Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Transition Planning Guide

Transition planning for students with disabilities is often a difficult process for students, their families, and their teachers. Families are often unsure of how best to help their student and often feel unheard by the professionals with whom they are working (Defur, Todd-Allen & Getzel, 2001.) Teachers are also unsure of how to best implement transition planning strategies in the classroom (Thoma, Pannazzo, Fritton & Bartholomew, 2008). Transition planning is often poorly aligned with the desired end outcomes for students (Thompson, Fulk & Piercy, 2000) and parents and teachers lack systematic guidance in decision making for transition planning. This project included the development and evaluation of a transition planning guide for parents and teachers of transition-age students with moderate to severe disabilities. Teachers and parents of students from Cache School District’s high school and post high settings participated. A pre-experimental, pre-test post-test single case design was used to evaluate parents’ and teachers’ knowledge of and satisfaction with the process before and after using the transition planning guide. Before implementation, the transition planning guide was evaluated by experts within the field and revised accordingly. Teacher participants received training on the use of the transition planning guide prior to meeting with the parent and student. The use of the transition planning guide improved both knowledge of post-school options and satisfaction with the transition planning process for teachers and parents