Every June, the same conversation moves through special education offices: who qualifies for Extended School Year, and what will it cover? Almost always, the answer centers on academic regression. Will a student lose ground in reading over the break? In math? Those questions matter. But for transition-age students, they miss the skills that are often hardest to rebuild and most urgent to protect. Employment routines, daily living, self-advocacy, getting around the community:

An age-appropriate transition assessment isn't a form you can buy off the shelf. Here's what actually counts, what doesn't, and how to keep it defensible under Indicator 13.

You can write a transition goal that checks every Indicator 13 box and still watch it lead nowhere.

Newmark Education, Scotch Plains NJ One administrator asked us that, kindly, before our beta started. They weren't sure their students would actually engage with the app. They'd seen tools come and go. They knew their kids. Just one voice. But it stuck. We took the bet anyway. Over four weeks this spring, Spectrum Shepherd ran a beta with 8 founding partner schools across NJ, NY, VT, and MA. Public high schools. Nationally recognized private schools. Different settings, diffe

Reframing Work Readiness for Autistic Adults It’s a question whispered at kitchen tables, muttered in IEP meetings, or thought quietly in the car after a long therapy appointment:“Can he really hold a job?”Sometimes it’s phrased differently—Will she ever be ready for work? How could they possibly manage the stress of an actual workplace? If you’ve ever asked that, you’re in good company. We’ve been there too—sometimes in the form of nervous laughter after yet another half-fin

Because neither of you should have to do this alone. If you’re parenting a young adult with Level 2 autism, you probably felt the shift the moment high school ended. The support team that once felt built-in—teachers, aides, specialists, the IEP squad—starts to fade out. And what you’re left with is… the rest of your life. Your kid’s, and yours too. For many families, this transition brings a quiet, complicated truth: your child still needs support, but your ability to provide

Balancing the next chapter: A graduation cap sits alongside gaming gear, posing the question of life after graduation. A guide to supporting autism and independent living—one conversation at a time. Let’s be honest: when your kid is neurodivergent, “graduation” doesn’t always feel like the victory lap the rest of the world makes it out to be. While other parents are pricing dorm fridges and pretending not to cry, you might be staring down a stack of paperwork, services ending

“Why is getting help harder than getting a mortgage?” That’s what one mom told us when she finally sat down to apply for disability benefits for her autistic son. And honestly—she’s not wrong. When your child turns 18, the world expects a magical transition into adulthood. But for families navigating autism, the road to independence is more complex. You’re still doing the heavy lifting, but now you’re doing it without an IEP team, a school system, or a clear plan. Financial s

By a mom who’s been there I remember thinking, we’re almost there. Senior year. My autistic son had come so far. We had a team—teachers, aides, therapists—people who knew him, really got him. And then one day, it hit me: this whole world and these wonderful people we’d relied on were all about to disappear. This had been the foundation we were leaning on to help him grow into autism independence. No more IEP meetings. No more structured social groups. No more daily check-ins.