College-Based Transition Services' Impact on Self-Determination for Youth With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Embedding transition services on a college campus significantly boosts self-determination for high-school students with IDD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested a program called Think College Transition. High-school students with intellectual or developmental disabilities spent part of their week on a real college campus.
They took college classes, joined clubs, and worked with peer mentors. The researchers measured self-determination before and after the year.
A comparison group stayed in typical high-school transition classes. Both groups started with similar scores.
What they found
Students in the college program gained significantly more self-determination skills. They spoke up more, made more choices, and set clearer goals.
The high-school-only group showed little change. The gap held even after the team controlled for starting scores.
How this fits with other research
Brugnaro et al. (2024) found that teens with intellectual disabilities rate their own life skills lower than peers with other disabilities. That seems to clash with Hong et al. (2021), but the difference is setting. H’s teens were still in daycare or segregated classes, while S’s teens were already on a college campus with supports.
Whaling et al. (2025) interviewed young adults already in inclusive college programs. They described self-advocacy as everyday tasks like asking for help or choosing what to eat. Their stories extend S’s numbers, showing how self-determination looks in real life.
Weiss et al. (2021) reviewed 37 studies of inclusive postsecondary education. Peers reported that helping students with IDD also taught them patience and leadership. Their synthesis includes programs like Think College and confirms the model is replicable across schools.
Why it matters
You can bring college experiences to high-schoolers right now. Partner with a local community college for one elective, club, or lunch period. Start small: one course, one peer buddy, one semester. Track self-determination with a simple checklist before and after. The evidence says even a taste of campus life shifts student voice faster than a year of traditional transition classes.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Most youth in transition services with labels of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have poorer employment outcomes than their peers with other or without disabilities. One alternative approach to address this challenge provides youth with IDD access to transition services in the context of a college or university campus. College-based transition services (CBTS) provide students with IDD access to college courses, internships, and employment during their final 2 to 3 years of secondary education. A quasi-experimental design evaluation of one college-based transition services model, Think College Transition, found that, after controlling for student baseline scores, the college-based transition services had a significant effect on students' scores of self-determination at post-test. Implications for further refining the model are discussed.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-59.4.269