The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how parents describe their roles in building the social, emotional, and cognitive success of their children with intellectual disabilities or autism during their child's transition to adulthood regarding starting a career and independent living. The theoretical foundations were ecological systems theory and social cognitive theory, providing opportunities for understanding how parents as the microsystem use social cognitive theory in their day to day lives to increase the abilities of their child with an intellectual disability or autism as they transition to adulthood from the K-12 education system. In working with the problem statement, the research questions were created to have parents describe their role in the transition to adulthood in regard to a) career, b) independent living and c) socialization. The sample comprised parents in North Carolina of children between the ages of 14 and 26 with autism or an intellectual disability. A qualitative methodology was used. Data sources included semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups with parents. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data from the individual interviews and focus groups were used for member checking of the analyzed data, which helped to validate the data in terms of the themes generated from the codes; and to expand the data collected to make it more comprehensive. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]