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Transition is a critical period for young people with disabilities as they move from adolescence into adulthood. It is about planning for life and includes post-secondary education and learning experiences, employment, careers and related training opportunities, housing, healthcare, and financial benefits. Transition also includes finding activities to spark a student’s interest and learning to socialize with others.
If you have a child in high school transition might be on your mind as your family plans for the future. Find out how a program can help with the transition process.
Transition Tennessee (TransitionTN), a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Education, the Tennessee Department of Human Services, Vanderbilt University, and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, is a program for training and resources on preparing students with disabilities for life after high school. Transition TN’s mission is to ensure that students with disabilities have access to opportunities, instruction, supports, and services to elevate their in-school and post-school outcomes.
They host a free website (www.transitiontn.org) for transition professionals (e.g., Special Educators or Pre-Employment Transition Services {Pre-ETS} providers), families, and students.
What are Pre-ETS services?
Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) were designed to help students transition from high school to postsecondary education or employment. This program helps students:
- Set attainable goals for life after high school
- Get early opportunities prior to transition from high school
- Gain new skills necessary for adulthood
- Build on what students are receiving in high school.
To be eligible for services, students must:
- be between ages 14 to 22
- have a documented disability, IEP, or 504 Plan
- or are potentially eligible for VR services in the future
What’s on TransitionTN’s website:
Professional Development Courses were created for educators and providers of Pre-ETS. Content in these courses cover best practices on transition-related topics. These courses are also helpful to anyone interested in learning about transition. Some Course examples include:
- Addressing Transition in the IEP
- Pathways to Education and Training
- Power of Early Work Experiences
- Instruction in Self-Advocacy
Information for families about preparing for life after high school. These incrlude:
- Family tip sheets that cover transition topics in an easy-to-read format
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Vocational Rehabilitation (VR)
- Diploma Options
- ABLE Accounts
- ECF Choices
- And many more
- Form to organize information and resources, including notes, questions, or other details
The student website was created based upon the need for collaboration between students, self-advocates, transition-related staff, and families. The website provides interactive transition-based lessons and activities and has two main transition topics for students to choose from and are based on where the student is in the transition process: 1. I want to go to work or 2. I want to continue my education. Students have the option of exploring one or both pathways to gain knowledge about career options and skills they need to be successful.
The student website includes:
- Student lessons
- A Role-Play scenario where students are presented with a character and a situation involving the transition lesson topic
- Get Involved Activities for school and community-based settings that provide opportunities to practice their skills
- A My Portfolio component where students create a personalized document that applies the knowledge they have gained
- Activity Plans and Instructor Resources for professionals or family members
- E-learning Quick Activities that focus on a single transition topic. These activities are an interactive book format that can be completed in under 20 minutes.
- Student courses
Webcasts cover a wide variety of topics related to transition. They are held monthly and are recorded and captioned. Some previous webcast topics include:
- Assistive Technology for Transition
- The ADA, Disability Disclosure, and Self-Advocacy
- What Centers for Independent Living (CIL) can do for You
Other Transition Resources are provided on the student website including:
- Assessment Database that offers over 100 transition-focused assessments searchable by transition area
- Curriculum Database that offers several transition-focused curricula for professionals to use with their students, searchable by transition domain and Pre-ETS area
- Archived trainings that have been presented across the state.
- Pre-ETS Sequencing Guide that provides a step-by-step guide to planning Pre-ETS activities with students
- Resource Library that offers all the TransitionTN resources in one, easy-to-search location, and
- a Bi-Monthly Newsletter that covers transition topics, resources, agencies, and much more.
TransitionTN’s Technical Assistance is a joint effort of TransitionTN and the Tennessee Department of Education’s Technical Assistance Network (TN-TAN). TransitionTN joined TN-TAN as the state-contracted secondary transition technical assistance provider. For more information or to make a referral request visit https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/e8ab8cf93a0942cf931fc31864cb62c3
To access all TransitionTN’s online resources, you will need to create a free user account by visiting www.transitiontn.org/register/. *The Student website does not require a user account.
For questions about TransitionTN, contact them at info@transitiontn.org.