Free online transition assessments for students with disabilities

This guide is a wonderful tool for all students, both with and without disabilities.  This guide can be adapted with pictures for students who have difficulty with reading.  This assessment includes a personal profile, relationship map, visions for the future, goal planning, obstacles, resources and ends with an action planning section.  This is a great assessment that students can keep in their personal transition portfolios.

Parents of Teenagers Survival Checklist

This assessment is to be completed by the parents, guardians or other family members that live with the student and know them well.  This includes the family in the assessment process and assesses a variety of life-skills that teenagers exhibit or do not exhibit.  The results can help guide the independent living transition goals.

This inventory was created by Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.  This independent living assessment is beneficial for many students and should involve the student, family members, care-takers, social worker and other individuals pertinent to the student’s life.  Fifteen categories are assessed in this inventory and include money management, food management, personal appearance and hygiene, health, housekeeping, housing, transportation, educational planning, job seeking skills, job maintenance skills, emergency and safety skills, knowledge of community resources, interpersonal skills, legal skills and pregnancy prevention/parenting and child care.

 The Environmental Job Assessment Measure (E-JAM) allows a professional to rate students across 47 descriptors in job areas using a job analysis format. The job areas are: general work behaviors, physical demands of the job, working conditions, educational demands, and social interaction on the job and identify accommodations, modifications, and support that may be needed for workers. The information gathered about a job is useful in matching a student with an appropriate job.

This scale was developed by Dr. Michael Wehmeyer and his colleagues to  (a) assess the self-determination strengths and weaknesses of adolescents with disabilities, (b) facilitate student involvement in educational planning and instruction to promote self-determination as an educational outcome, (c) develop self-determination goals and objectives, and (d) assess student self-determination  skills for research purposes.  After students complete the assessment, the ARC Scale yields a total self-determination and four sub-domain scores.  The four sub-domains are autonomy, self-regulation, psychological empowerment, and self-realization.  Students with mild to moderate disabilities can benefit from the ARC.

SETT Consideration of AT Needs

SETT is an acronym for Student, Environments, Tasks, and Tools.  The SETT Framework is a four part model intended to promote collaborative decision-making in all phases of assistive technology service design and delivery from consideration through implementation and evaluation of effectiveness for students that may benefit from the use of assistive technology. AT is an important factor to consider as students transition to post-secondary education, work environments and independent living settings.

This assessment requires that a student complete a series of questions in each of the four intelligence areas by rating them from 0-4 with 0 being no expertise and 4 being exceptional expertise.  The four intelligence areas include verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, and bodily/kinesthetic. 

Job Preparation Awareness Survey

This is a short nine question survey that requires the student to answer either yes, no, or I don’t know yet.  An example of a question is “are there certain high school classes that would help you prepare for the job that you want”?  The student could either read this survey themselves and answer the questions, or have a person read the survey to them.  This survey requires that the student already know what type of job they want.

This is a basic questionnaire that can be used with all students with appropriate adaptations and accommodations as needed.  The questionnaire is comprised of simple, open-ended questions about the student’s families, school interests, job interests, hobbies, strengths and weaknesses.  This is a great assessment for introductory exploration.

This is a fantastic resource that comprises of many assessments including Student and Family Interviews for Employment, Independent Living, Recreation and Leisure, Community Participation, Post-Secondary and Life Long Learning.  In addition, the book provides a transition assessment planning road map for students in grades 7-14.  Finally the assessment book provides a detailed table of contents, preface highlighting the importance of exploration for students with disabilities, IEP checklist, adult services/resources checklist, and a short brief on Transition Assessments by Gary M. Clark.

This instrument was developed by the Center for Innovative Teaching Experiences and helps educators determine their students' learning styles. Students rate themselves on 45 items, total their score, and come up with a major and minor learning style. Descriptions of each learning style are given to help understand a student's preferred mode of learning. This is also a great tool for students to become self-aware of their learning styles.

The AIR Self-Determination Assessment produces a profile of the student's level of self-determination, identifies areas of strength and areas needing improvement, and identifies specific educational goals that can be incorporated into the student's IEP.  The AIR Assessments measure two broad self-determination components. The first component is capacity which refers to the student's knowledge, abilities, and perceptions that enable them to be self-determined. The second component is opportunity refers to the student's chances to use their knowledge and abilities.

The WATI Assistive Technology assessment package is a process based systematic approach to providing a functional assessment of the student’s need for assistive technology in their customary environment. This is not a test protocol. This assessment package includes the WATI Assessment forms including the Consideration guide, Student Information Guide, Environmental Observation Guide, Decision Making Guide, AT Checklist, and Trial Use Guide.

 Accommodations Questionnaire

This is a two page questionnaire that asks a student to identify the accommodations that may be useful to them in the school setting.  They are directed to respond with a rating from 0 (not likely) to 3 (very likely) for each accommodation listed.  There is space to list other accommodations that a student may need that is not listed on the questionnaire.

This assessment is designed to be used each year from age 14-21.  This assessment is useful when used with students who are engaged in job experiences (ideally community based) on a consistent and meaningful basis.  This includes graph to plot results of the assessment each year.

 Transition Healthcare Checklist

This comprehensive checklist was developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and their community partners.  This checklist emerged when a gap in health services for youth with special health care needs was recognized.  Areas addressed in the checklist include self-awareness, personal safety, heath safety, environmental safety, communication, hearing and vision, medication, self-advocacy, money management, post-secondary considerations, employment considerations, community living, medical management, and activities of daily living.

This assessment is to be used by asking students the questions outlined in the two sections.  The first section relates to the vocational goals and experiences.  The second sections relates to the interests (i.e. hobbies, clubs, organizations, etc.) of the students.  This assessment can be used prior to employment or while working if a change in employment is desired.

 Self-Determination Assessment Battery

This scale was developed by Sharon Field and Alan Hoffman.   This battery consists of four different forms.  The forms include a self-determination student scale, self-determination parent scale, self-determination teacher scale, and an observation checklist.  Although lengthy (92 questions), the student scale requires that a student give either a response of “that’s me” or “that’s not me”.  This assessment could be given to students in chunks due to its length.   In addition, the student can either read the assessment or have the assessment read to them.

 Parent Transition Survey 

This survey addresses those areas identified for transition planning and assists the IEP team in making decisions. Seven areas are addressed: post secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment, continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living skills, and community participation. Parents rank the areas of need. This survey was developed by a community transition council to assist educators include families' preferences and concerns for transition and IEP planning.

The Dream Sheet is a two page questionnaire that created by the Cleveland County Schools in North Carolina.  Questions include those on living settings, job interests, preferred work schedules, benefits and what the student likes to do for fun.