Promoting Post-School Success for All: The Role of Collaboration in Person-Centered Transition Planning

Successful collaboration and problem solving are the foundational processes on which meaningful transition plans are constructed. This article discusses the process of planning for the transition from school to adult life for students with disabilities and suggests that person-centered planning is an ideal vehicle for promoting collaboration and problem solving to ensure that transition plans are created that are meaningful and student centered. Parallels are drawn between person-centered planning and the transition process, highlighting the role of collaboration in promoting student and family involvement and self-determination. The article concludes with a call for empirical investigations of person-centered planning focusing on collaboration and the implementation process. A research agenda related to the process of implementing person-centered transition planning is offered that focuses on advancing our scientific understanding of both collaboration and person-centered planning while addressing some of the programmatic and ethical challenges to collaboration that may be encountered when implementing person-centered transition planning. The need for a paradigm shift to promote shared ownership and accountability in the research process is stressed so that researchers engage with students and families in telling new stories about people with disabilities.