What happens after high school? A review of independent living practices to support youth with disabilities transitioning to adult life

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Centers for Independent Living (CILs) can help out-of-school youth with disabilities. CIL services may be particularly important for minority youth with disabilities that face additional transition barriers. OBJECTIVE: This literature review documents existing practices that might aid CILs as they seek to help youth, including minority youth, with disabilities transition to adult life. METHODS: First, we conducted a literature search to identify practices that might help CILs assist youth with disabilities transition to independent living (IL) in early adult life. Then we examined various literature syntheses of postsecondary transition interventions with evidence of promise or efficacy for any IL-related outcome—regardless of whether the intervention targeted youth with disabilities. RESULTS: We discovered a variety of practices CILs might learn from or consider adopting to help youth with disabilities transition to adult life. However, the practices rarely focused on minority youth and usually had limited or no evidence about whether they improved IL outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The limitations of the evidence we found suggest the need to develop and test interventions that help transition age youth with disabilities—especially minority youth with disabilities—achieve their IL goals.