#837: How Educational Practitioners Envision Employment-Focused Transition Services for Students with Disabilities: Insights from a Game-Based Activity

This paper explores how educational practitioners conceptualize employment‑focused transition services for students with disabilities through a collaborative, game‑based planning activity. Drawing on a fictional case study of a high school student, practitioners worked in cross‑role teams to design a four‑year plan to document how they can support the student’s transition from high school into adulthood. Analysis of 217 practitioner contributions, coded using Lee and Carter’s (2012) framework of high‑quality employment transition services, revealed that career development experiences and customized transition supports were most frequently emphasized, while family support, job‑related supports, and self‑determination appeared less consistently and often only in response to roadblocks. These findings align with established predictors of post‑school success but also highlight gaps in proactive family engagement, and employer and interagency collaboration. The study demonstrates how designed, game‑based environments can surface practitioner reasoning, mediate professional learning, and inform the design of more inclusive, employment‑focused transition services.