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Transition Policy: Infusing Self-Determination and Self-Advocacy into Transition Programs

A SENSE OF DESTINY facilitates success (Coleman, 1966). Successful people assess their needs, determine goals, plan actions, act, monitor their performance, and make any needed adjustments (Mithaug, Martin, & Agran, 1987). Unfortunately, many students leaving our nation’s special education programs lack a sense of destiny (White, et al., 1982). They do not advocate for their own interests (Allen, 1989). During their final school years students remain dependent upon teachers, support staff, and parents to make decisions, evaluate performance, and make needed connections to post-school services (Chadsey-Rusch, Rusch, & O’Reilly, 1991). After exiting school, many former special education students can’t plan their future, remain unemployed or underemployed, and experience a quality of life remarkably different from their nondisabled peers (Hasazi, Gordon, & Roe, 1985; Mithaug, Horiuchi, & Fanning, 1985; McNair & Rusch, 1990; Neel, Meadows, Levine, & Edgar, 1988; Wagner, 1989, 1991).