The family's stress level can increase at transition time due to lack of information, feelings of intimidation from the number of professionals involved, fear of the unknown, and concerns for their child such as acceptance by peers, delivery of services, safety issues, and the effect inclusion has on their child's behavior. Siblings may also face challenges with the inclusion of their sibling with a disability in the same school. Some strategies to assist the family include:

1. Provide information about what the next placement entails, including site visits. Families may be provided with information through multiple sources such as resource packets, group discussions, and worksheets. However Spiegel-McGill, Reed, Koing & McGowan (1990) reported that families in their study preferred the opportunity to talk individually with professionals as being the most beneficial source of information.
2. Discuss with the parents the transition process steps, outcomes, and responsibilities.
3. Form a parent support group of families experiencing the transition process.
4. Use resources for parent rights information and assistance in IEP development and decision making, such as a parent advocate resource, the Association for Citizens with Retardation or Autism Society, or Parent Partnership groups.
5. Write out with the parents the pros and cons of the placement options.
6. Determine communication strategies to be used for conveying student activities and information with the receiving team such as daily notebooks, phone calls and/or quarterly meetings.
7. Provide a resource list for siblings such as reading books on siblings with disabilities, for example Cassedy, S., (1987), M.E. and Morton; Rodowsky, C., (1976), What About Me?, or Byars, B., (1981), The Summer of the Swan.
8. Discuss communication strategies for siblings in response to situations that they are afraid they might encounter during the school year regarding their sibling with a disability.