Transition Planning for students with High-Incidence Disabilities

              The article I chose for this week’s blog is entitled Characteristics of Transition Planning and Services for Students with High-Incidence Disabilities.  This article was recently published, 2015, and discusses the changes that transition planning has taken in the past 30 years.  I will briefly summarize the article, make connections to our course, and give a critique.

                This article was published this past fall, and looks at how transition planning has changed and developed over the past 30 years.  This model has included the areas of assessment, planning, and instruction.  While we have made strides within these years to decrease the dropout rate of students with disabilities, we have also increased the rate of students who enroll in post-secondary education.  The LD, ED, and ADHD population has also seen an increase in their work related experiences, however, this population is still experiencing more negative outcomes in the workplace than their peers without disabilities.

                The article went into great depth about the percentages of increase/decrease in the LD, ED, and ADHD/OHI populations since transition planning was first made mandatory in 1990.  They compared the rates of increase in the ADHD/OHI population and noted how the trend for LD/ED remained consistent.    They compared the entrance to post-secondary education in college, vocational schools, and training programs of students with high incidence disabilities, from 1990 statistics to the current studies.  The article also noted the rate to which these students are employed in meaningful jobs which bring them independence, financial stability, and happiness/fulfillment with their lives.

                The results of this article showed that the students with the most positive results were those who were actively involved in the planning of their transition meetings, who had family support, and who were taught life skills and financial management techniques so that they could live independently.  This clearly is supported by our text and module exercises on transition planning.  “Planning involves identifying measurable post-secondary goals based on students’ strengths, interests, and preferences identified through age-appropriate transition assessments.  Furthermore, students’ courses of study must align with these goals and be documented on the IEP.” (Trainor, Morningstar, & Murray, 2015)  When the student’s involvement in their transition planning was weak, so was the outcome of their post-secondary success.

                This article was very elaborate and complete.  It listed the downfalls and the areas for further research.  I would recommend this article, but it more as a backup to our text.  The article really restated everything which we were learning in this module about transition planning.  The greatest outcomes are going to go to the students who put the most into planning for their future.  The skills that they are taught in secondary education, when properly aligned to their future goals, provide the greatest predictors for a successful outcome.  This is a wonderful service to provide to students with high-incidence disabilities.  I wish that more students with LD, ED, and ADHD were actively involved in this process.

Resource:

Trainor, A.A., Morningstar, M.E., & Murray, A. (2015).  Characteristics of transition planning and services for students with high-incidence disabilities. Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 1-12.  Idq.sagepub.com at TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE