Transition Resources

Building A Bridge Handbook- for students and family members to help with preparation for life after high school.

It's My Choice - a free downloadable PDF workbook that helps with self-advocacy and transition planning for students with significant disabilities.>Keeping It Real: How to Get the Support You Need for the Life You Want - curriculum was developed by the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center, and was written by Kathy Roberson, M.S.W., Rick Blumberg, Ph.D., and Dan Baker, Ph.D. This curriculum is available in both English and Spanish. You may download the entire workbook or just the sections you need. (Don’t miss the helpful Budgeting Basics link at the very bottom!)

Opening Doors to Self-Determination Skills is a free downloadable workbook that assists students with developing self-determination skills that will enable them to be successful in life.

Skills to Pay the Bills…” is yet another free downloadable curriculum that introduces the “basics” of soft skills. It’s great for students ages 14-21 who need to work on employability skills. At this website, you have the option of downloading the entire booklet as a PDF file, or you can print it section by section. To access the website to print each section separately, click HERE. This workbook is also available in Spanish. There is also a set of six Soft Skills Videos

The AIR Assessments measure two broad self-determination components. Capacity refers to the student's knowledge, abilities, and perceptions that enable them to be self-determined. Opportunity refers to the student's chances to use their knowledge and abilities. The AIR Self-Determination Assessments are free of charge.

The Iowa Legal Aid website has a variety of resources on this topic. Also, the American Bar Association’s Practical Tool for Lawyers: Steps in Supporting Decision-Making is a document that lawyers use to determine possible supports that may be needed when a family is requesting guardianship/conservatorship. It may be a useful guide for parents to see what questions they need to consider as they begin this process.

MoneySkill is a free, online, reality-based personal finance course for young adults developed by the AFSA Education Foundation.

My IEP Meeting Template was created by Becky Wilson Hawbaker at the University of Northern Iowa. This is a fillable template that can be used by students to help prepare them for guiding their own IEP meeting.

NEFE’s High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP) is a turnkey financial literacy program specifically focused on basic personal finance skills that are relevant to the lives of pre-teens, teens, and young adults.

Access for Special Kids (ASK) Resource Center is a parent training, information, and advocacy center for families of children with special needs across the state of Iowa. ASK is a family-driven 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Casey Life Skills (CLS) is a free tool that assesses the behaviors and competencies youth need to achieve their long term goals. It aims to set youth on their way toward developing healthy, productive lives.

Center for Parent Information & Resources (CPER) serves as a central “hub” of information and products created for the network of Parent Centers serving families of children with disabilities.

O*NET Interest Profiler is a self-assessment career-exploration tool that can help clients discover the type of work activities and occupations that they would like and find exciting. Clients identify and learn about broad interest areas most relevant to themselves. They can use their interest results to explore the world of work. It's available as a printable short form, and as an online form in both English and Spanish.

O*NET Online has detailed descriptions of the world of work for use by job seekers, workforce development and HR professionals, students, researchers, and more

PACER is the Minnesota Parent Training and Information Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. It includes a transition section - National Parent Center on Transition & Employment.

Wrightslaw is the website that parents, educators, advocates, and attorneys come to for accurate, reliable information about special education law, education law, and advocacy for children with disabilities.

VARK is an acronym for *Visual – *Aural – *Read/Write – *Kinesthetic. The website has an online questionnaire in several formats and multiple languages. The VARK Questionnaire can be useful to help your students understand how they learn best. The website even has individual sections that give helpful strategies for each different learning style which could be beneficial for students to know.

Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment at the University of Oklahoma facilitates successful secondary and postsecondary educational, vocational and personal outcomes for students and adults with disabilities.

Get Ready for College: A Resource for Teens with Disabilities is a free series of online lessons with each focusing on a different aspect in the college preparation, selection, and disability services process. These online lessons contain video presentations and resources that can be used to equip students and others with the knowledge and skills for the transition to postsecondary education. Topics include the differences between high school and college, postsecondary education and training, selecting a college best fit, getting accommodations in college, and what you can do now in high school to prepare for college.