• Post secondary goals are the goals that an individual has after high school is over.

Why are these important?

• These goals are important because they not only create a drive for the student, but give them a clear image of what they are working towards accomplishing after school is over. This also gives them the firs step in identifying the small steps to achieve the goal in question.

What are these goals about?

• Some common goal types people set are those for employment (where/will the student be employed after school), schooling/training(Will there be further educational activity past high school), and independent living(Will the student live alone? Will the student be able to do independent daily living skills or will they need more support). These are the 3 main areas that we address when considering these post secondary goals.

• Age of majority is when a student is considered a legal adult. At the age of 18 in the state of Indiana, the IEP goes into the students name as they are considered by law a legal adult. This means that they now hold all the power in regards to their education. In some cases this is not in the students best interest, and the parent or guardian in the students life needs to take partial or full educational guardianship. This process would then give either partial or full control over the students IEP and education following court approval.

• There are hundreds if not thousands of transitional assessments out there to help our students transition from high school to real world living. Transitional assessments are evaluations that help students to determine the next best steps for their plan in life. After setting the goals mentioned earlier on, taking these assessments is the next step. Students can find assistance for this in Indiana in the IU Assessment Matrix. There are parameters you can set for what kinds of assessments you are looking for and what other small filters you would like. Then you scroll through until you find one that clicks with your goals. Following finding the correct assessment students should complete the assessment and either with a trusted adult or councilor assess the findings to determine the next steps that need to be taken to complete the goals in mind.

• Within the process of transitional planning, the use of outside services can help benefit the students as well as guardians. There are various outside resources that can help make things easier and speed up and smooth out the process. In the state of Indiana there are various programs through our public school systems as well as outside resources and references. In Indiana there are various services through our college systems for those with special needs. Indiana University has a planning portal that has various transitional assessments and tools that can help to determine goals and next steps. There are also different types of day schools/camps for those with special needs through schools like Huntington University that can be a great precursor to fully enrolling in a college program. As for daily living skills planning there are also programs such as EasterSeals that help to train and give daily living skill support to those out of high school as well as still in school. There are other programs such as GiGi’s Playhouse in Fort Wayne that provide vocational training to those with special needs to help them gain employable skills. 

• Post graduation surveys can be very helpful in determining the next steps for out students who are soon to be fresh out of high school. These different assessments are helpful to determine if further education or training is right for our students, or if going straight into the workforce if possible is the best option. They also help to assess our students independent daily living skills to determine if they have the abilities to live on their own or if they need a more restrictive living environment.