| Adolescents with disabilities and their families face many challenges, especially at critical transition periods in their lives. Such transitions include moving from a middle school to a high school setting, moving from a high school to an employment setting, entering a post-secondary education program, and/or deciding to live independently in the community.; Since the 1990s passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as the recent reauthorization of IDEA 1997, there has been a flurry of activity in the area of transition planning. This Act now requires transition planning be addressed within the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process for all special education students beginning at age 14. Since the reauthorization of IDEA, attempts have been made to develop new, more successful approaches for transition planning.; This research investigated perceptions of deaf students to identify key services and experiences which facilitated their successful transition from secondary and post-secondary education into adult life and employment. Only those who graduated from Kansas high schools (either residential or mainstream) and who completed the transition process were included in the study. The investigation considered students' participation in the planning process and what effect it had upon their decisions regarding directions or goals they chose to pursue. The study was conducted via a formal method based on extensive literature review and administration of a survey questionnaire.; Responses were analyzed using an ANOVA paradigm. Analyses were conducted in terms of school setting (residential vs. mainstream ), gender, and type of support services received (vocational rehabilitation vs. post-secondary vs. both ). No statistically significant differences were found for perceptions of deaf students regarding quality and satisfaction of transition planning and programs. Therefore, sample means for all four dependent variables (quality of transition planning, satisfaction with transition planning, quality of transition programs, and satisfaction with transition programs) were explored to identify participants' perceptions. Respondents' cohesiveness indicates attention should be addressed to issues and concerns as a whole; school setting, gender, and type of support services do not differentially affect Deaf students' perceptions. |
