ABSTRACT
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004) established transition education as a fundamental component of secondary education for students with disabilities of transition age (Kohler & Field, 2003). Transition planning provides Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams the opportunity to develop students’ postschool and annual transition goals and transition services that support the achievement of those goals, including postsecondary community-based support linkages to facilitate transition from school to adult life. This process enables transition-age youth with intellectual disability and their families to explore and create meaningful plans depicting what students need to learn now for postschool education, employment, and independent living in an iterative annual process. As the IEP team learns students’ interests, skills, needs, desires, and available community postschool supports and services, postschool goals and supporting transition services become more focused.
