Transition to Adulthood: Work, Community, and Educational Success - PRISM 11

The transition from high school to adulthood is challenging for many young people, and often particularly difficult for those with disabilities. Transition To Adulthood: Work, Community, and Educational Success provides a blueprint for supporting youth with disabilities in achieving their postsecondary goals in a variety of adult settings – education and training, employment, and the community.

This publication of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities is the latest in its successful Prism series (Prism 11) and covers a wide range of topics, from assessing students’ interests and abilities to fine-tuning their education plans and goals, ensuring that students with disabilities are included in a variety of settings, and building community relationships to ensure their continuing inclusion. It provides a valuable resource for transition personnel, special and general educators, and special education administrators at the school and state level, as well as adult service professionals.

With eight chapters written by 20 authors, Transition To Adulthood covers the breadth of research delineating best practices and proven instructional strategies for ensuring that students with disabilities reach their full potential and achieve their goals.

• Chapter 1: A Framework for Supporting Transition-Age Students
• Chapter 2: Transition Assessment
• Chapter 3: Transition-Focused Program Plans
• Chapter 4: Person-Centered Planning, Summary of Performance, and Guardianship
• Chapter 5: Preparing Students for Inclusive Postschool Settings
• Chapter 6: Preparing Students for Employment
• Chapter 7: Preparing Students for Postsecondary Education
• Chapter 8: Community Participation and Supports

Editors

L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan, Ph.D., is a professor in and chair of the Department of Special Education in the School of Education at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and the parent of a young adult with autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Brusnahan has served on the board of directors of the Autism Society of America and the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD), and is the co-author of Do-Watch-Listen-Say: Social and Communication Skills for Autism Spectrum Disorder. In 2012, she was Autism Society Professional of the Year. Her research focuses on autism spectrum disorder, postsecondary transition, and teacher preparation.

Robert A. Stodden, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus and Principal Investigator with the Postsecondary Supports Project at the University of Hawai′i at Mānoa. He has more than 35 years of experience working with large-scale evaluation and research projects, as the founding Director of the Center on Disability Studies. Dr. Stodden has served as Chairperson of the Department of Special Education at the University of Hawai′i at Mānoa and Coordinator of Special Needs Graduate Programs at Boston College, and as a principal investigator for more than 100 funded research and training projects. During the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, Dr. Stodden served as a Kennedy Senior Policy Fellow with the U.S. Senate’s Disability Policy Subcommittee, drafting and negotiating much of the legislation’s transition language. His research focuses on assessing the value of secondary school programs related to in-school and postschool outcomes.

Stanley H. Zucker, Ph.D., is Professor of Special Education in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University. He is the editor of the DADD’s research journal, Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and of the DADD Online Journal. His research focuses on quantitative methods; single subject design; postsecondary transition; foundations, values, and issues in education; social behavior management; assessment and academic achievement of students in English as a Second Language and bilingual programs; and programming for incarcerated youth

Authors

Emily C. Bouck, Ph.D., is a professor of special education in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education in the College of Education at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on life skills and mathematics curricula for students with disabilities, with a particular focus on students with mild intellectual disability. 

Kathryn M. Burke, M.Ed., is a doctoral student in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas and Project ACCESS Fellow at the Beach Center on Disability and the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities. Her research focus is self-determination across the lifespan.

Erik W. Carter, Ph.D., is Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Special Education in the Department of Special Education at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee. His research focuses on effective strategies for supporting inclusion in school, work, congregational, and community settings for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Debra L. Cote, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). She is the associate director of the CSUF Center for Autism, Education Core. Her research focuses on positive behavior support; evidence-based practices for students with autism spectrum disorder; co-teaching and clinical practice; transition, employment, and postschool outcomes; and cultural and linguistic diversity.

Marc Ellison, Ed.D., is a licensed professional counselor and Executive Director of the West Virginia Autism Training Center (WVATC), Marshall University. The WVATC operates the College Program for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder at Marshall and Concord universities. These on-campus programs support students as they earn a college degree, live, and participate in a campus community, and transition to the workforce. His research focuses on assessing the readiness of institutions of higher education to instruct and support students with autism spectrum disorder.

Nancy Farnon-Molfenter, Ph.D., is Transition Improvement Specialist and Grant Director on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Special Education team. She has worked in the field of special education and disability services for over 25 years as a special educator, and transition coordinator, administrator, and as a grant project consultant for Let’s Get to Work and Employment First statewide projects. Her research focuses on transition, employment, and inclusive education that contributes to positive outcomes for all.

Eric Folk, M.Ed., is Principal Investigator of the Postsecondary Supports Projects and the Comprehensive Service Center for People who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf-Blind based at the Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawai′i at Mānoa. His research focuses on self-determination, inclusive postsecondary education, and support provision for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Dedra Hafner, Ed.D., is the founder and director of the Cutting Edge Program and an assistant professor at Edgewood College, Wisconsin. Since 2007, Cutting Edge has supported and provided students with disabilities the opportunity to attend college. In 2013, she received the Inclusive Education Award from TASH. Her research focuses on inclusion in postsecondary education and identifying and addressing barriers to inclusion of individuals with significant disabilities in college. 

James E. Martin, Ph.D., is Emeritus Zarrow Family Professor and retired Director of the University of Oklahoma’s Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment. He and colleagues developed the Transition Assessment and Goal Generator, and the Transition Assessment and Goal Generator-Alternate for use with students with significant cognitive disabilities. Dr. Martin’s past works include the ChoiceMaker Self-Determination Assessment and Lesson packages and the Self-Directed Supported Employment Handbook, along with dozens of articles and book chapters. His research focuses on the transition of youth with disabilities from high school to postsecondary education through the application of self-determination assessment and instructional practices.

Sean Nagamatsu, M.Ed, M.L.I.Sc., is an instructional and student support staff member with the Postsecondary Support Project and the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawai′i at Mānoa. He taught English at Wai′anae High School and worked with students at Kapi′olani, Honolulu, and Leeward Community Colleges, as part of the Postsecondary Support Project. 

Evan Nakatsuka, M.Ed., is the project coordinator for the Postsecondary Support Project contract with the Hawai′i Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and is a faculty team leader for the Hawai′i Postsecondary Support Project. He has been working in the field of vocational rehabilitation and disability services for 8 years, and has worked as a job developer, program manager, and administrator for a local community rehabilitation provider. 

Leslie K. O. Okoji, Ph.D., is an assistant specialist at the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawai′i at Mānoa. She has over 20 years of experience working in the field of education, primarily as a school counselor in public secondary schools. Dr. Okoji currently serves as an evaluator on the HI-AWARE and No Wrong Door projects at the Center on Disability Studies. 

Joshua M. Pulos is a Sooner Scholar, pursuing his doctorate in special education with an emphasis in applied behavior analysis and secondary transition education  at the University of Oklahoma’s Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment. In  October 2015, the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Career Development and Transition awarded Mr. Pulos the Andrew Halpern Early Career Practitioner Award. His research interests include behavior–analytic interventions to promote positive postsecondary outcomes of students with disabilities, intellectual and developmental disabilities, self-determination, sexuality and disability, and transition assessment.

Karrie A. Shogren, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities. Her research focuses on self-determination and systems of supports for adolescents and adults with disabilities. 

Shannon L. Sparks, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and Counseling at California State University, San Bernardino. Her research interests include teaching choice-making to students with mild and moderate disabilities, postsecondary education and gender outcomes, evidence-based practices for students with autism spectrum disorder, and guardianship. 

Terri Vandercook, Ph.D., is Assistant Director of the National Technical Assistance Center on Inclusive Practices and Policies for Students With Significant Cognitive Disabilities. She previously was an associate professor and chair of the Department of Special Education at the University of St.  Thomas in Minnesota and coordinator for the program in Developmental Disabilities. Her interests include inclusive schooling, collaborative teaming, instruction of students with significant cognitive disabilities, and teacher training.

Michael L. Wehmeyer, Ph.D., is Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor in Special Education, Chair of the Department of Special Education, and Director and Senior Scientist of the Beach Center on Disability, all at the University of Kansas. His research interests include self-determination, applications of positive psychology to disability, and transition to adulthood for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities.