Your IEP is a Transition Plan

IDEA 2004 emphasizes the need for planning for real life outcomes after public school. While transition planning has for many years been a part of the law, this new emphasis is welcome and long overdue.  The transition parts of the law are not just in the narrow section of the law which talks about THE transition plan. From the purposes section and throughout the new law the emphasis is on functional goals and concrete steps to achieve post high school outcomes.  This new emphasis in the law has caused me to rethink my view of the IEP itself.

I used to view transition as a discrete plan that was attached to the IEP about the time the child turned 14 1/2 years of age. My new thinking is that the entire IEP from three years of age on needs to be viewed as one overarching transition plan.  All goals, services, placements, accommodations, technology planning and positive behavioral interventions need to be viewed and geared towards the long term plan for the child. While 16 is the current legally mandated age for the more traditional "transition plan" [the thing that is tacked on the end of the IEP and is all too often ignored and underwritten], I am talking about a different conception of transition planning.

For instance I was at an IEP for a young child who has fine motor issues. We were writing goals for fasteners and zippers. On the surface this goal has nothing to do with transition. On the otherhand, if the child never learns to zip his pants or deal with clothes fasteners that will have a direct bearing on his long term ability to be independent or more fully independent.  The zipper issue is even more critical from a transition point of view; one of my longstanding concerns that I have for my clients is the risk of sexual abuse. A person who can handle his dressing needs and his toileting needs stands a much lesser chance of being sexually abused. It also has a direct bearing on the person's long term quality of life, their employability and potential outcomes.  I have had schools say that dressing and toileting are not part of their responsibility which is clearly wrong, especially in view of the embedded transition mandate of IDEA 2004.

In writing social and behavioral goals long term outcomes should be a guiding principle.  Social goals should be written with the express perspective of the skill set that will enable a child to function in a work setting, living environment and for post high school learning.  Behaviors which will get a person fired or ostracized from a group situation whether work, school or living must be identified and worked on from the earliest years forward.

The IEP team needs to consciously  ask the question--what does this child need to succeed in life ? This should be THE guiding concept that drives the IEP process. Asking this question at every meeting that goals are being written, behavioral interventions discussed, technologies being considered and services being allocated is critically important.  IEPs are not meant to be documents that are suitable for framing; they are supposed to be relevant documents that lead to meaningful outcomes.  The sooner transition is permeated into every aspect of your child's IEP, the better his or her IEP will be.  FAPE should be measured against the degree to which the IEP as written and as implemented achieves outcomes contemplated in IDEA 2004. It remains to be seen how courts and hearing officers will enforce this central tenet of the new law.

Comments

[dan]

free ieps at www.iep4u.com/math.htm
great links at www.iep4u.com

[Daunna Minnich]

This is one of the most important pieces of advice on your blogsite.

Whenever I talk to "retired" special ed parents, they always say they spent too much time focusing on their child's academic shortcomings and not enough time planning for real life.

My recent thinking on the subject, now that I have teenagers, is that on-time graduation (age 18) is not desirable if the student has not yet built skills for independence and self-sufficiency, or learned how/where to get help, how to talk with doctors about treatment, etc.  Why on earth did IDEA 2004 push the age to 16?

[Lisa]

The idea that all IEPs should be looked at as Transition Plans is fantastic. Currently, I am a senior working on my undergraduate in Special Education. My transition class often discusses, at what age should transition plans be implemented. I will share your thoughts, for I think they are quite important. The child's need to succeed in life and become a contributing member of society is an important ideal and should be at the forefront of what special educators and parents strive for.

[Amber Amelung]

I just recently took a class on methods of vocational transitioning and found out how important transition is. I have not had much experience with transition but as an outsider I can see how important transition is for students. I am all for helping kids develop independence and I think that IEP help this process a lot.
I definitely think a child should be started on a transition goal IEP as soon as possible. Even if it is little transitions the child will be making, it is still progress.
I think that too many people focus on the “here and now” instead of how this can be carried over to the future or even how to get the children to move on to the next level.
I believe that everyone who has something to do with the children has the responsibility to implement the transition IEP. But also that it is very important that everyone has a realistic goal of the transitions the child will be making. I believe in miracles, children can accomplish things we would have never imagined they could, but should not be required to accomplish goals that are not possible.
I totally agree we should ask "what does that child need to succeed"! I think that you have a very good point of view!