Okay, you have reached the day in which mandated “transition planning” is required under IDEA. This process usually commences at the annual review when the student is 15 years old, and the IEP being developed will be in effect when that student turns 16. Depending on certain factors, transition planning may take place earlier as states can opt to start transition planning prior to this time, or IEP teams can elect to do so before the the student turns 16. In my state, transition planning for students identified with autism must begin when the student turns 14. The IEP developed for the period of time in which the student will turn 16 must contain postsecondary outcome goals identifying what a student will do after graduation, along with annual goals/objectives leading to the attainment of those postsecondary goals. At a minimum, the transition planning areas that must be included in the IEP are postsecondary education and postsecondary employment. This aligns with the goal of general education which prepares non-disabled students to be college or career ready by the time they graduate. IDEA also requires schools to prepare students with disabilities for independent living if deemed appropriate to do so.
At some point you may begin to hear about “Indicator 13” which is an IDEA compliance indicator designed to ensure that states are indeed taking transition planning seriously. Specifically, Indicator 13 focuses on the long-term side of transition planning and requires states “to provide students aged 16 and above with an IEP that includes appropriate measurable postsecondary goals that are annually updated and based upon an age appropriate transition assessment, transition services, including courses of study, that will reasonably enable the student to meet those postsecondary goals, and annual IEP goals related to the student’s transition service needs.”  Indicator 13 contains additional requirements including the provision of evidence that a student was invited to the IEP meeting (for a full description of Indicator 13 please see ( 20 U.S.C. 1416(a)(3)(B)). Indicator 13 puts the spotlight on postschool outcome goals, clearly identifying them as the ultimate objective of transition planning.
Keeping this in mind, it becomes clear that to provide a student of transition planning age with a free, appropriate public education teams must start with the end in sight. More importantly, the student becomes central to this process and must be given a part in determining his/her own fate.
So how to go about ensuring that the student along with his/her family is included in this person-centered process? With Person Centered Planning (PCP) of course! While there is no single definition of PCP, there are common characteristics that resonate in defining it. For starters, it is a process for creating a shared vision by identifying the hopes/dreams that a person has. This step can be considered articulating what may be possible (e.g. going to college, having a career, marriage, family, living independently). This information can be used to guide the development of postschool outcome goals. From there the process moves to establishing what is probable; in other words, extracting the reality from the dream. More specifically, what will have to be accomplished for the person to attain the desired outcome? Additionally, PCP will move on to identify the persons strengths/skills (what we have to work with) as well as the persons challenges/barriers (what needs remediation, what needs accommodation, what are the long and short-term supports that will be needed?) This information can be used to guide the development of annual goals/objectives. Lastly, an action plan of next steps is developed and identifies the person/agencies responsible for ensuring that the action plan gets implemented.
There are a number of formal processes for conducting a PCP session. At this stage of the game, I prefer to use a method that starts out by identifying the desired outcome (start with the end in sight). There is no shortage of information available on the internet on the topic of PCP; a preferred resource of mine is listed below. What ever method you choose to use, remember that the goal of PCP is not to have a stellar plan, but to have a stellar life.
https://www.pacer.org/transition/learning-center/independent-community-living/person-centered.asp