AAP Bookstore AAP Web site search AAP Members Only Channel American Academy of Pediatrics American Academy of Pediatrics
  Transitions Resources
  Training on Transitions
  Youth and Transitions
Transition Tools for Families

Adolescent Health Transition Project
The Adolescent Health Transition Project provides information on transitions from pediatric to adult health care for adolescents with special health care needs. You can link directly to information and materials below.

Education
Partners in Education
A three-hour self directed e-learning course to help parents with children with developmental disabilities better understand and maximize the benefits of special education services and inclusion for their children, is now being tested.

Review the course and provide your comments and feedback. A user fee of $30.00 must be paid for the course before enrollment can be completed. This fee gives access to the course(s) for a two-month period of time.

The Healthy Student - A Parent's Guide to Preparing Teens for the College Years
This guide is available on the Society for Adolescent Medicine web site. While this brochure is designed for the typical teen (and not for the teen with a disability or chronic health condition), it identifies and briefly addresses many of the issues that are of concern to youth with special health care needs who plan to attend college, including insurance; medical records, prescriptions, confidentiality, and student health services.

National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET)
State Information
Transition-related resources and education-related office contact information for states and territories in the United States. You will find manuals, toolkits, curricula, Web sites and more for everyone involved in supporting the successful transition of youth with disabilities to adult life.

Independent Living
Planning is the Key to Success
In Planning is the Key to Success, parents learn why they need to plan for the future, elements of a master plan, and how to write a master plan for their child, step-by-step.

Centers for Independent Living (CILS)
These Centers receive federal funding and "are non-residential offices located around a state that offer guidance and support people with disabilities, fight for the rights of people with disabilities, and offer training and information on living independently in the community."

Recruitment of Personal Care Assistants for People with Disabilities
With assistance from consumers & Personal Care Assistant’s participating in various Home & Community Based Services waiver programs, the A.J. Pappanikou Center for Developmental Disabilities (CT UCEDD) has produced & directed a video aimed at recruitment of Personal Assistants for people with disabilities. Included are perspectives from individuals & family members representing various disabilities & ages, explaining why personal assistants are important parts of their daily lives, and why being a personal assistant can be a challenging and rewarding career. This recruitment tool will be available in VHS, CD and DVD. This project was funded by CMS.
For more information, contact Christine Gaynor at gaynor@uchc.edu or 860.679.1534.

Assessment Tools/Check Lists/Worksheets
The Casey Family Programs
Casey Family Programs offers free online assessment tools to measure a youth's life skills such as the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment (ACLSA). The ACLSA is an evaluation of youth independent living skills. It consists of statements about life skills that the youth and his/her caregivers complete. Available in Spanish.

In 2001 Casey Family Programs—working with young people in foster care, alumni of care, families, and other stakeholders—published It’s My Life, a framework to develop services for young people preparing to make the transition from foster care to successful adulthood. It’s My Life promotes a holistic approach to transition services. Each guide will focus on one of the seven interconnected life domains discussed in It's My Life, (Domains listed below). The first guide available in PDF format is on Employment.

  • Cultural and Personal Identity Formation
  • Supportive Relationships and Community Connections
  • Physical and Mental Health
  • Life Skills
  • Education
  • Employment (Click here to download a copy of the guide)
  • Housing

CHOICES Transitions Guidelines
The Shriners Hospitals – State Agency CHOICES project created transition guidelines for age groups: infants, 1-5 years, 6-10 years, and 11-21 years.  Developmental Screening Tools and Care Plans by age groups are available for general orthopedic conditions, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Cerebral Palsy.

The Illinois Division of Specialized Care for Children Transition Information and Resources
This site provides access to information and forms developed by DSCC, as well as other resources, including:

  • The Transition Information Sheet for Families
  • Teaching Sheets (Kentucky Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs)
  • Transition Timeline (Office of Children with Special Health Care Needs, Washington State)
  • The Health Care Checklist (adapted from other health care checklists) School to Work Checklist (adapted from Young Adult Services Program, South Bend, Indiana)
  • Employment Information Sheet (adapted NICHYC)
  • Preparing for the Future: Transition to Adulthood (Illinois Chapter of AAP)
  • Questions to Ask Potential Adult Care
  • Bridging the Gap Between Pediatric and Adult Services - a guide

Kentucky Commission for CSHCN
Provides useful resources such as one page teaching sheets and a checklist for independence for birth-21. You can use the list to work toward health and independence for youth, families, and people who work with them.

Kentucky TEACH Project
Kentucky’s Healthy & Ready to Work Project has various resources to assist young people and their families through the transition from school to work, pediatric to adult health care, and living at home to independent living.   The Transition Checklist includes items from birth - 21 and can be used to work toward health and independence for children, youth, families, and people who work with them.  Life Maps with coordinating one-page Teaching Sheets are available for age groups from birth – 21.   Other documents include:  Transition Health Care Tips, Finding Adult Health Care, Ten Steps to Job Success, Hiring and Using a Personal Care attendant, College Prep Timeline, and how to be insurance savvy.  Also available are 19 Transition Newsletters that can be adapted for use.  

Transition Question Competencies - Download Here
This document provides questions for transition assessment and planning and a list of daily life skills needed to transition from school to work and to increase independence.

Transition Worksheet - Download Here
This is a one-page sheet that allows you to summarize a youth's living arrangements, transportation, education, employment, medical information, etc.

Vocational Rehabilitation Information
A Consumer Guide to Public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR)
For every state, find out how many people found jobs through the VR system, the hours they worked, the number of people who used supported employment, and the average cost per case-- to name a few. Now available at StateData.info: data on individuals who completed VR services in fiscal year 2003.

Postsecondary Options for Students with Intellection Disabilities Teleconference
As more and more students with disabilities are included in their classes, what will happen after 12th grade? Could Students with cognitive disabilities continue their transition education in college? Many are doing that now. Learn how.

Self-Employment for People with Disabilities: A Free In-Service/Pre-Service Training Curriculum for Rehabilitation Professionals
Developed and used nationwide by the Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities, this versatile curriculum teaches business development basics and describes the steps for helping a person with a disability start a business. You can use it as a self-study course, a workshop training, and/or as part of a rehabilitation education curriculum.

Last Updated July 22, 2008

Top of Page  
home | about us | states | tools | training | screening | funding | model programs | health topics | publications