Abstract

One of the major goals in the education and training of individuals with special needs is to prepare them for
independence. However, in the Malaysian context, parents who have special adolescents are in doubt as to what
would be the future of their children soon after they have finished the vocational training. This case study
explores the transitional needs and subsequently to develop an effective transitional plan from secondary
education to employment for Malaysian individuals with special needs. The sample comprises two high school
special educators and four persons with learning disabilities who are at work. The findings were triangulated
among five co-ordinators of Non-Governmental Organisation, as well as parents for the four persons with
learning disabilities and their employers. The findings reveal that transitional needs of individuals with special
needs includes collaborative support system, job coaching, self-advocacy skills training, career guidance and
transition assessment, vocational training, trained transition personnel and transition services. The transition
process would be a collaborative process between the government and non-governmental sector. From the
findings, an effective transitional plan from secondary education to employment for students with learning
disabilities was drawn. Several implications have been drawn from this study.

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