Preparing Students with Disabilities for College Success: A Practical Guide to Transition Planning

This is a comprehensive, accessible guide for making successful transitions to postsecondary education for students with high-incidence or hidden disabilities. Recent evidence has shown that college may be the most productive way to 'level the playing field' for students with disabilities, and this book provides the information teachers, related services personnel (e.g., counselors, school psychologists) and parents need to help students succeed. This book supports the efforts of parents and professionals to foster successful transition to college for students with mild - moderate, non-visible disabilities such as learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and more. It not only fosters access to postsecondary education, but provides guidance for preparation so that students with disabilities have the skills to succeed and graduate. While outlining the complexities that students with disabilities face in the transition to college, this book also presents a variety of practical solutions and strategies to help students throughout the process. Through the use of vignettes, tips, and activities, each chapter translates the most up-to-date research in a user-friendly format that can be used to guide students with disabilities and their families.

Stan F. Shaw, Ed.D., is Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director at the Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability and Professor Emeritus of Special Education at the University of Connecticut. He co-authored Postsecondary Education and Transition for Students with Learning Disabilities (PRO-ED, 2003) and What Every Teacher Should Know About Transition and IDEA 2004 (Allyn & Bacon, 2007). He wrote the postsecondary education chapter for the international Handbook of Special Education (Sage Publications, 2007). He is a former editor of the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability and is currently on the editorial boards of respected professional journals, including Career Development and Exceptional Individuals, Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, and Journal of Special Education Leadership, among others.

He is the recipient of several awards, including the Oliver P. Kolstoe Award from the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Career Development and Transition, the University of Connecticut's AAUP Excellence Award for Teaching Mentorship, and the inaugural Communication Award from the Association on Higher Education and Disability. He has been project director for more $6 million in grants. Dr. Shaw's current interests include transition from high school to college, implementation of the summary of performance to enhance communication between high school and postsecondary education, staff development and preparation of postsecondary disability personnel, disability policy and law, and grant writing.

Joseph W. Madaus, Ph.D., is Director of the Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability and is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Connecticut, he was Director of the Learning Resource Center at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut, and was Director of the University Program for College Students with Learning Disabilities at the University of Connecticut. He was a Distinguished Research Fellow in the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research Mary Switzer Fellowship program and he serves on multiple journal editorial boards. In 2007, Dr. Madaus received both the Teaching Promise and Teaching Innovation award from the University of Connecticut chapter of the American Association of University Professors. In 2008, he was named as a University Teaching Fellow, the highest teaching honor at the University of Connecticut.

Lyman L. Dukes, III, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, joined the faculty in 2001. He is also Principal Investigator of Project 10: Transition Education Network, which is a transition-focused training and technical assistance center funded by the Florida Department of Education. Previously, he has worked as a secondary level special education teacher as well as a rehabilitation therapist and behavioral consultant for people with significant disabilities. His current research interests include transition from school to postsecondary settings, transition assessment and the use of the summary of performance for high school students with disabilities, programmatic self-assessment for postsecondary disability services, and the use of blended instruction at the postsecondary level.

Michael N. Faggella-Luby, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Connecticut, Department of Educational Psychology, Neag School of Education, 249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2064, Storrs, CT 06269-2064. Dr. Faggella-Luby is also a research scientist at the Center for Behavioral Education and Research and an associate research scholar at the Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability. Dr. Faggella-Luby conducts research on critical components of reading comprehension instruction with academically diverse students.

James E. Martin, Ph.D., is the Zarrow Endowed Professor in Special Education and Director of the Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment at the University of Oklahoma. He received a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree in education from Eastern Illinois University, and he received a doctorate in special education with an emphasis on secondary transition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to his current position, Dr. Martin served as a professor of special education and as the first Director of the Center of Self-Determination at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Through the years, he has specialized in the development and implementation of self-determination methodology in educational, transitional, and supported employment programs. Dr. Martin has written extensively on special education, self-determination, and transition. He has also co-authored several instructional packages, including the Self-Directed IEP Kit (Martin, Huber Marshall, Maxson, & Jerman, Sopris West, 1996), ChoiceMaker Self-Determination Assessment (Martin & Marshell, Sopris West, 1995), and Take Action: Making Goals Happen (Huber Marshall, Martin, Maxson, Hughes, Miller, McGill, & Jerman, Sopris West, 1998).