This guide is designed to help advocates--including biological and adoptive parents, resource parents, adult students in foster care, and service providers--understand and advocate for the educational rights of children in New Jersey's foster care system. The guide explains the requirements of federal and state laws that particularly affect these…

This paper discusses strategies for school personnel when preparing students with learning disabilities (LD) for a successful transition from high school to college. Some of the 10 strategies discussed are: teaching students about compensatory strategies; teaching students to self-advocate; teaching students about the law; helping students select…

This case study describes a model for transition from early intervention programs to special education preschool programs. The model focuses on educating and empowering parents to become long-term, independent, informed advocates for their children, via a program involving workshops and individual family transition assistance provided by…

This brief report applies research on self-determination to suggestions for helping students with disabilities make a successful transition from school to adult life. First, it defines the concept of self-determination and considers how self-determination is learned. It summarizes research supporting the view that self-determination in high school…

This document is the participant's manual for a 3-day training conference for professionals involved in transition and the independent living movement for individuals with disabilities. Preliminary information includes the conference agenda, background information on the trainers and the sponsoring organizations, and the learning objectives of the…

This paper points out that one way to infuse self-determination skill training into a comprehensive transition program is to teach students with disabilities to direct and manage their own Individualized Education Program. The transition policy of the Academic School District in Colorado Springs (Colorado) is presented as a model. (JDD)

This newsletter issue describes the importance of vocational assessment in the educational process of students with disabilities. Vocational assessment is defined, its purposes are explained, and the ways in which vocational assessment can benefit teenagers with special needs are discussed. Types of informal and formal assessments are explored, as…

This article discusses a model transition program and curriculum, ChoiceMaker, which focuses on helping secondary students with disabilities learn those self-determination skills characteristic of successful individuals. The curriculum is organized around 37 self-determination concepts grouped into 7 areas. Student participation in the…

The manual offers guidance in coping with the major transitions commonly encountered by persons with disabilities. Seven life/education transitions are identified: (1) the environment of services for a child from birth to age 3; (2) the first preschool program for children aged 3 and 4; (3) movement of the disabled child into kindergarten at age…

The manual provides parent educators with guidelines for conducting a series of four 1-hour meetings to help parents of preschool handicapped children fulfill their role as their child's advocate. At the first meeting, information on tests and testing and on the Individualized Education Program process is presented. In the second meeting, parents…

This book is designed to assist professionals in developing and implementing transition services for students with disabilities. Specifically, this book focuses on the importance of assessment in transition planning and targets the various domains that should be included in any school-to-work transition assessment. The book advocates a…

Specific self-determination skills have been identified as being related to the successful transition of students with learning disabilities to postsecondary education. This study developed and validated a model program which was effective in teaching secondary students the self-determination skills of self-advocacy and self-awareness. (DB)

The metaphor of a family road trip is used to describe a 10-week seminar program at the Rochester Institute of Technology (New York) for learning disabled high school students and their parents in preparation for student transition to college. The small group format (maximum eight families) allows for both whole group and separate (parents and…

This article defines self-advocacy, examines differences between high school and college settings, describes key components in a college-based self-advocacy curriculum, and highlights the primary responsibilities that students with learning disabilities face in making self-determination a reality in college. (DB)

This annotated bibliography of journal articles, manuscripts, books, and audiovisual materials provides information on resources available for parent training about supported employment and transition for individuals with disabilities. The resources are organized into the following categories: employment (59 resources); transition (93 resources);…