Expanding Transition to Address the Needs of Students With Invisible Chronic Illness

Many children with invisible chronic illnesses (ICIs) are living to adulthood, necessitating that they prepare for their future. Health care and education systems have different meanings and processes for transition, although both systems are designed to help young adults prepare for independence. As health care and educational services support and educate each child and the adult he or she will become, it makes sense for these systems to coordinate their services to improve student postschool outcomes. This article addresses the importance of coordination and collaboration between health care transition and education transition for youth with ICI. The authors present a model that may be used to guide the efforts to coordinate these two forms of transition along with recommending preliminary steps that can be taken to facilitate this merger.