The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

meant to prepare students with exceptionalities for life after secondary school, whether it is college or the workplace.  For individuals with autism the transitional process is more complicated, because of both academic and social challenges.  Until the past decade there were very few academic programs that adequately prepared students for life after high school.  As an educator I have been in countless IEP  transition conferences where a child was asked what they wanted to do with their lives at fourteen.  It missed the point, because very few students know what they want do as a teenager, especially one with autism. 

The high school educational transition process must start much earlier, be more gradual, practical and methodical.  Transition needs to focus on developing the academic and social skills that individuals need to be successful after secondary school.  Self-advocacy and self-determination can be taught as early as elementary school.  Middle school is an ideal environment to begin teaching most transitional skills, because of the maturation process and the demands made on students there.  In Middle School students switch classes through out the day, are expected to be more independent and social demands increase.  It is quite important for them to strengthen their social skills, executive functioning and organization.  By doing so in a gradual and deliberate fashion it will help them develop these skills significantly by high school.  

High school should be a time that student’s skills are further developed and an emphasis needs to be placed on their strengths.  Helping students develop career aspirations, based on strengths in a realistic manner is imperative.  Even if a student is going to college they need to develop life skills (ie. hygiene, budgeting, letter writing, CV’s) and vocational ones.  This will help them more easily enter the job market.  In addition, parents need to push their children to go beyond their comfort zone.  This means little things like doing laundry, advocating for one’s self and even a part time job.  This will help prepare them for college.  In college parents need to have their children become independent as possible and encourage them to make the most out of social and academic opportunities.  Over time, if the skills are properly integrated they will more likely make it in the adult world.

The objectives of this presentation are as follows:  1.  Participants will learn what educational transition is and its components. 2. Participants will learn about the challenges that individuals with autism face during educational transition.  3. Participants will learn strategies to foster success during educational transition.