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The transition services requirement was added to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990. Congress included this mandate in the IDEA to ensure that students with disabilities would be prepared for post-school life. The mandate charges school district personnel with planning and implementing transition services as part of special education programming provided to all eligible students with disabilities when they reach age 16 or earlier if required by state law. The purpose of this chapter is to review the legal requirements regarding transition services and the delivery of transition programming to students with disabilities.

In the years following high school, youth, including youth with extensive support needs, aspire to pursue a range of personally important experiences, such as attending postsecondary education programs, obtaining competitive employment, and living independently. However, the level of disability continues to be a powerful predictor of the degree to which desired outcomes materialize in early adulthood. For most young adults with extensive support needs, valued outcomes are elusive. To support youth with disabilities, including youth with extensive support needs, to progress toward achieving their post-school goals, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 mandated the provision of transition services. Despite the legal mandate for transition services, numerous factors continue to impact the outcomes experienced by youth with extensive support needs. However, research has identified numerous practices to support improved post-school outcomes. In this chapter, we address the transition mandates of the IDEA, identify and describe factors influencing the post-school outcomes of youth with extensive support needs, and provide strategies, practices, and interventions for improving these outcomes.

Interagency collaboration is an effective strategy for supporting students and families with resources and support to prepare students for life after high school. The Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES) is the only interagency collaboration model identified as a research-based practice, which means the CIRCLES model has the most and highest quality of evidence for its use among interagency collaboration models. Within this chapter, we overview the CIRCLES model and its history. School districts from multiple states have implemented CIRCLES, and, within this chapter, we overview stakeholder experiences with CIRCLES. When implementing any practice, evaluation and implementation fidelity are critical, so we provide suggestions for both. Finally, we discuss barriers and strategies to effective interagency collaboration, in addition to implications for policy and practice.

This chapter focuses upon high school preparation and transition planning activities as they apply to students with disabilities. The reader will find a review of needs for reform of high school standards-based curricula, the development of inclusive general education curriculum content, and strategies for integrating functional and daily living skill training and meaningful transition planning activities, which include collaboration with adult agencies. The authors further present a number of evidence-based practices to address these needs and make recommendations for moving forward in ways to improve post-school outcomes for youth with disabilities.

Promoting the self-determination of youth and young adults with disabilities has become best practice in the field of special education. Such efforts have been shown to positively impact student educational goal attainment, access to the general education curriculum, student involvement in educational and transition planning, and more positive postschool outcomes. This chapter discusses the self-determination construct, reviews the literature pertaining to what is known about promoting self-determination and goal attainment, and introduces assessments, evidence-based practices, and strategies for promoting student involvement.

Evidence-based practice is an essential component of special education and provides a framework for promoting the use of research to inform policy and practice. Despite the importance of evidence-based practice to special education, the research-to-practice gap remains a persistent challenge to the successful dissemination of effective, research-based practices. Given the underuse of research in special education, the next big thing in evidence-based special education is to develop effective mechanisms for disseminating research and practice. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to introduce research utilization as a concept to special education and present a preliminary analysis on special education teacher perceptions of research. Results suggest that special education teachers value evidence-based practice but remain unsure of their skills to distinguish between studies with more and less rigorous methods. Moreover, we found that special education teachers tended to use sources with lower self-reported ratings of trustworthiness, such as social media and teacher exchange websites, due to time efficiency and accessibility. Respondents provided recommendations for ameliorating the research-to-practice gap and increasing the usability of research overall.

A sizable cohort of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will transition into adulthood over the next 10 years. Employment participation is an important part of individual economic independence but also of one's ability to contribute to broader civil society in meaningful ways. Yet, to date, the majority of young adults with autism are not successfully entering the workforce. Of particular importance for this “Generation A” will be to establish a sound foundation as they exit their teenage years that includes postsecondary educational pursuits and labor force involvement. Exploring corresponding outcomes of individuals with ASD who recently progressed through these life stages will help inform Generation A and families and educators who support them how to better prepare for the workplace of the future. For this purpose, robust representative data containing refined disability detail, employment and training information, and well-being and support content are necessary. Currently available public survey and administrative microdata that can be used by researchers and practitioners as they delve into these issues are discussed. Additionally, appropriate restricted-access datasets and the process involved in obtaining them are highlighted. After summarizing key resources and noting their advantages, their drawbacks, limitations, and areas for improvement are addressed. Implications of the data available to date to assist educators, family members, and young adults with autism themselves to better navigate the transition from school to work, to successfully secure work, and ultimately economic independence, which is critical to adulthood, are presented.

With the move toward a more inclusive educational system across most jurisdictions, the expectation is that students with the most complex needs who have previously attended special schools, will gradually transition into inclusive schools. This expectation raises issues regarding the practicality of this move and the capacity of inclusive schools in being able to provide appropriate support and curriculum for these learners. Examples of transition programs across different countries are discussed to establish the most effective processes, support structures, and initiatives that have been employed to facilitate this transfer. The role of collaboration between schools and a review of support models that are provided for learners with high support needs in inclusive settings are discussed. Compared to the expectations for this move, and to understand the reality of it, perceptions of teachers, parents, and students are considered.