Age 16

Age 16

At age 16, transition planning in your IEP has officially begun. Your involvement with the IEP process is required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Your IEP is like a road map for where you want to go in life. The whole IEP team, including you and your family, will create a plan for postsecondary education, training, employment and independent living.

Transition planning is a process that helps students with disabilities move from school life to adult life. It is a cooperative effort among the school, the student, the family and community agencies. Transition is part of the IEP.

Transition planning must begin by the time you turn 16, although it is best to begin it even earlier, at 14 years of age or younger. But if you haven’t started the process yet, it’s not too late. You still have time to begin preparing for a smooth transition to life after high school.

Here’s some more information on transition planning:

What is a transition plan?

A transition plan is the section of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) that outlines transition goals and services that can help you meet them. The transition plan is based your individual needs, strengths, skills and interests. A transition plan identifies opportunities to gain knowledge and skills needed for continuing education, work and community participation in preparation for adult life.

These links offer more details about transition plans:

What’s the first step in planning for transition?

Like every IEP, the process should start with what is known as the **Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP)** statement. Basically, a PLAAFP statement answers what you as a student currently know and can do. Age-appropriate transition assessments help identify your strengths, interests, preferences and needs. These assessments gather information to write goals for life after high school.

How can the parent and student add information?

State law requires schools to begin developing an **Educational Development Plan (EDP)** in grade 7 and requires that every student has an EDP before high school. EDPs are updated as student interests and abilities become more obvious and focused. The EDP shows educational and career goals, a way to achieve these goals and the activities accomplished. Data from the EDP can be used to inform transition planning. Here’s more information about EDPs:

Additionally, informal tools can be used by families to gather information to share with the IEP team. Here are a couple of them:

A combination of formal and informal tools are used to collect information about a student’s current functioning, strengths and needs as they relate to adult living.

Formal assessments are standardized instruments performed by trained personnel. Ask your school team if they use one of these popular formal testing tools:

  • Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF)
  • Vineland Adaptive Behavior Skills
  • BRIGANCE Transition Skills Inventory
  • Employability Skills Inventory
  • Transition Skills assessment
  • Responsibility and Independence Scale for Adolescents (RISA)
  • Adaptive Behavior Assessment (ABAS)
  • Transition Behavior Scale

Informal assessments tend to be more subjective. They are helpful because they allow a student to be observed in a natural environment. Transition assessment tools might also include data sources like interest inventories, student surveys, skills assessments, aptitude assessments, observations, interviews and medical reports. Here’s more information on assessment tools:

Assistive technology (AT) is any kind of technology that can be used to enhance the independence of a person with a disability. AT helps to level the playing field. These resources can help identify challenges technology can address:

Like annual IEP goals, transition goals must be written with a result in mind and they must be measurable. When you’re in in middle school or early high school, your goals may be more general. But they become more specific as you enter later grades.

For example, a transition goal for an eighth grader might be: “After high school, I will work full time in a career working with cars.” As a 10th grader, the goal might be: “After graduating from high school, I will enroll at the automotive technician school and take classes to prepare me for a career as a mechanic.”

Students should have measurable goals in the areas of training, education, employment and independent living skills. These postsecondary goals are written in terms of what the student will achieve after completing high school or a secondary program. More information:

Once you’ve mapped out your broad goals, you have to figure out the best way to get where you want to go. After the measurable postsecondary goals have been developed, the next step is to develop the course of study. A course of study lists all the classes and community experiences the student will complete to achieve their post-high school visions of where they want to work, learn and live.

For students leaving high school with a diploma, their course of study is the Michigan Merit Curriculum and graduation requirements. This can include a Personal Curriculum that leads to a diploma.

Students exiting high school without a diploma have the opportunity to maximize the high school environment, classes and extracurricular activities to move toward achieving their postsecondary goals. The district is required to have a written course of study on file for students who receive a Certificate of Completion.

You can find more details here:

Career and Technical Education (CTE) is one path toward developing skills that can lead to a fulfilling career. Students with IEPs may be eligible to enroll in CTE programs, regardless of pursuing a diploma or planning to exit school without a diploma. Because each CTE program has its own application process, interested students should meet with their guidance counselor and IEP team to discuss their options.

You can also find more information here:

  • State of Michigan CTE website
  • Secondary CTE programs allow high school students to earn a career credential while still in high school. Each CTE program focuses on different career clusters, but all share the same four components: classroom instruction, laboratory learning, work-based learning and student leadership. If you think you would benefit from work-based learning while still in high school, talk to your guidance counselor about CTE programs in your local area. The Michigan Department of Education, Office of Career and Technical Education has CTE Student and Family Resources, including videos created by students, on its website.
  • Early middle college is a five-year course of study approved by the Michigan Department of Education, in which a student earns both a high school diploma and a two-year degree or certificate from a community college.

Students who plan to apply to a four-year college, community college or early middle college may be required to take the PSAT or SAT college entrance exam. These exams may be administered with accommodations, depending on the student’s needs. Students with disabilities who plan to take the PSAT or SAT must meet with their guidance counselor and IEP team about two months before the exam to request accommodations from The College Board in writing. Documentation of the student’s disability and accommodations for learning must be provided as part of the application for accommodations. For more information on test accommodations, visit The College Board’s website.

Work is an important part of adult life. Workers have a feeling of worth by contributing to society, and it’s a meaningful way to spend the day. Work is a place to learn social skills and responsibility. Employment is also a way to combat isolation, loneliness and depression.

People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed than people without disabilities. Work experience during school, postsecondary education and family involvement help youth be successful as they transition to adulthood.

Students, family members, educators, counselors and other support professionals should discuss and consider the full range of available postsecondary employment opportunities and services to properly plan and prepare a youth with a disability for adult life and career pathways.

You and your family can work toward that first job by focusing on building skills employers want, developing good work habits and showcasing talents.

Volunteering helps connect people with similar interests and is a good way to develop new skills. Volunteering can be a great way to gain new experiences and put you in a position to find employment.

Michigan Rehabilitation Services has job coaching as part of their services. Ticket to Work is a Social Security Administration opportunity that includes job coaching, job counseling, training, benefits counseling and job placement.

Job coaches are individuals who specialize in assisting individuals with disabilities to learn and accurately carry out job duties. Job coaches provide one-on-one training tailored to the needs of the employee.

Two main laws protect the rights of adults with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 cover postsecondary education and training, employment and independent living. Under the ADA, you can request an accommodation during the application process or while you are employed, but you first have to disclose that you have a disability.

Apprenticeship programs offer the opportunity to earn money while learning technical skills. This includes job fields like construction, health care, information technology, transportation and many others. Apprenticeships can open the door to long-term careers for people with disabilities.

Supported employment is for people:

  • with more significant disabilities,
  • who need intensive or ongoing job support,
  • who have traditionally been excluded from competitive work settings or
  • whose work has been interrupted or intermittent because of their disabilities.

Supported employment is based on the principle that individuals with severe disabilities have the right to be employed by community businesses where they can earn comparable wages, work side by side with co-workers with or without disabilities and experience all of the same benefits as other employees of the company.

Supported employment services, including job coaching, are designed for individuals with the most significant disabilities who need ongoing support services because of the nature and severity of their disability in order to perform the work involved.

As a student or youth with a disability learns and demonstrates progress in these areas, the job coach decreases the support and time spent with the individual on the job.

Learn more here:

Individuals with disabilities fare better financially from working in the community rather than in sheltered workshops.

Like most people, you’re probably better at some things than you are others. Customized employment is a type of supported employment in which a position’s tasks are designed or tailored to meet your interests, skills and capabilities, as well as the needs of the employer. Customized employment is an option for individuals who are significantly impacted by their disability and desire competitive, integrated employment. This may include job carving, negotiated job description or creating a new job description.

When you are self-employed, you work for yourself rather than for an employer. You are your own boss. A student or youth with a disability could choose self-employment in a particular business that matches their strengths and interests.

Work incentives are special rules that make it possible for SSI beneficiaries to work toward an employment goal while still receiving monthly payments and health care benefits (Medicaid or Medicare).

Currently, some people with disabilities are paid less than minimum wage. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) put significant limits on placements at sheltered workshops where people are paid subminimum wage.

Transition services are a coordinated set of activities designed to be results-oriented. They are based on the student’s postsecondary goals. These might be activities you need to complete or a skill/behavior you need to learn to help move from school to post-school activities. Transition services include:

  • Instruction
  • Related services
  • Employment
  • Post-school activities
  • Community experiences
  • Activities of daily living
  • Functional vocational evaluations

Once transition services begin, and before the student leaves high school, the IEP must document the services the student will need as an adult and identify the agencies that will provide them. Agencies can be invited to IEP team meetings. Most post-school agency services are eligibility-based programs.

When you exit the school system, either by obtaining a diploma or aging out, schools must provide you with a **Summary of Performance (SOP)** to assist in the process of transitioning to post-school activities. The Summary of Performance is a summary of academic achievement and functional performance, and it includes recommendations on how to assist you in meeting postsecondary goals.

  • Ask your district for a copy of the form it uses.

As defined in IDEA: “transition services” means a coordinated set of activities for a child with a disability that”

  1. is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child’s movement from school to post-school activities, including post-secondary education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation;
  2. is based on the individual child’s needs, taking into account the child’s strengths, preferences, and interests; and
  3. includes instruction, related services, community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation.

Students in special education are entitled to prevocational, vocational and transition planning and services.

Starting at age 16, the school should offer assessment and services to help your child prepare for life after school, including work and other community activities. The school must include transition goals and services in a student’s IEP.

At age 17, the school must notify the student of his or her right to make educational decisions upon reaching 18.

Transition services means a coordinated set of activities for a student eligible for special education that is designed to be within a results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and functional achievement of the student to facilitate his or her movement from school to post –school activities, including post-secondary education vocational education, integrated employment, supported employment, continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation. Transition is based on the individual student’s needs, taking into account the students strengths preferences and interests and includes-

  • (A) Instruction
  • (B) Related services
  • (C) Community experiences
  • (D) The development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives and
  • (E) if appropriated, acquisition of daily living skills and provision of a functional vocation evaluation.
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