Research Highlight: Transition planning

 Transition Planning from Early Intervention to Preschool

       Rous, B., Myers, C.T., & Stricklin, S.B. (2007). Strategies for supporting transitions of young children with special needs and their families.  Journal of Early Intervention, 30(1), 1-18.

Bottom Line:  Practitioners, administrators, trainers/faculty/ researchers, and families reported the strategies they recommend for successful transition.  The two most important are interagency collaboration and effective transition practices. The article elaborates on both of these strategies.

Tips from the research

When your child becomes two years old, ask the early intervention staff to identify their typical practices and activities for preparing parents to be partners in planning transition.  Here are some useful questions and follow-up requests.  

• What strategies do you typically use for both the staff and families?  Please let me have your written materials and guidelines.
• What are the applicable state and local policies?  Please let me have a copy of them or tell me where I can get a copy. 
• Is there a transition planning specialist(s)?  Please give me the person’s name and tell me what their role is.
• What other agencies are involved in transition?  Please identify them and the key contact person in each agency.
• Will you have interagency meetings about transition during the next year? Are the meetings open to families? Please tell me when they are and what I may expect if I attend.
• How to do you align your services with those of the agency(ies) to which my child probably will transition?  Please give me some examples of how you and I can plan to continue my child’s services.
• How I can be an effective partner in the planning conference?  Please tell me what other family members have done to be effective.
• How can I learn about preschool programs my child might attend?  Please tell me how other parents have informed themselves about preschool programs.
• How can all of us be partners for successful transition? Please tell me what other parents did to be good partners with you. 
• Are there resources about my child’s disability that I should read to be an effective partner in transition?  Please let me know what they are and whether you have any you will share with me.
• What other resources might inform me about transition and being an effective partner? Please tell me about community or neighborhood resources and parent support groups.

Key Findings

Practitioners, administrators, practitioners, trainers/ faculty/researchers, and families identified two major strategies for effective transition: interagency collaboration and effective practices. 

• Interagency collaboration refers to supportive infra-structure, relationships and communication, and continuity and alignment.
• Supportive infra-structure:  A supportive infra-structure has strategies to guide the transition process (for example, written materials, forms), transition policies at the state and local levels, personnel responsible for transition planning (for example, a service coordinator or transition coordinator), and support from administration.
• Relationships and communication refers to interagency relationships (for example, participating in meetings and having dialogue between agency staff) and cross-program communication and collaboration (for example, discussion across agencies of broad transition issues).
• Continuity and alignment refers to the relationship between the sending and receiving programs.  Strategies focused on continuity (for example, using developmentally appropriate practices, having realistic expectations) and alignment (for example, transparent connections between program guidelines and curricular expectations).
• Transition practices include child, family, staff, program, and community considerations.  There are four categories of practices:  preparation of families and children for transition, program visitation, instructional activities, and use of community resources.
• Preparation of families and children for transition refers to families’ participation in meetings (for example, having opportunities to meet staff and to learn about different classrooms and programs), sharing information with families as part of transition planning (for example, providing information on program options and what happens during the transition planning process), and providing specific workshops designed for parents.
• Program visitation consists of family, child, and staff visits to programs the child might attend.
• Instructional activities consist of program-wide activities for children and families (for example, home visits and formal orientation events) and child-specific activities conducted in an individual child’s environment designed to prepare the child for a new setting (for example, learning to ride a school bus).
• Community resources are those that help parents understand their IDEA-related rights (for example,  parent resource centers and disability networks), community and neighborhood resources, and family support groups.

Method

• Focus groups consisted of 43 individuals, including practitioners, administrators, trainers/faculty/researchers, and families representing 18 states.
• Focus groups occurred at national or state conferences.
• There is no information about the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics of the participants.
• Five questions were shared with participants in advance and guided the focus groups.
• Focus groups were recorded and transcribed verbatim.
• Thorough procedures were used for coding the data and ensuring its credibility.

Related Publications

Hanson, M.J., Beckman, P.J., Horn, E., Marquart, J., Sandall, S.R., Greig D., & Brennan, E. (2000).  Entering preschool:  Family and professional experiences in this transition process.  Journal of Early Intervention, 23(4), 279-293.

Lovett, D.L., & Haring, K.A. (2003).  Family perceptions of transitions in early intervention.  Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 38(4), 370-377.

This research was conducted in collaboration with the Beach Center on Disability.  It was funded by the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Families of Children with Disabilities of the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation and Research (H133B30070) and private endowments.  Permission granted to reproduce and distribute this research brief.

Please credit the Beach Center on Disability.