Transition Planning

Start Early. Build Over Time.

The skills students need as adults are often built from smaller skills developed years earlier.

A young student learning to follow a visual schedule is building a foundation for eventually following a work schedule. A student learning to clean up after an activity is beginning to understand personal responsibility. Sorting classroom materials can eventually become inventory or job-related organization. Making a simple choice can develop into stronger self-advocacy.

The activity changes as the student gets older. The underlying skill continues growing with them.

That is why A-FITS believes transition preparation should begin as soon as a student enters school.

Life Skills

Independent living requires hundreds of everyday skills that many people take for granted.

Depending on the student's age, needs, abilities, and future goals, A-FITS may provide opportunities to develop personal hygiene, grooming, caring for belongings, making a bed, cleaning, vacuuming, setting a table, cooking, laundry, organization, managing personal items, asking for assistance, making choices, and completing multi-step tasks.

These skills may appear simple individually. Together, they can have a significant impact on a person's ability to participate more independently at home and in the community.

Self-Care & Personal Independence

Greater independence begins with being able to participate in one's own care.

Students may work on age- and ability-appropriate self-care skills such as brushing teeth, grooming, hygiene routines, managing personal belongings, dressing-related skills, recognizing personal needs, and requesting assistance appropriately.

The goal is never to force every student toward the same level of independence.

Instead, we ask: “What can this student learn to do with greater independence than they can today?”

Shopping & Money Skills

Being able to make a purchase is a complex life skill.

It can involve making a list, finding the correct item, comparing choices, understanding cost, managing money, making a payment, receiving change, communicating with store employees, waiting appropriately, and navigating the environment.

A-FITS gives students opportunities to practice purchasing skills within school-based activities and, when appropriate, in community settings.

Cooking Skills

Cooking can support independence, safety, planning, sequencing, communication, and confidence.

Students may begin with very simple tasks and gradually progress based on their abilities. That could include gathering ingredients, following a recipe, measuring, using kitchen tools, preparing a snack or meal, cleaning the work area, and following kitchen safety expectations.

The purpose is not simply learning how to complete a recipe. It is developing a practical skill students may use throughout adulthood.

Laundry & Home-Living Skills

Students may also practice household routines that can contribute to greater independence.

That may include sorting clothing, operating a washer and dryer, folding, putting items away, cleaning surfaces, vacuuming, organizing a living space, completing chores, and following a household routine.

These skills can help students participate more independently in their own homes, whether they eventually live independently, with family, or within a supported living environment.

Pre-Vocational Skills

Preparation for employment can begin long before a student is old enough to have a job.

Students can develop behaviors and habits that later transfer into a workplace, including sorting, packaging, assembly, sequencing, organizing materials, following directions, completing a task from beginning to end, working independently, staying engaged, increasing endurance, improving accuracy, meeting simple time expectations, and accepting feedback.

The objective is not simply completing the activity. The objective is developing the habits that make successful participation in future work possible.

Career Exploration

Students should have opportunities to discover what interests them and what kinds of environments might work well for them.

Career awareness can begin at a young age through exposure to occupations and community roles. As students grow older, career exploration can become more individualized around interests, strengths, work environments, and the skills needed for different occupations.

The goal is exploration—not deciding a student's entire future before they have had an opportunity to experience it.

Community-Based Instruction

Some life skills cannot be fully learned inside a classroom.

Students need opportunities to use skills in the environments where they will eventually need them.

Community-based instruction may include shopping, restaurants, community businesses, volunteer experiences, workplace environments, recreation, community safety, communicating with unfamiliar people, following community expectations, and making choices in real settings.

A student may master a skill at school but struggle when the environment changes. That is why generalization remains a critical part of transition planning.

Work-Related Behaviors

Knowing how to perform a task is only one part of employment.

Students may also need to learn how to arrive prepared, follow a schedule, start work, stay engaged, complete responsibilities, ask questions, request assistance, accept feedback, take an appropriate break, interact with supervisors, work around other people, follow workplace expectations, and become less dependent on adult prompts.

Eventually, the question becomes: “Can the student participate successfully within the expectations of a real work environment?”

Self-Advocacy

One of the most important transition skills is learning how to communicate your own needs.

Whenever possible, A-FITS wants students to increasingly understand what helps them succeed, what environments are difficult, what supports they need, when they need a break, how to ask for help, what they enjoy, what they do not want, and what their goals are.

Self-advocacy means a student has a greater voice in decisions that affect their own life.

Leisure & Recreation

A meaningful adult life should include more than work and responsibilities.

Students also need opportunities to discover hobbies, recreation, sports, games, creative interests, technology, social activities, community activities, and ways to enjoy unstructured time.

Leisure skills can support friendships, mental well-being, community involvement, and greater independence.

FITS Forward™

During high school, transition planning becomes increasingly intentional through FITS Forward™.

FITS Forward focuses on the student's life after graduation through independent living, daily living skills, self-advocacy, vocational exploration, career interests, community participation, workplace behaviors, pre-employment skills, recreation, adult services awareness, and future planning.

There is no single correct adult outcome. One student may move toward competitive employment. Another may need supported employment. Another may prioritize independent living, communication, community access, or supported adult living.

The plan should reflect the student—not a predetermined definition of success.

The Goal Is Life After School

Graduation is an important milestone. But graduation itself is not the ultimate goal.

The larger goal is helping the student leave A-FITS with as many useful skills, experiences, choices, and opportunities as possible.

Transition planning asks us to continually think beyond today: What will this skill mean when the student is 18? What about 21? What will help them participate more independently at home? What will help them enter the community? What might help them work? What will help them advocate for themselves? What can we begin teaching now that could make adulthood more successful later?