Instructional Strategies Supporting Transition Goals

Imagine trying to build a bridge across a chasm by starting at one edge, laying down planks blindly, and simply hoping the other side aligns. In special education, this chasm is the profound shift from a highly structured K-12 environment to the unyielding realities of adulthood. We do not lay planks blindly; we engineer the crossing. Transition planning is the deliberate, calculated process of preparing students with mild to moderate disabilities to step off the educational bridge and walk confidently into independent living, employment, and post-secondary education. Our ultimate metric of success is not what a student does when we are watching in the classroom, but what they do when our structural supports are gone.