Family Transition Training

Introductory reading

• Introduction to Transition from the Center for Parent Information and Resources
• Informing Families Today and Tomorrow, a website from State of Washington, is helps individuals and families be active participants in planning and building a network of support and opportunities for their family member with intellectual or developmental disabilities throughout their life span.
• Transition planning: what can parents do in elementary school, middle school and high school (PDF, 6 pages, 2009) – see pages 5-6 for specific parent activity ideas. The rest of the packet has other transition planning worksheets, lists and questions. From Kent State University and the Ohio Secondary Transition Improvement Grant.
• Transition Planning for Students with IEPs from the GreatSchools.org website
• Understanding the New Vision for Career Development: The Role of Family (PDF, 12 pages, 2014) introduces three phases of career development for youth: self exploration, career exploration, and career planning and management. From the National Collaborative on Workforce Development for Youth (NCWD/Youth).
• Key terms in special education from the Center for Parent Information and Resources
• Transition Law page on this site

IEP meetings

• High School Is a Big Thing (PDF, 2 pages, 2014). Two-page flyer on preparing for an IEP meeting about transition from high school, from the NH Parent Information Center.
• Players of the Game is the eighth lesson in Transition Tennessee’s Addressing Transition in the IEP video course. It is about 20 minutes long. There is also a video gallery of short videos of the different players explaining their roles.

Transition guides and timelines

• The Life After High School Transition Tool Kit (PDF, 80 pages, 2018), from NH’s Parent Information Center, helps families and youth who have an Individualized  Education Program (IEP) learn about the transition planning process.
• Transition… Getting from Here to There (PDF, 42 pages, 2005), developed by the NH area agencies that serve people with developmental disabilities.
• Transition Timelines
  • Transition Planning graphic (PNG, 1 page) from Newton Public Schools in Massachusetts. 
  • Transition Planning Checklist (PDF, 1 page, 2015) from the State of Washington.
  • Transition Planning Timeline (PDF, 1 page, 2021) from Parenting Special Needs magazine.
  • Transition Timeline (PDF, 4 pages, 2020) from Rhode Island.
• Family Guide to Transition Services in Vermont (PDF, 40 pages, 2023) from the Vermont Family Network. 
• The Journey to Life After High School: A Road Map for Parents of Children with Special Needs   (PDF, 81 pages, 2014) examines the laws that impact a child with special needs, the importance of the IEP, and the different paths a child with special needs can take after graduating from high school. From AbilityPath.org
• A Transition Guide to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students and Youth with Disabilities (PDF, 62 pages, 2020) is a comprehensive overview of how state, local school districts and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) work together with students and families to plan for the future. It links elements of good transition planning back to the related legislation. From the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services U.S. Department of Education (OSERS).

Online training for families

Slides and materials from Planning for Life After High School, a 60-90-minute in-person workshop offered by the NextStepsNH project.  You can also do this workshop as a self-paced online course that takes about one hour to complete, from the NH Parent Information Center (PIC). The PIC course is a narrated PowerPoint presentation with video commentary by parents and interactive self-quizzes.

Online training for educators

Collaborating with Families, from the Iris Center at Vanderbilt University, highlights the diversity of families and addresses the factors that educators should understand about working with the families of children with disabilities. It’s an engaging training with a variety of delivery methods (videos, audios), especially at the beginning, and takes about an hour to complete. There’s good information and self-reflection, but not many tools. Module outline