Transition Summit
The Transition Summit is New Hampshire’s statewide transition conference featuring high-quality professional development and family education on supporting youth with disabilities and their families with the transition to postsecondary education, employment, and independent living.
2023 Summit Highlights
Workshops, speakers and practical tips and tools for helping New Hampshire students with disabilities achieve post-school success.
The 2023 Transition Summit is:
Different Paths: Each Journey is Unique
Nurturing All Students to Help Them Flourish
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Grappone Center in Concord, NH
Event overview
- Register by November 6, 2023.
- Preregistration is required. We cannot offer walk-in registration.
- Two registration paths: a professional path and a family path.
- New this year: an expanded Transition Fair and afternoon workshops for families.
- Keynote is scheduled so that both professional and family path registrants can attend. Speakers Gina Gallagher and Patricia Terrasi will bring us The Movement of Imperfection. Their humorous, heartwarming workshop is based on their best-selling book, Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid! A Survival Guide for Ordinary Parents of Special Children.
- Need an interpreter? Please register by October 19th to allow New Hampshire Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (NDHHS) time to find available interpreters.
- CART services (captions) will be available for keynote sessions and other sessions if requested.
- You do not need to preregister for Spotlight or Family Focus sessions. See the Spotlight and Family Focus sessions section below for more information.
Schedule
8:00 am Professional Path Check-in
8:30 am Welcome and What Works World Café Plenary Session
10:00-11:15 Spotlight sessions A
11:15-12:00 Lunch
12:00 pm Spotlight sessions B
1:15 pm Family Focus Path Check-in
1:30 pm Keynote speakers – “The Movement of Imperfection”
3:30 pm Family Focus sessions 1
4:30 pm Family Focus sessions 2
3:30-6:00 pm Refreshments available
6:00 pm End of Summit
Spotlight sessions offer practices, topics, tips and tools for professionals involved in secondary transition planning for student with disabilities.
Family focus sessions offer access to a range of vendors and sessions related to specific transition needs a student or young person may have.
Our keynotes speakers are Gina Gallagher and Patricia Terrasi, authors of Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid: A Survival Guide for Ordinary Parents of Special Children. Using hilarious anecdotes and fun exercises, the sisters will show attendees how to let go of the expectations they have for their children and embrace the reality. Shut Up Sister s website
Check-in for our Family Focus Path opens at 1:15. Please plan to arrive by this time if you want to see the keynote presentation.
Vendors from a range of services and supports will be available for a Transition Fair throughout the afternoon.
Registration details and link
Register for Transition Summit
Registration will ask you to choose one of these paths:
Option 1: $100 Professional Path
This path is designed with professionals working with transition-age students in mind. It’s open to families too, but they are not the primary audience. This is the event you remember if you’ve attended in the past.
- Check-in beginning at 8 am
- Program 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
- Continental breakfast and lunch
- Afternoon keynote speaker
- Spotlight sessions and What Works World Cafe
- Certificates of Attendance provided at 3 pm for this path only.
- Continued access to the Transition Fair after 3:00 pm
- Optional Family Focus sessions at 3:30 and 4:30pm
Option 2: $25 Family Focus Path
This path is designed for those who want to join the event in the mid to late afternoon and will offer access to a range of vendors and sessions related to specific transition needs a student or young person may have. When families connect to these resources early in the planning process, it can help make the process smoother and more practical. You do not have to be a family member to register for this path. Those on the Professional Path may stay past 3:00 pm, no additional registration required.
- Arrive by 1:15 pm if you wish to see the 1:30 keynote session
- Family Focus sessions on a range of topics at 3:30 and 4:30 pm
- Transition Fair and refreshments until 6:00 pm
Spotlight and Family Focus session details
Coming 9/23
Partners and Sponsors
Coming 9/23
Payment, Cancellation and Refund Policies
Payment
Your registration is not fully complete until payment arrangements have been made. If you are requesting an invoice (i.e., not paying with Paypal), there is a place on the registration form to let us know where to send the invoice. If you select “Pay by check” and do not supply a specific address, the invoice will be sent to you.
Transferring a registration
Registration is transferable. Before the registration deadline, just email the conference organizer with contact information for the new person. If you experience an issue with attendance after November 6, please also email the conference organizer. We MAY be able to assist with transferring your registration to someone who was not able to register by the deadline.
Refunds
The deadline to receive a full refund (minus any PayPal fees) is 5:00 pm on November 6, 2023. Cancellations must be made in writing. Cancellations received after November 6 cannot be guaranteed, as our financial obligation to the Grappone Center is based on headcount. After the registration deadline you are responsible for the registration fee, regardless of your attendance at the event.
This summit does not have a rain or snow date. Contact the conference organizer if you do not receive your confirmation email. In the unlikely event of cancellation, registrants will be informed via the email address provided, and will receive information about options for recouping professional development hours or a rescheduled event.
Updated 9/21/23

Community of Practice Resources
- 2023 Education Series
- 2022 Summit Resources
- 2022 Education Series
- 2021 Summit Resources
- 2021 Summit Keynote recording (attendees only)
- 2021 Educational Series materials
- 2020 Summit Resources
- 2020 Educational Series materials
- 2019 Summit Resources
- 2018 Summit Resources
- 2017 Summit Resources
- NH State COP Meeting Minutes