Facilitating the Transition from School to Adult Life

Transition Tips for Students

• Seek out campus resources (e.g., writing centers, library resources, online supports, tutoring, transportation options, social organizations). Investigate the range of resources available to students with and without disabilities, especially those available for first-year students.
• When generic resources do not meet your needs, be ready to ask for additional supports from the office for students with disabilities. These resources will require that you demonstrate the need for the resources as well as understand why resources will meet your needs. It is important to have background knowledge beyond what services you used in high school, as you will need to provide justification for each specific service, accommodation, or modification.
• Prepare to advocate for what you need. It is a much different process for determining accommodations or modifications in college. While in high school, it was the responsibility of school personnel to identify your disability and provide the supports and services you required to receive a free and appropriate public education. In college, it is now your responsibility to know what to advocate for in the way of accommodations.
• Organize your records. You will be asked to provide evidence of disability and support needs. You will need to start this process prior to leaving high school; talk with your guidance counselor, special education teachers, and the postsecondary schools about what documentation is required.
• Think about the accommodations and/or modifications you’ll need beyond the academic ones. You will also need to communicate about any physical accommodations needed for access in dorms or buildings and possibly for the recreation/leisure and job options that are critical components of postsecondary success. A summary of performance (created as part of your transition IEP) might also help you communicate important information with college/university personnel.
• Talk personally with your professors and explain what accommodations you need and why. It is important to not just ask for something that you had in high school just because you have a disability. Link your request for supports and accommodations with the impact of the disability on you.
• Know your rights, the law, and campus policies. In Example 6.1, Mary, a senior in high school with multiple disabilities, used a modified version of the SDLMI (Wehmeyer et al., 2002) to set a plan for meeting her goal of going to college and receiving support services. Mary’s resource teacher worked with her throughout the semester to help her understand and collect the information she needed to get support services in college. The model in the example was completed over the course of the year.

Example 6.1: Planning to Receive Postsecondary Support Services

Transition Goal:

To receive support services at college.

Actions—three things I can do this semester:

1. Contact the colleges that accepted me and find out what they need for documentation.
2. Work with my teachers on my summary of performance.
3. Have my mom help me talk with the school psychologist, guidance counselor, and department of rehabilitative services about how I can provide evidence of my disability.

Barriers

1. I don’t know where to begin.
2. I am overwhelmed.
3. I am not sure if I will be able to receive all of the services I receive now (e.g., Scribe, voice-activated computer system, extended time).
4. I don’t know what I want to study or if I really need support services.

Remove Barriers and Actions

1. I can start by bringing my mom in to help me understand what I need to do to receive services in college.
2. I can talk with my guidance counselor.
3. I can have my teacher help me.

Action Plan

1. Talk with my mom tonight to decide where to begin.
2. Ask my teacher during study hall if I can go to the guidance center and set up a time to talk.
3. Make a list of the things we need to find out (talk with my mom this week and make the list together).
4. Talk about these things with my teacher next week before my IEP meeting.

Things I Have Accomplished this Year

1. I worked with my resource teacher to contact the colleges about the paperwork I need.
2. I met with my doctor about referrals.
3. My mom and I started to gather more information about my disability.
4. I talked with guidance counselor about the paperwork needed.
5. When I visited a college, I went to its DSS office to see what I thought about it.
6. I got accepted to three colleges.
7. I am working with my teacher to prepare for my transition meeting (working on PowerPoint presentation and my summary of performance).
8. I talked with a case worker about getting my computer software for college.

Conclusion

Professionals need to begin planning early for postsecondary education for students with disabilities. Many options are not readily available; they depend on the professionals involved in the students’ transition planning to seek out or create options after school. It is crucial to create postsecondary options for individuals with disabilities and to prepare all individuals to be successful in postsecondary education. Students exiting high school must understand their rights and options regarding postsecondary education, the needed documentation for services, and also expectations in postsecondary education. Students should be prepared to use common technology and should be aware of how to ask for accommodations and modifications.