It is no wonder parents become befuddled when they hear the term “transition." Initially, we hear this word as part of the birth process when our babies transition to prepare for their delivery. Our children are then “transitioning” from preschool to kindergarten, followed by their “transition” to grade school on up. They will transition from one grade level to the next, one teacher to the next, one building to the next, and transition when changing classrooms or subjects within a classroom.
While in school, our children will learn as writers to use transition words when changing ideas, relating thoughts, or when comparing and contrasting to organize their writing. Transition can be found in their science curriculum, as in transitioning from a solid to a liquid, or when regarding atomic or particle physics. If our children are in sports, we hear “transition” when considering a long jumper transitioning from the driving phase to the attack phase. They may be ice-skaters and learn to transition between forward motion and backward motion without stopping. If they take music classes, they will learn about transitioning between modulations, inflections or themes.
It goes on and on. Soldiers have to transition from the service to civilian life. Families can be in transition. We transition from one job to the next, or transition from working to retirement. Whether you are referring to the noun or verb form of transition, it essentially means “change”, and as you see, it is everywhere in our lives.
If your child is on an IEP, you will hear about their Transition Plan, which is required from age 14 and on. Generally speaking, the Transition Plan is the road map to prepare your child for the change of moving from school to adulthood. This plan will include post-secondary goals for your child’s education and training, employment and independent living. It will include activities and services and courses of study school districts will provide to best guide your child to meet their post-secondary goals. The Transition Plan will contain assessments to support that your child is on the right track, and to reveal areas of need the IEP annual goals and activities and services will address.
As parents, you will need to begin thinking about the hard questions of where your child will continue to learn, work and live after they graduate from high school, and you will need to do this as soon as possible. These discussions should begin in elementary school, so that your child will have a solid plan in place by the time they are 14 years of age. Be sure to transition on over to the Exceptional Children tab on the website, then look for the Post-Secondary Transition for more information.