| Good afternoon, Montana Transition Listserv members! We have a number of transition-related training opportunities, publications and resources to share with you today.
Learning Opportunities:
Hosted by Mathematica's Center for Studying Disability Policy
Date: Thursday, March 3, 2011
Time: 10:00-11:30 am Mountain Time
Youth with disabilities often struggle with the transition to adulthood as they face health-related challenges, social isolation, service needs, potential loss of benefits, and lack of access to support. Since 2005, Mathematica Policy Research and its partners MDRC and TransCen, Inc. have been conducting a random assignment evaluation of six Social Security Administration (SSA)-funded youth transition demonstration (YTD) projects designed to improve employment and other outcomes for teenagers and young adults with severe disabilities. In this forum the director of the YTD evaluation, Thomas Fraker, will present the objectives and design of the evaluation and introduce the service model for participating projects.
Date: Friday, April 1, 2011
Time: 11:00 am-12:30 pm Mountain Time
Webinar Fee: $50 APSE Members/$100 Non-members
The purpose of this webinar is to provide an overview of how to use video technology to support individuals with disabilities in employment settings. Practical strategies for providing video-based supports as well as instruction on how to create low-cost video sequences will be provided. This presentation offers practitioners with the "nuts and bolts" tools necessary for creating and implementing video-based prompting systems in supported employment settings.
Dates: April 4, 11, 18, 25 and May 2, 9, 2011
Time: 1:00-2:30 pm Mountain Time
Webinar Fees: $75/session, $405/series for Members; $115/session, $621/series for Non-Members
This six-session series on Discovery will provide educators, adult service personnel and family members with the critical information necessary to facilitate Discovery for persons with significant disabilities. This alternative to comparative assessment addresses the essential question so often overlooked by evaluations and tests: "Who is this person?" The sessions offer a comprehensive overview of Discovery, the relationship to employment and transition from school to adult work, relevance to curricular outcomes and development of visual and written profile documents that capture the information learned during Discovery. Don't miss this useful and informative series that will provide practical strategies and the foundation for all person-centered plans.
Western MT Autism Conference
Dates: Saturday, April 16 - Sunday, April 17, 2011
Time: 8:00 am-4:30 pm Mountain Time
Location: Continuing Education Building at the University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Conference Fees: Parent or Individual with ASD: $25; Professional/Educator: $125; Relative/Caregiver: $65; UM student: $35 w/Griz card
Griffin-Hammis Associates and their non-profit branch, the Center for Social Capital, just launched a new blog site for PodCasts showcasing original thinkers, practitioners, folks with disabilities, family members, advocates, policy makers, and others discussing topics of interest relating to the expansion and improvement of customized employment. In the coming months they plan to feature folks from diverse backgrounds speaking on related topics including organizational development, staff training, economic and social capital leveraging, community building, business ownership, amalgamated funding, Social Security, Veterans, autism, and policy.
The Social Security Administration maintains a Webinar Archives that includes sessions on both disability and retirement issues, along with a number of other topics.
Montana News
The Montana Youth Leadership Forum (MYLF) is recruiting delegates for MYLF 2011. MYLF serves high school freshmen-seniors with any type of disability. For more information, contact June Hermanson, MYLF Program Director, at (406)442-2576 or by email at mylfjuneh@bresnan.net.
Assistive Technology
Pictello is a simple way for people of all ages and skill levels to create talking photo albums and talking books on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Each page in a Pictello Story can contain a picture, up to five lines of text, and a recorded sound or text-to-speech using high-quality voices.
Evaluating a GPS-Based Transportation Device to Support Independent Bus Travel by People With Intellectual Disability shares research findings that when using a GPS-based system providing visual and auditory prompts, participants were significantly more successful at completing a bus route than were people using a map and verbal directions.
Employment
Dr. Temple Grandin recently completed an interview with the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities [YouTube video], and many of her comments are relevant to employment success for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
The Institute for Community Inclusion in Boston released the new Research to Practice Brief Vocational Rehabilitation Services Received by Youth with Autism: Are they Associated with an Employment Outcome?. This report explores the differences in VR services received by youth with autism compared to youth with other disabilities. Researchers identify services that are most closely associated with an employment outcome for youth with autism, and determine what percentage of people from this group are receiving these successful services. As increasing numbers of youth with autism are accessing VR services, it is important to understand how they are using these services and the relationship of these services to outcomes and costs.
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) recently released their report entitled Segregated and Exploited: The Failure of the Disability Service System to Provide Quality Work [PDF]. The report provides a short history of sheltered work policies, highlights problems related to low wages and poor implementation and oversight of Federal laws, and offers recommendations for policies to promote integrated work at higher wages and increase labor protections and enforcement.
Disability Advocate Dale DiLeo blogs about his resignation from the Alliance for Full Participation because of AFP's and other national disability agencies' commitment to "full participation" while advocating for pre-vocational services and workshops.
Post-Secondary Education
Social Security
The Social Security Administration has released What's New in 2011? guidance for 2011 regarding changes to the benefits rates and maximum earnings that apply to Work Incentives provisions.
Transition
The Autism Speaks Transition Tool Kit was created to serve as a guide to assist families on the journey from adolescence to adulthood. It may be downloaded for free.
On the Job: Stories from Youth with Disabilities-Waisman Center [PDF] features youth with developmental disabilities who began working in competitive-wage, community-based jobs early (between the ages of 16-18) and who used natural supports, as well as some paid supports at first, to be successful. It includes the community, employer, school, and family factors that led to the youths' success on the job.
The Forum for Youth Investment has created a policy brief calling attention to the problem of collaboration overload and suggesting ways to tackle it. Don't Stop Collaborating - Just Stop Creating New Collaboratives [PDF] includes examples of how other communities and states are taking steps to align their collaboratives.
Three separate bills that share the name, "Transitioning towards Excellence & Achievement in Mobility (TEAM)" have been introduced in Congress by Rep. Greg Harper (R-MS). The TEAM legislation provides separate legislative responses to help ensure that youth with significant disabilities have the opportunity to become gainfully employed in integrated settings, pursue post-secondary education, and engage in typical community activities upon leaving high school. The bills include The TEAM Education Act (H.R. 602); The TEAM Empowerment Act (H.R. 603); and The TEAM Employment Act (H.R. 604).
Web Sites
Loud, Proud, and Passionate! [Music Video] shows 54 women with disabilities from 43 countries celebrating the achievements, pride and solidarity of women with disabilities around the world. It was filmed during Mobility International USA's 5th International Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability.
The Wrightslaw Autism, ASD, PDD and AS web page offers a number of autism-related resources, including Frequently Asked Questions, articles, legal resources, recommended books, free publications, and a short list of information and support groups.
Sincerely,
Kim Brown
MT Transition Listserv
(Please note: the Transition
and Employment Projects at the University of Montana Rural Institute shares information and resources our listserv members may find of interest. We do not endorse the web sites or workshop contents or their providers, and we assume no responsibility for the validity of information provided on sites or in sessions not hosted by our agency.) |
