Planning Transition to Employment in Rural Areas for Students with Disablities: Start with a Good Local Fit

Abstract

During the past decade programs for transitioning students with disabilities to employment have been started throughout the country. Many of these programs, including those in rural areas, have not really met the needs of the students or the community. Part of the reason for the lack of success of these programs can be traced to inadequate initial planning. The responsibility for good transition program planning in rural areas typically must fall to the local special education supervisor. This paper addresses some of the problems unique to rural transition program planning and offers some specific and general planning procedures which may be helpful to the supervisor.