Transition Services – What’s Available?

National Supports:

Transition Resources
•    Council for Exceptional Children (Division on Career Development and Transition) 
DCDT
Focuses on the career development of children, youth and adults of all ages and exceptionalities, including transitions and career development of exceptional children.

•    The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET)
The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET) coordinates national resources, offers technical assistance, and disseminates information related to secondary education and transition for youth with disabilities in order to create opportunities for youth to achieve successful futures.

•    National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) assists state and local workforce development systems to better serve youth with disabilities. The NCWD/Youth is composed of partners with expertise in disability, education, employment, and workforce development issues. NCWD/Youth is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor”s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).

•    Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
Through the Department of Labor (DOL) The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) provides national leadership by developing and influencing disability-related employment policy as well as practice affecting the employment of people with disabilities.

•    School-to-Work Outreach Project
STWOP was a nationwide, three-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education to improve school-to-work activities including students with disabilities by identifying and sharing school-to-work models/practices/strategies that work, encouraging others to adopt or replicate those models.
•    Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education: Know Your Rights and Responsibilities
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education is providing the information in this pamphlet to explain the rights and responsibilities of students with disabilities who are preparing to attend postsecondary schools.

•    Transition Research Institute at the University of Illinois
TRI identifies effective practices, conducts intervention and evaluation research, and provides technical assistance activities that promote the successful transition of youth with disabilities from school to adult life.

National Disability Organizations
•    American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
AAPD is a non-profit, non-partisan, cross-disability organization whose goals are unity, leadership and impact.

•    The Arc of the United States
The Arc (formerly Association for Retarded Citizens of the United States) is the country”s largest voluntary organization committed to the welfare of all children and adults with mental retardation and their families. This is a very large and developing site. It atoledo offers an impressive assortment of articles, position papers, links, legislative alerts and more.

•    Autism National Committee (Autcom)
This is the only autism advocacy organization dedicated to “Social Justice for All Citizens with Autism” through a shared vision and a commitment to positive approaches.

•    Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)
CCD is a coalition of national disability organizations working together to advocate for national public policy that ensure the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.

•    DisabilityInfo.gov
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities created this site to provide one-stop online access to resources, services, and information available throughout the Federal government.

•    Institute on Independent Living
The Institute”s purpose is to promote the opportunities of persons with disabilities to gain more personal and political power, self-determination, full participation and equality, both in Sweden and internationally through educational activities. These activities may consist of the production and dissemination of educational materials and information, planning and organizing of courses, seminars and study visits.

•    National Association of Developmental Disabilities Councils (NACDD)
The NADDC promotes national policy which enables individuals with developmental disabilities the opportunity to make choices regarding the quality of their lives and be included in the community.

•    National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services, Inc.(NASDDDS)
“The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities (NASDDDS) is a nonprofit organization, established in 1964 to improve and expand public services to people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. The Association”s goal is to promote and assist state agencies in developing effective, efficient service delivery systems that furnish high-quality supports to people with developmental disabilities.”

•    National Association of State Medicaid Directors (NASMD)
The National Association of State Medicaid Directors (NASMD) is a bipartisan, professional, nonprofit organization of representatives of state Medicaid agencies (including the District of Columbia and the territories). The primary purposes of NASMD are to serve as a focal point of communication between the states and the federal government and to provide an information network among the states on issues pertinent to the Medicaid program.

•    National Council on Disability
The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress on issues affecting 54 million Americans with disabilities. NCD”s overall purpose is to promote policies, programs, practices, and procedures that guarantee equal opportunity for all individuals with disabilities, regardless of the nature of severity of the disability; and to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent living, and inclusion and integration into all aspects of society.

•    National Disability Rights Network (formerly National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems)
The NDRN promotes national policy which enables individuals with developmental disabilities the opportunity to make choices regarding the quality of their lives and be included in the community.

•    National Dropout Prevention Center
The Dropout Prevention Center provides technical assistance about dropout prevention research, practices that work, and policies to assist states and their stakeholders to accomplish goals and plan for systems change to reduce dropout rates and improve school completion rates for students with disabilities.

•    The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
“Established in 1988, NIDCD is mandated to conduct and support biomedical and behavioral research and research training in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language. The Institute also conducts and supports research and research training related to disease prevention and health promotion; addresses special biomedical and behavioral problems associated with people who have communication impairments or disorders; and supports efforts to create devices which substitute for lost and impaired sensory and communication function.”

•    The National Organization on Disability
The National Organization on Disability promotes the full and equal participation of America”s 54 million men, women and children with disabilities in all aspects of life.

•    TASH (formerly The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps)
TASH is an international advocacy association of people with disabilities, their family members, other advocates, and people who work in the disability field. TASH believes that no one with a disability should be forced to live, work, or learn in a segregated setting; that all individuals deserve the right to direct their own lives. TASH”s mission is to eliminate physical and social obstacles that prevent equity, diversity, and quality of life.

•    World Institute on Disability (WID)
WID is an international public policy center dedicated to carrying out cutting-edge research on disability issues and overcoming obstacles to independent living.