12 Frequently Asked Questions about High School IEPs and the Transition to Adulthood

Published: Oct. 16, 2024Updated: Oct. 23, 2024

Whether your child has a specific learning disability or significant support needs, planning for their transition to adulthood is a vital piece to laying out what comes next. Thinking about life after high school can be an overwhelming and emotional subject for lots of families — it could be scary, exciting, or both! Planning ahead is easier said than done, but luckily we have an expert on deck to help us feel confident about navigating this transition. We sat down with Undivided Education Advocate Lisa Carey to ask all our burning questions about high school IEPs, Individualized Transition Plans, diplomas, the Department of Rehabilitation, and more.

When should I start talking to my child’s school about the transition to adulthood or life after high school?

The reality is that we’re planning for our children’s adulthood from the time they’re born — as Lisa says, “We're not raising kids. We're raising adults, right? Because they're going to be an adult when we get to the end of this, and so we want to make sure that we're scaffolding and planning.”

However, when it comes to the specifics of planning with the school, Lisa says, “I recommend that parents request a transition assessment in around January of the child's eighth grade year, so that in the spring of that year, you're going to have a transition to high school meeting with the IEP team, and that's a good time to start developing their Individualized Transition Plan (ITP).”

The school is not legally required to develop the ITP until your child turns 16, but there are a few reasons you should start earlier. Lisa explains, “Now, I know that very few of us know what we want to do when we're 16 for the rest of our life, or even eighth or ninth grade. But you want to have lots of time to let the child explore different possibilities and different ideas so that you can get closer to having a plan. Kids may be wanting to go straight to a university from high school without going to community college, and those kids need to take the right classes to do that, starting in ninth grade. So that's another reason that you should be talking about that transition planning, if that's something your child's planning on.”

What is a transition assessment?

The transition assessment should take place before you start working with the school on an ITP. If you want to do this assessment before your child is 16, you’ll need to initiate requesting it from the school like you would request any other assessment. In addition, like any other assessment, the school has 60 days to complete it. Lisa says that the school will often have a special education teacher or the school psychologist do the assessment, but ideally a vocational counselor will be involved.

Lisa says, “A transition assessment is going to look at a student's preferences, needs, likes, dislikes, and how that might interact with their future plans. It should include background information, educational history, document review, interviews, career and assessment planning, and even potentially looking at functional skills. And like any assessment, it should have findings and recommendations.”

An ITP boils down to three areas: future education, independent living skills, and employment. To make sure your child’s ITP reflects each of these areas, you want to make sure the assessment covers these key points.

Is the ITP part of the IEP or a separate meeting?

ITP goals are in addition to IEP goals, not instead of IEP goals, and you don’t need to plan a separate meeting. “Usually it's done in the same meeting as the IEP,” Lisa says. “However, if the timing lines up with your triennial assessment, you might need to recess and have multiple meetings because it is a lot to go over. If you're concerned about having enough time to talk about it, you can certainly request either a longer meeting or multiple meetings, just like you can with any other IEP meeting. It should be at the same time as the IEP, and it should be reviewed every time you review that IEP and update it if needed.”

What is a good ITP goal?

“The goals should not be cookie-cutter goals,” Lisa says. The point of an individualized transition plan is considering your child’s specific interests. Hear her explanation of how to turn a general, unhelpful goal into a good one:

As you and your IEP team are working on ITP goals for your child, keep in mind what’s realistic for the school to help out with. For example, the school can help your child research on the internet some college programs they’re interested in, but it would be up to you as the parent to bring your child on an in-person visit to a college campus.

Where can my child get work experience?

The Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) provides a variety of services for individuals with disabilities to help them find employment. For now, Lisa says, focus on connecting your child with student services. “What they'll typically do is talk to your student, find out what your student might be interested in, and place them in employment in that area. For example, they might work at a shoe store in the mall, and the DOR will set limits, like a maximum of 300 hours, 20 hours a week. And when your student hits that 300 hours, they're done with that job, and they can go back to the DOR and be placed in another type of experience, if they wish.”

Because California requires minors to be 16 years old before they can obtain employment, your child needs to be 16 before getting services from the DOR. The process starts with you reaching out to the DOR. Lisa says, “if you're looking for that student work experience right at 16, then I would contact them around 16 or shortly before. If you're only interested in adult services, then you can also contact them and have them come to your IEP meetings, if you’d like. It's going to depend on what programs you're looking at, and they have a lot of programs.”

For more information about the DOR’s programs and what to expect, check out our article How the Department of Rehab Can Help with the Transition to Adulthood.

Will the DOR help pay for college? How much?

The DOR provides employment assistance for individuals with disabilities, which can include funding for education that leads to employment and even funding for supplies related to their education or new job. Hear Lisa explain further:

What if the DOR won’t help my child?

Unfortunately, some families are told that the DOR can’t help them because of the nature of their child’s disability. Lisa says, “If that happens to you, I would reach out to a supervisor there and maybe reach out to an advocate in your community, or maybe Regional Center, to assist you, because that is not true. They do work with people with disabilities, and your child isn't not disabled enough or too disabled for their services.”

What is an A to G diploma, and does my child need one?

As we discuss in our article High School Graduation Options, there are multiple potential routes for your child to obtain a high school diploma that sets them up for future education and career opportunities. A to G refers to the classes that most universities in California will want to see on your child’s transcript if your child plans to attend a four-year college straight from high school. If not, your child can work toward a standard diploma that meets the requirements for high school graduation.

Another possibility is the new alternate pathway to a diploma, which is intended for students with cognitive disabilities but is still equivalent to a standard diploma. You can see our article all about this new pathway to a diploma to learn whether your child is eligible to receive it and how.

No matter what your child is working toward, make sure that you and your IEP team communicate about it, potentially as early as that eighth grade transition meeting. Lisa says, “You want to make sure that you ask in your IEP meeting to confirm what course of study your child is on. Are they doing the A through G requirements, or are they doing the standard diploma, or are they doing an alternative pathway to diploma? Or are they in a certificate track? It should be documented clearly in your IEP.”

Where is your child’s path to a diploma written in their IEP? It depends on the district. “There's going to be a page in your IEP that talks about promotion criteria, promotion standards. Some will have check boxes that say something like ‘district goals.’ That's one place to look to get a clue. Another place to look is the page where your child’s accommodations are listed. They're going to have a curriculum, and it's going to say general, general education, or alternative, or modified, or something like that. So that's kind of a starting point to look. Sometimes it’s buried in the IEP document.”

Lisa also notes that your child’s placement does not determine what diploma they can receive — it’s the curriculum. “So you need to make sure that you understand what curriculum your child is receiving and what path that they're on.”

Will my child be in a program for 18-22-year-olds?

School districts are required to provide special education services for students with IEPs until they graduate from high school or until they turn 22, whichever comes first. However, there are some key exceptions to note. Lisa explains, “If your child earns a diploma through the alternative pathway, they are eligible to stay with the school district until age 22. That does not exit them. Students who get the certificate of completion are also eligible until age 22 to go to the adult transition program.”

Our team is working on an article all about 18–22 transition programs, but in the meantime, here are Lisa’s insights: “Most adult transition programs are very focused on life skills. The important piece to know is that in the adult transition program, all of the IEP rules that you have learned all of these years still apply. There is still a continuum of placements. LRE still applies. It is still individualized. So if your school district's answer is ‘We have a single program, and that program is in this building over here, and this is what they do,’ and that doesn't fit your child's needs, you do still have rights to look at alternatives.” Stay tuned for more information on this topic in our upcoming article.

How do I stay involved in the IEP process after my child turns 18?

Your child will legally become an adult at age 18, and it’s a possibility that the school can deny you access to your child’s IEP. However, there’s an easy remedy to stay involved. Hear Lisa’s explanation:

How does Regional Center help with the transition process?

“You can ask your Regional Center caseworker to attend your IEP meetings,” Lisa says, “and then you can also ask them to start giving you information on transition to adult services. This is something I recommend parents start doing when they're in high school. Start talking to Regional Center about what after high school might look like based on your specific child's needs.” For more information on how Regional Center coordinates your child’s transition to adult services, see our main article on the transition to adulthood.

What if my child’s life after high school probably won’t include future education or employment?

Kids with significant support needs may not be headed toward a four-year college degree or a traditional career, but the ITP process is still important. Lisa says, “The regulations surrounding transition planning talk about future independence, employment, and future education, but not everybody is going to be doing all of those things. You just want to make sure that they're addressed as much as possible. And employment — I always want to say it could be volunteer work too.” No matter what your family’s vision for your child’s future looks like, it should be guided by person-centered planning.

Watch the full recording

Thank you to Lisa for sharing her wisdom about helping prepare our kids for this huge milestone in their lives!

You can watch the full replay of our event here, where we go into more detail and also answer some questions that parents asked in the chat during our livestream.

Ready to work with your own IEP team to prepare your child for life after high school? The Undivided platform has goals with step-by-step walkthroughs to help you request an assessment, prepare for your child’s ITP, apply for DOR services, and more! Explore your Undivided account today if you already have one, or join Undivided to get started.

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