of the student’s IEP when appropriate.
- Be approved by a certified school guidance counselor and the student’s parents or guardians.
If the student has a special education teacher, the school should include the teacher in the IGP.
Learn more:
A summary of performance is a report that shows what the student has learned in school and what the student is capable of doing. The school district creates this report for each student with an IEP who either ages out of special education services (at age 21) or graduates with a high school diploma. The report must suggest ways to help the student prepare for the things the student wants to do after school. The student then decides whether to share the report with colleges, adult agencies, vocational and rehabilitative centers, employers, and others.
