EXPECTATIONS VERSUS REALITIES - EXAMINATION OF THE TRANSITION PLANS AND EXPERIENCES OF ADOLESCENTS WHO ARE DEAF AND ADOLESCENTS WHO ARE HEARING

This article compares the transition plans and experiences of a sample of adolescents who are deaf with those of a sample of hearing peers. The outcome variables that were studied were related to the participan ts' employment, post secondary education, and independent living. For each of these 3 outcome variables, we studied (a) the congruence of th e adolescents' plans with those of their parents in the last year of h igh school, (b) the congruence of the adolescents' plans with their ac tual transition experiences 1 year after leaving high school, and (c) the congruence of the parents' plans with their son or daughter's actu al transition experiences 1 year after leaving high school. Overall, t he hearing group exhibited higher agreement of plans with experiences than the deaf group. The deaf group exhibited low agreement indexes re lated to employment in particular. The implications of these results f or research and practice are discussed.