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NDC

National Deaf Center
on Postsecondary Outcomes

5 Transition Resources Every Teacher Should Bookmark Before School Starts

Published on July 3, 2026

A cartoon illustration of a person with purple hair sitting at a desk and using a computer. The monitor shows an NDC webpage about transition planning for deaf youth. A rubber duck sits on top of the monitor, a white cat sleeps curled up on the desk, and a green plant sits behind them.

Teachers, this one is for you.

If “transition planning” is already on your back-to-school brain, you are not alone. Between IEP meetings, student goals, accommodations, work readiness, self-advocacy, and life-after-high-school conversations, it can feel like a lot to pull together.

And the stakes are real. There are about 280,000 deaf youth in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24. About 22.7% are not currently enrolled in school or working. That is roughly 64,000 deaf youth. That number is not about ability. It is a reminder that access, preparation, support, and transition planning matter before students leave school.

So here is your shortcut: NDC’s Transition Planning for Deaf Youth page.

Image description: A collage of NDC materials: Deafverse comic-style strategy guide, a student planning guide worksheet, a “Plan Your Future” vocational rehabilitation guide, a tote bag reading “Deaf People Belong Everywhere,” and two comic book covers titled Revenge of the Deep” and “Legends of the Eldertree.

Back-to-School Kits

Update: Back-to-School Kits are fully claimed — thank you for an incredible response! Every kit resource is free to download, and we expect printed kits to return this fall.

Download Back-to-School Materials
A cartoon illustration of two parents talking with their daughter, holding a phone and notebook, with a shared speech bubble above them showing icons of a texting phone, a notebook and pencil, and a mouth speaking, each followed by a question mark, representing different ways to communicate.

Here’s where to start before the school year gets busy:

  • Need the big-picture starting point? Start with NDC’s Transition Planning for Deaf Youth page.
    This page gives you one place to begin. It brings together tools to help deaf students prepare for college, careers, training, and life after high school — without making you hunt across a dozen tabs

  • Want to strengthen your understanding of deaf youth? Take the Deaf Youth Success Micro Certificate.
    This free professional development opportunity helps educators connect access with student participation, self-determination, and long-term outcomes. In other words: not just “Did we provide accommodations?” but “Are students actually prepared for what comes next?”

  • Want students to stop being talked about and start leading? Explore Student-Led IEP resources.
    These resources help students build the skills to understand their goals, share what they need, and take a more active role in the meetings that shape their future. Transition planning should not happen around students. It should happen with them.

  • Worried about testing accommodations? Keep the Testing Guide close.
    Testing can bring up a lot of access questions: accommodations, documentation, communication needs, timing, and what actually works for each student. This guide helps teams think through those questions before test day becomes stressful.

  • Want students to practice real-life decisions, not just talk about them? Bring in Deafverse teacher resources.
    Deafverse turns self-advocacy, job readiness, and college readiness into interactive learning. Students can practice choices around accommodations, interpreters, job interviews, resumes, college applications, financial aid, and campus life. Teachers can use strategy guides, classroom activities, vocabulary, story summaries, and classroom account tools to connect the game back to transition goals.

Start with one resource. Share it with your team. Send it to the teacher down the hall. Save it for the next IEP meeting.

You know you’ll need it.

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Categories: Current Trends, Tools and Resources
Tags: back to school, Back to School Kits, deaf students, Deafverse, Free Kits, Teachers, transition
Useful For: Teachers

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