Planning the Transition to Employment

Get students with disabilities ready for integrated, competitive employment with this practical guide, the latest book in the Brookes Transition to Adulthood series. A must for transition co-ordinators, special educators, and employment specialists, this book embraces the widely used "Employment First" approach to career planning, which emphasises integrated, competitive employment as the first and preferred option for all people, regardless of their disability.

You'll find tried-and-true strategies for helping students navigate each step of their transition, from beginning the early stages of career preparation (as young as Grade 7) to exploring job opportunities with local businesses and sustaining employment. And you'll get invaluable tools like the Implementing Transition Action Plan (ITAP) , a step-by-step quick-guide to help you plan, individualise, and implement the transition process described in the book. With this expertly organised how-to guide, you'll empower your students to pursue the career of their choice—and provide them with the tools they'll need for long-term success in the workplace.

Learn how to:

• Put together a "collective impact team" at your school to support students' transition to employment
• Apply four essential recommended practices to help students achieve good employment outcomes
• Implement a person-centered planning process that puts the student in the driver's seat
• Help students identify their passions, preferences, interests, and learning styles
• Support students in exploring careers using online tools and internship opportunities
• Facilitate successful collaboration with adult services agencies
• Work with your local business community to identify job opportunities and connect students with potential employers
• Provide students with the supports they need for success on the job, such as assistive technology, modifications, and social skills training

Practical Materials:

• Case studies illustrate how to solve common obstacles to finding and keeping a job
• more than a dozen tools and forms—including the ITAP, the Job Observation Assessment Form, and a sample Employment Proposal—help you and your students navigate the road to employment.

Table of Contents

Series Preface

Editorial Advisory Board

About the Authors

Preface

About the Downloads

Acknowledgments

1. Getting Started
• Transition to Employment
• Importance of Work
• What Do the Statistics Say?
• Changing the Landscape of Disability and Employment
• Upcoming Chapters
2. Strategies to Facilitate Effective Transitions
• Teacher Vignette
• The Crucial Importance of Collaboration
• Grow Your Own Collective Impact Team
• Collective Impact: A Practical Application
• Integrating Best Practices
3. Planning for Employment: Person-Centered
• Planning and Adult Agency Involvement
• Teacher/Transition Coordinator Vignette
• Planning for Employment
• Ready and Reliable
• Employment First
• Why Is Person-Centered Planning Important?
4. Developing Skills, Identifying Passions, and Exploring Careers
• Teacher/Transition Coordinator Vignette
• Developing High School Services
• Identifying Learning Styles and Preferences
• Utilizing Online Career Exploration Tools
• Providing Community Work and Internship
• Opportunities
• Establishing Employment or Post-Secondary Education Areas of Interest
5. Developing Employer Relationships to Develop Job Opportunities
• Teacher/Transition Coordinator Vignette
• Competitive Integrated Employment
• Knowing the Business Community
• Business Knowledge
• Networking
• Meeting with Employers
• Employment Proposals
• Preparing Students for Employment Through Work-Based Learning or Internships
• Partnership Agreement
• Worksite Analysis
• Intern Criteria and Job Description
• Application and Interview Process
• Orientation and Training
• Evaluation Process
6. Providing Training and Supports While in School and After
• Teacher/Transition Coordinator Vignette
• Teaching Self-Determination
• Identifying Instructional Strategies and Support
• Instructional Strategies
• Natural Supports
7. Ways to Overcome the Yeah, but . . . Syndrome
• Student Vignette
• Case Studies
• Challenges That Teachers Face

References

Index

"This book reflects optimism for employment outcomes for students with disabilities as well as the importance of student-centered approaches that result in post-school employment. It is full of practical strategies for making that happen."
- Richard Luecking, Center for Transition and Career Innovation, University of Maryland

"An outstanding handbook on how to transition from school into employment...the guide that every high school special education teacher should have on their desk for planning and implementation."
- Paul Wehman, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond