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January 2013
MSD Network News Flash
Improving Employment Outcomes for Individuals with the Most Significant Disabilities
In This Issue
Asset Development
Announcements
Counselor Tips
Employment
National News
PSE
Social Security
Technology
Web Sites
TACE Learning Communities

The Asset Development Exchange (ADX) is designed to improve employment outcomes and retention through financial stability. Asset building strategies and information can sometimes make the difference between an unsuccessful closure and a successful employment outcome. SE TACE wants to ensure counselors have the information and resources they need to assist their clients in obtaining financial stability.

 

TACE's Job Development Exchange (JDX) provides VR professionals with the information and tools they need to successfully engage employers and address a wide range of barriers to employment.

TACE Archives

2010-2012 TACE webinar recordings, handouts and PowerPoint slideshows are archived and available for you to access at your convenience.

Other Learning Opportunities

Job Development

February 4-March 4, 2013

Cost: $125

This course covers specific principles associated with job development via online lectures and readings and then requires the learner to take action on his or her behalf to further develop a particular skill.

 

You Asked, We Answer

February 6, 2013

3:00-4:30 PM ET

This webinar will provide insight into Work Incentives, Ticket program resources, and how employment through the program works with disability benefits and health care coverage.

 

Practical Management Strategies: What to do After the Meltdown - Part 2
 
February 12, 2013

3:30-4:30 PM ET

Cost: $50 (free to Virginia participants)
 
Many students with ASD exhibit interfering behaviors to effectively and efficiently navigate their environment. Oftentimes, the term "meltdown" is used to describe a temporary event that appears to come "out of nowhere". This presentation is the second part to the two-part series on management strategies for after the meltdown.

 

Building Inclusion through Creative Hiring & Collaboration
February 21, 2013
2:00-3:00 PM ET
This webinar will provide the elements needed to create a workforce that intentionally includes people with disabilities. These elements are applicable for large corporations as well as small businesses.

 

Help! I've Been Overpaid by Social Security: Prevent, Reduce, and Eliminate Overpayments through Use of Work Incentives
 
February 21, 2013
2:00-3:00 PM ET

Cost: $50 APSE Members/$100 Non-Members

Learn about the common reasons why overpayment happens, how to prevent overpayments, specific work incentives that can help reduce or eliminate overpayments and specific steps to take with beneficiaries who have overpayments.

 

Crafting Your Elevator Speech - What Works for Introducing Yourself to an Employer
 
February 27, 2013
1:00-2:00 PM ET

$50 APSE Members/$100 Non-Members

Learning objectives for this webinar include: define key components of your elevator speech to reflect a business image and differentiate you and your organization; learn from examples of good elevator speeches and bad elevator speeches; and develop an action plan to create your own elevator speech.

 

Customized Employment

March 4-April 1, 2013

Cost: $125

This course will take a closer look at customized employment and how it can facilitate employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

 

Job Coaching and Workplace Supports

March 7-20, 2013

Cost: $159

This two-week course will cover effective job design, instructional and behavioral support strategies, and the development of natural and co-worker supports.

 

Supported Employment for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

April 1-29, 2013

Cost: $125

This course will offer participants an overview of TBI and the supported employment literature suggestions on specific strategies to use to get to know the job seeker, look at possible workplace supports with an emphasis on compensatory memory strategies and some insight into ways to provide pro-active job retention services.

 

Supported Employment Web-Based Certificate Series

April 1-June 17, 2013

Cost: $325
This ACRE-certified course provides an extensive overview of supported employment and how to facilitate competitive jobs for individuals with significant disabilities.

 

Supported Competitive Employment for Individuals with Mental Illness

April 1-June 17, 2013

Cost: $325

This ACRE-certified course provides an extensive overview of supported competitive employment for individuals with mental illness.

 

2013 Disability Policy Seminar

April 15-17, 2013

Washington, D.C.

Two days of informative in-depth sessions from disability policy experts and opportunities to network with others from your state will culminate in a third day starting off with breakfast on Capitol Hill before you personally meet with your elected representatives and their staffs.

 

Customized Supported Self-Employment

May 6-July 15, 2013

Cost: $250

This online course is being offered by Virginia Commonwealth University's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center in collaboration with Griffin-Hammis and Associates.

 

Employment First: Race to Success- Employment Comes in First

June 25-27, 2013

Indianapolis, Indiana

This year's conference will feature strands including State-of-the-Art Practices in Integrated Employment; Transition from School to Adult Life; Public Policy and Funding; Leadership and Personal Development; and Consumer, Family and Self-Advocacy.

 

 
 
Greetings!

 

Happy New Year! We hope 2013 is off to a fantastic start for you. Please enjoy the January Southeast TACE Serving Individuals with the Most Significant Disabilities Network News Flash (MSD Network News Flash)In this edition, you will find Announcements, National News, Upcoming Learning Opportunities, and our other regular features. 

 

Visit the TACE MSD Network web site to learn about current events in the world of employment for individuals with the most significant impact of disability.

Asset Development Exchange 30-Second Trainings: 

Pooh Bear and Money Pot Cartoon The Southeast TACE wants to help counselors have the information and resources you need to assist your clients in obtaining financial stability. Toward that end, we are introducing 30-second trainings in the monthly TACE Talks Transition and MSD Network New Flash. These mini-sessions will be housed on the Southeast TACE Asset Development Exchange (ADX) web page, along with other useful information concerning financial stability in vocational rehabilitation. Download the first PowerPoint, Asset Development: Helping Clients Thrive, Not Just Survive [PowerPoint] and get started today. We hope you enjoy these trainings!

 

Announcements: 

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers a Community Provider Toolkit to help professionals better serve veterans. The toolkit includes "mini-clinics" on mental health and wellness topics, an overview of military culture, and a "Connections" section with resources and contact information for VA health-related services.

 

With support from the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, National Disability Institute created The Changing Face of Benefits, a downloadable benefits training workbook and online course to help make sense of Florida's benefits, rules, and resources as well as give readers an overview of programs such as Social Security work incentives that allow Americans with disabilities who receive public benefits to work and retain income.

Counselor Tips:

With income tax season just around the corner, now is the time to talk with your Vocational Rehabilitation clients about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is a federal income tax credit for low to moderate income working individuals and families. This credit is a great incentive for many of your clients who are struggling to make work pay.

 
 

Employment:

The RAND Corporation National Defense Research Institute published Labor Force Reentry: Issues for Injured Service Members and Veterans [PDF]. This report reviews the types and prevalence of injuries experienced by military personnel returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom; the challenges they face when returning to work; federal and state policies to support their return to employment; workplace accommodations that may be helpful; and future directions to be explored.

 

Wounded Warrior Careers: A Four-Year Report [PDF] by the National Organization on Disability describes what has been learned during the transformation of the career transition process for veterans with the most serious disabilities, including the kinds of challenges faced by the veterans and their families, employers and service providers. The report offers suggestions and solutions for addressing those challenges.

 

Are you interested in your state's employment outcomes as compared to those of other states in your region? A Review of Commonly-Used State Employment Measures in Intellectual and Developmental Disability Services [PDF], a Policy Research Brief published by the University of Minnesota Research and Training Center on Community Living, uses publicly-available data sources to offer readers a state-by-state comparison of employment outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  

 
National News:

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit has been extended until December 31, 2013. 

  
Post-Secondary Education:

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks applications [PDF] for its 2013 Summer Leadership Academy. The training will take place in Washington, DC, June 9 to June 15, 2013. All expenses for the training are covered by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, including travel, lodging and food. Participants will learn valuable skills in community organizing, creating policy goals and activism. Applicants must be current college students with at least one year remaining before graduation. 

 
  
Social Security:

The Social Security Administration has expanded the services available with a my Social Security account. For example, Social Security beneficiaries and Supplemental Security Income recipients can now access their benefit verification letter, payment history, and earnings record instantly using their online account.  

Technology:

The Winter 2013 edition of AT Program News focuses on cognitive assistive technology. Articles address such topics as using Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) as cognitive aids for employment; strategies for video modeling using iPods and iPads; apps for daily living; using the StepPad for task sequences and more!  

 

The IDEAL Group Reader is a fully accessible eBook reader application that can read text aloud like an audio book and highlight sections of text as they are being read. It is available at no cost in the Google Play app store.

Web Sites:

The Real People, Real Jobs website highlights the employment successes of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who are working in paid jobs in their communities.  New stories have been posted to the site.

 

QualityMall.org houses a wealth of free information about person-centered supports for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities. The mall is divided into "stores" representing broad topic areas. Stores may be further divided into "departments" that provide more specific descriptions of available products and services.

 

Please forward this MSD Network New Flash to agency staff, parents, individuals with disabilities, and anyone else you think might find the information useful. Invite them to subscribe by joining the Southeast TACE Employment Listserv. To join the listserv, they simply visit the Southeast TACE MSD Network web site and follow the MSD E-Mail-List link. We'll take it from there!
  

If you have any questions about TACE or would like to request technical assistance, please contact Jill Houghton at [email protected]. For questions about the Southeast TACE Employment Listserv or the monthly Southeast TACE Serving Individuals with Most Significant Disabilities Network News Flash, please contact Kim Brown at [email protected]

 

To unsubscribe to the Southeast TACE Employment Listserv, use the SafeUnsubscribe link at the bottom of this message or send an email with "unsubscribe employment" in the "Subject" line to [email protected]. Please do not flag the messages as spam - this may prevent delivery of the web blasts to other people using your Internet provider who wish to continue receiving the TACE MSD News Flash.

 

 

Are You Accessing the Portals?

To use the Portals, visit the TACE MSD Network web site

In the "Portal For" section on the left-hand side of your screen, select "Counselor" or "Coordinator." This will take you to the "Login to MyTACE Account." You will use your MyTACE Account to register for available events, seek applicable credit, and access your specialized portal (Counselor or Coordinator). 

 

Attended a TACE Webinar? You may already have created a MyTACE Account. If you have a MyTACE Account and want to access the Portal, email [email protected] and request to join the TACE Most Significant Disabilities Network. If you don't already have a MyTACE account, follow the instructions to "Create a New MyTACE Account"

and also apply for Portal access.

 

About the Southeast TACE Serving Individuals with Most Significant Disabilities Network News Flash:

This free service is being sponsored by Southeast TACE, the Technical Assistance & Continuing Education (TACE) Centerfor Region IV. TACE is a partnership of academic, governmental, and community expertise that provides technical assistance and continuing education activities to meet the training and organizational development needs of State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies and their partners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Southeast TACE supports VR, Community Rehabilitation Programs, Centers for Independent Living, Client Assistance Programs, and other agencies to enhance employment outcomes, independent functioning, independent living and quality of life for persons with disabilities throughout the eight states in the Southeast Region IV.

 

Meet the Southeast TACE Team:

Chip Kenney, Project Director & Principal Investigator

Jill Houghton, Network Coordinator, Organization Development Specialist

Abby Cooper, Consultant