This article examines the emancipation program of a residential/day school for students with emotional/behavioral disorders. Although interviews with seven students (ages 17-18) indicate their perceptions of the process of emancipation were fairly positive, they expressed a detached sense of reality when asked about their futures. Comprehensive…

Twelve case studies describe the kinds of decisions that young people with disabilities and their families have to make as they prepare to leave school. The seven types of decision-making processes that are identified attempt to describe some of these complexities as experienced by young people and their parents. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This article explains how administrators make it possible for their staff to initiate and implement advocacy efforts on behalf of students with special needs. A step-by-step series of actions and decision points are described to support the implementation of an innovative student-led Individualized Education Program process. (Contains 7…

This study examined how 14 Hispanic adolescents either with or without learning disabilities fared academically and socially during the transition from elementary to middle school. Students had been in a sixth grade consultation/collaboration inclusive classroom. Findings suggested that both groups of students experienced the transition similarly…

This article provides an overview of programs based in post-secondary settings in Maryland that serve students ages 18-21 with significant disabilities who are still receiving public school special education services. Student and setting characteristics, staffing, funding patterns, referral and admission practices, and program components are…

An introduction to this theme issue on special education transition policy and practice summarizes articles and notes a focus on the importance of transitional services in the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Emphasis is on practical information based on research, legislative development, and empirical evidence to support best…

This article describes the design and outcomes of a project to promote the reintegration of pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties at transfer to secondary school. It reports on a series of successful placements and discusses the factors that have helped sustain the inclusion of the pupils. (Contains four references.) (Author/CR)

This article discusses the discrimination faced by minority youth with disabilities. Federal legislation promoting equality of opportunity for all students is reviewed and the lack of true educational equality is lamented. The article emphasizes the need to prepare minority youth with disabilities as they transition into adults. (Contains…

This article describes BEGINNINGS, an interim Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) for use in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It discusses the rationale that supports the process, the format, and recommendations for its implementation. The program's early intervention services help to identify supports and to facilitate transition to…

Respondents to a questionnaire about the elementary-middle and middle-high school transition experience respectively were 173 sixth grade students, 83 parents, and 12 teachers, and 320 ninth grade students, 61 parents and 17 teachers. Results revealed that school transitions posed both challenges and opportunities for students. Parents and…

This chapter presents a hypothetical situation related to students who are displaced by Hurricane Katrina. It focuses on transition issues for the students as they are relocated to a new college for an undetermined length of time.

College educators share a common goal: to guide college students as they develop mature ways of making informed judgments. Moving away from uncritical acceptance of knowledge to critically constructing one's own perspective, however, is more complex than learning a skill set. The evolution from viewing knowledge as certain and possessed by…

The "College Connection" is a new column providing space for discussion of issues and activities involving information literacy instruction at the higher education level. The column will explore ways in which library media specialists and academic librarians can help students make smooth transitions from high school to college through development…

Transition planning to assist students with severe disabilities to move from school to a positive adult future is of great concern for the young people and their families and friends. For more than a decade, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) within the U.S. Department of Education has researched quality of life issues in transition…

Because too many children experience the transition to school as a culture shock, during the past decade teachers have implemented so-called transition activities in order to bridge the gap between preschool and school. However, transition to school also calls for a development of higher mental functions, among others the development of children's…