History of Targeting Transition
The program began as a “life and employability” skills program for vocational students.
When transition became the focus of IDEA 1997, a group of special education directors, transition coordinators, special education teachers, service cooperative personnel, and the Ten Sigma staff adapted the “life and employability” skills program to meet the needs of transition. Thus the Targeting Transition program came into existence.
Based on transition skill research, needs of special education students, development team recommendations, and IDEA regulations, the program was adapted to include an age-appropriate survey that allowed IEP teams to identify students’ transition needs, transition rubrics to define the goals and objectives students needed to develop needed skills, and a multiple year tracking form that could be used to track student transition progress from age 14 until graduation.
The original Targeting Transition program was designed to include transition skills for higher-functioning (independent) students. But as time passed, it became clear that the program had to be expanded to meet the transition needs of a wider variety of special education students. Three new sets of skills were added, including transition skills for lower-functioning (somewhat dependent) students, students on the autism spectrum, and students with severe disabilities (dependent).
To complete the program, activities were developed for the higher- and lower-functioning skills. At this time, we are updating the activities for these two groups, as well as designing transition activities for students on the autism spectrum.
To assist districts in implementing the program consistently across their staff, Ten Sigma provides a variety of training options, including training by our staff and training by a local staff member using the Trainer’s Manual.