Collaborative Planning

Transition planning checklists

• Gateways Community Services in Nashua, NH has a transition planning checklist (PDF, 2 pages, 2012) geared for students who will remain in high school until age 21.
• Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, NH uses a transition checklist (Google Docs, 2 pages) that you can copy and adapt for your situation.

Person-centered planning

Person-centered planning is an ongoing problem-solving process used to help people with disabilities plan for their future. A group meeting focuses on an individual and that person’s vision for the future. It’s a structured way of organizing planning that focuses on the unique values, strengths, preferences, capacities, needs, and desired outcomes or goals of the student.

• One page overview of person-centered planning, from the PACER center.
• Charting the LifeCourse was developed by families to help individuals with disabilities and families at any age or stage of life develop a vision for a good life, think about what they need to know and do, identify how to find or develop supports, and discover what it takes to live the lives they want to live.
• Operating principles for person-centered planning from the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire (PDF, 1 page, 2011).
• Futures Planning is an adaptation of person-centered planning. Watch a 36:50-minute introduction, Futures Planning, from the NH Behavioral Health Collaborative.
• A comprehensive introduction to all elements of person-centered planning, from the University of Arizona, Person-Centered Planning: Pathways to Your Future (PDF, 116 pages, 2011).
• Online tool to build a person-centered plan: Look Back, Plan Forward  is a website created by the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire to capture the personal stories of individuals with disabilities. The tool is designed to help the individual and their family caregivers and service providers capture life stories in a way that helps others to better understand the individual’s history, values, preferences and support needs.
• Online course on person-centered planning: Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute offers free online courses on the basic concepts of person-centered work: Person-Centered Planning Education website. The courses each consist of an overview and a short quiz, an activity, in-depth reading, and a resources page.

Career counseling services

• Interest inventories help students see what people with similar interests choose for a profession
• Advising high school students with disabilities on postsecondary options: Guidance and Career Counselors’ Toolkit

NH resources for healthcare transition

• Special Medical Services at NH Department of Health and Human Services: www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/bds/sms/index.htm
• New Hampshire Family Voices provides free, confidential services to families and professionals caring for children with chronic conditions and/or disabilities. nhfv.org/
• YEAH (Youth for Education Advocacy and Healthcare) Advisory Council of NH: yeah-councilnh.com/
• Ready Set Go! Healthcare Checklist developed by New Hampshire Family Voices. New 2014 edition.

National resources for healthcare transition

• Got Transition aims to improve transition from pediatric to adult health care through the use of new and innovative strategies for health professionals and youth and families.
• Transition to Adult Health Care: A Training Guide in Three Parts (PDF, 48 pages, 2009) is for anyone interested in helping young people with special health care needs and their parents prepare for the transition to adult health care. From the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Adolescent Health Transition Project was funded by the Washington State Department of Health through 2012. While some links no longer work it is still chock full of good information and tools.

Related reference pages

• Student Participation
• Cultural Sensitivity
• Communication Strategies