From School to Adult Services: Navigating the Transition

School services are an entitlement: the district must provide them. Adult services are eligibility-based: you apply, you're assessed, you're authorized.

Families who start the conversation at 21 often face a gap. Families who start at 14–16 usually don't.

Ages 14–16: transition planning becomes part of the IEP. Start naming adult goals — work, housing, community.

Age 17: request an ECF CHOICES referral and begin gathering medical and behavioral documentation.

Age 18: apply for benefits, and address guardianship or supported decision-making — whichever fits the person.

Ages 21–22: school eligibility ends. Adult day, employment, and residential supports should already be authorized.

A single folder: diagnoses, IEPs, evaluations, medication list, incident history, and a one-page profile of routines and preferences.

A short list of what the person wants their week to look like. It anchors every meeting that follows.

DHS works with families through transition years — day services and employment supports for new graduates, residential options when home support is no longer sustainable, and a free eligibility conversation before any of it is decided.