Transition: Life-Span and Life-Space Considerations for Empowerment

• Published in: Exceptional children Vol. 60; no. 5; pp. 402 - 410
• Main Author: Szymanski, Edna Mora
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.03.1994; Council for Exceptional Children; Sage Publications, Inc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adulthood; Analysis; Biological and medical sciences; Career Choice; Career Development; Counseling; Disabilities; Disabled adolescents; Education; Education Work Relationship; Elementary Secondary Education; Employment; Empowerment; Intervention; Life Span; Life Span Development; Lifelong Learning; Medical sciences; Methods; Multicultural Education; Personal Autonomy; Postsecondary Education; Preschool children; Preschool Education; Primary Education; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Relationship; Social research; Special education; Special education. Orthophony; Special Needs Students; Transition; Transitional objects (Psychology); Transitional Programs; Treatments; Vocational Adjustment; Social environment; Human; Environment personality relation; Cultural environment; Family environment; Transition; Personality development; Developmental stage; Review; Special education
• ISSN: 0014-4029; 2163-5560
• DOI: 10.1177/001440299406000503

Transition is a process that should empower students, families, and communities. This article integrates literature from counseling, rehabilitation, multicultural education, and special education to explain the importance of life-span considerations, including a focus on preschool and early school years, and the importance of the life-space factors of family, culture, and community. Principles of intervention for empowerment promote transition interventions that are maximally under the control of the student, promote independence and autonomy, are least intrusive, and are most natural for the chosen environment.