Early Childhood Transition--State Guides

While federal law requires all state early intervention programs to have certain characteristics, it allows each state to work out many of the details. This is why transition programs in each state differ significantly. Thus, some of the best resources for navigating the transition of your child from Part C to Part B services are state specific. Here are a few examples:

New York

• New York Parents' Guide: Transition in Early Intervention
  
• New York Parents' Guide: Parents Rights in Early Intervention
  
• Advocates for Children in NY's guide to early childhood transition
  
• Or, if you are looking for something with very detailed information, you can read this memorandum. It is detailed, but not written to be very family-friendly.
  

Washington

• A short early childhood transition brochure
  
• A timeline for early childhood transition
  
• Additionally, I would recommend looking at the transition and parents' rights sections of their guide to early intervention.
  

Massachusetts

• Best Practices in Early Childhood Transition
  

Indiana

• Parents' guide to transition to early childhood special education
  

Ohio

• Guidelines on transition, a transition document checklist, and Countdown to Transition (which includes a timeline and checklist) can be downloaded by clicking on the links on the transition page of the Ohio Dept. of Education.
  

Texas

• The lone star state has a transition page with links to a transition guide and checklist.

Georgia

• Steps for Success is a guide to early intervention transition in Georgia.

Rhode Island

• A comprehensive guide on transition from early intervention in Rhode Island can be found at the Paul V. Sherlock Center Website.

North Dakota

• The Dept. of Human Services and the Dept. of Instruction worked together to produce a guide for understanding early childhood transition in North Dakota.

Oklahoma

• This guide to transition comes from the Oklahoma Dept. of Education.
  

Oregon

• The state Dept. of Education in Oregon has this webpage with links to information on their early intervention program.
  

I'd love to expand this list, so if you have other state specific resources on early intervention/childhood transition, email them to me or post them in the comments below. For those of you who do not live in any of the states we currently have listed, let me recommend a few generic sources:

Non-State specific information

• NECTAC's transition page has a very comprehensive array of resources on early intervention and Part C of IDEA.
  
• Circle of Inclusion has a bunch of useful transition forms to download to help you and the IFSP team develop the transition plan. They are a bit dated (2002), so don't rely on them for legal information (since the law changed significantly in 2004)--but they are good planning tools.
  
• You might also find it useful to read our blog tips on preparing for planning meetings or the tips of others.
  
• Finally, if you are looking for something more substantial and comprehensive, we can recommend Beth Rous' book--Tools for Transition in Early Childhood. It is available for $29.95 from Brookes publishing.
  

I hope one of the above resources on transition meets your needs, but if not or if you are looking for one-on-one information from someone who is knowledgeable and has personal experience navigating the same state system you must deal with--you might want to find a parent to parent program in your area.