Smooth transitions : increasing support for students with disabilities and special needs to meet their post-secondary goals

Transitioning from high school into their adult lives can be tumultuous for students with disabilities and special needs. Graduation causes a loss of some services where necessary adult programs may be inaccessible. Through written survey and personal communication with valid local stakeholders, opinions revealed a need for better connections to local educational resources to help students and their caregivers create realistic post-secondary educational goals. The action of this project is important because there are students with disabilities unable to access services for themselves as they are required to function more independently. Each student has different needs and unique goals, requiring different kinds of aid. Providing students first-hand accounts of local educational institutions services from currently enrolled students, plus additional information on a handout and a website, I was able to inform high school students the local college options, so they may choose with their caregivers and teachers what would work best to successfully meet their individual goals