You have come a long way baby, but not far enough?

Abstract

When reflecting on the topic of employment and postsecondary education for students with intellectual disabilities over the past two decades, it is safe to say that the linkage of employment to transition has more recently become more common for teachers, adult service providers, families and students. Historically conversations about education, transition to adult life and employment were dealt with individually and not collectively reflecting on how programs were legislated, funded, or implemented. While some legislative initiatives called for better integration of services and supports across systems, the delivery of these was often done within the confines of an individual delivery system or in a silo. We had conversations about the ‘hand off’ of the student, often too late in the transition process, and not on the integration of programs and services to address the student’s evolving interests, preferences and needs. Recent legislative and administrative initiatives have moved the focus on transition from schools to the vocational rehabilitation system, linked the Department of Labor youth programs to school transition and are seeking to integrate services and supports across state service systems to reflect individual needs. Alignment of services across state and federal systems, using strategies such as resource mapping across those systems, can result in braided or blended funding to pay for