Mollie is a self-assured and vivacious freshman at a large Michigan university. With her gregarious nature and enthusiasm for school, not many suspect her to have a specific learning disability (SLD).

School is not easy for Mollie, but after completing her first semester with a 3.0 average, she is confident that she can reach her goal of earning a degree in social work. Mollie’s success thus far is due in part to her early involvement in transition planning, which required her to understand her disability, learn how to self-advocate, and set postsecondary goals long before she finished high school.

Mollie’s future did not always look so bright. “As a kid, I was really insecure, and I hated elementary school. I just couldn’t understand why reading came so easy to the other kids and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. When I was finally diagnosed in fifth grade with a learning disability in the areas of basic reading, reading comprehension, and written expression, I was actually relieved. There was a logical explanation for my problems, and I didn’t have to beat myself up.”

With special education supports and accommodations in place, Mollie was able to keep up with her class. She transitioned to middle school and started to enjoy school for the first time, joining the student council and the track team. But even when she entered high school at age 14, “college was absolutely not on my radar,” she says. “My first job was washing dishes at a pizza place, and I think everyone just assumed I’d stay there because school had always been so hard for me.”

Up to that point, Mollie’s involvement with her education had been limited at best. “I attended my IEP [Individualized Education Program] meetings, but until tenth grade I was basically a bump on a log. I mean, what did I know about what I could or should be doing? I was just a kid.”

Mollie’s awakening came her sophomore year. One of Mollie’s teachers let her know it was time to get serious about preparing for the future. She needed to have her transition plan in place by the time she turned 16 as is required for students with disabilities by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

“My special education teacher sat me down and said that I needed to start thinking more about my transition out of high school. I kinda freaked out. I said, ‘I’m not ready for this! I’ve still got three more years in school!’ But it did get me thinking and turned out to be really helpful.”

Mollie’s school uses the IDEA required Summary of Performance (SOP) as a tool for involving the student in setting goals for living, learning, and working. The SOP process includes students describing the challenges posed by their disability and indicating which supports and accommodations have been helpful (or not so helpful) in the high school setting.

Mollie’s work on the SOP helped her develop a thorough understanding of her disability and its impact on her learning. While she had never been able to closely follow what was being documented at her IEP team meetings previously, the SOP helped frame the discussion in a way she could better understand. “Really looking at my disability and thinking about which supports and accommodations work, and which don’t, helped me talk about my disability. I noticed that the better I understand my needs, the better I can express them.”

With this new perspective, Mollie was encouraged to take a more active role in her IEP team meetings, particularly when the team explored Mollie’s postsecondary vision. As a sophomore, Mollie did not have a specific career goal. However, her involvement in creating her Educational Development Plan (EDP) helped her determine that she wanted to work in some helping profession.

Mollie’s increased self-awareness helped motivate her more than ever, and she shifted into high gear during eleventh grade. When the time came to revisit her IEP, Mollie had a new focus and enthusiasm. Under “Goals,” she added “college, live in dorm, earn degree in social work.” She pushed to rearrange her schedule to fit in the classes she would need for college. She took the ACT and Michigan Merit Exam (MME) with accommodations; she toured colleges and applied for scholarships. Although her counselors and transition team were supportive, they favored a less ambitious approach.

“The school advised me to start slow, maybe do community college after I had taken some more English classes… but my goals were bigger than that,” says Mollie. “I felt that I understood myself as a learner and could handle a four-year program with the right support.” In the fall of her senior year, she applied to three colleges and was accepted to all of them.