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Learning Opportunities: Montana and Online
Autism Internet Modules include information on assessment and identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders, recognizing and understanding behaviors and characteristics, transition to adulthood, employment, and more.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Employment
This free self-paced course from the New England ADA National Center includes information on the employment requirements in Title I of the ADA, including the revisions in the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. The course will take approximately 2.5 hours to complete. You can start and stop the course at any time, pick up where you left off or review completed topics.
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 Associates. Discussion groups will be led by nationally known experts in self-employment from Griffin-Hammis Associates.
Allies in Self Advocacy Webinar: Transportation
May 7, 2013
2:00-3:30 PM MT
Helping people get transportation to and from where they want to go to, was a major theme that came out of the Self-Advocacy Summits' State Team follow-up, and it is still a big issue today. West Virginia, New Mexico and Maine have been working on transportation, since the summits. During this webinar presenters from these three states will talk about what they have been working on in the area of transportation.
Coordinating Evidence Based Practices with Wraparound Using the Managing and Adapting Practice (MAP) System
May 7, 2013
12:00-1:30 PM MT
This webinar will provide an overview of MAP, options for how it might be integrated into wraparound initiatives or other system improvement efforts for youths with serious and complex needs, and some encouraging initial data on the potential for positive impact of Wrap + MAP.
Employer Engagement Strategies
May 9, 2013
12:00-1:00 PM MT
Cost: $25 APSE Members/$50 Non-members
Employer engagement needs to be a central part of an organization's mission rather than a marginal or optional activity. It requires placing a priority on and demonstrating an ability to meet employer needs. To effectively meet these needs entails more than just learning about positions, we have to adapt and align with the employer's processes and strategies. This presentation will provide a detailed look at the process and strategies for effective employer engagement.
Marketing and Job Development for Youth and Adults with Disabilities
May 10-23, 2013
Cost: $159
This 2-week course will cover the key principles and hands-on tools for finding jobs for people with disabilities and other high-unemployment groups.
Better Futures: Increasing Postsecondary Preparation and Engagement of Youth with Mental Health Conditions in Foster Care
May 14, 2013
9:00-10:00 AM MT
During the webinar, we will share some of the barriers youth with mental health conditions in foster care face while preparing for and accessing higher education, and how the Better Futures Project is attempting to address these challenges through 1) near-peer coaching, 2) a summer Postsecondary Leadership Institute, and 3) group mentoring workshops.
Using Individualized Learning Plans to Increase College & Career Readiness of All Students
May 16, 2013
11:30 AM-1:00 PM MT
The Institute for Educational Leadership, which houses NCWD/Youth, is hosting a webinar that will highlight key findings from NCWD/Youth's research on the use of Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs).
DisABILITY Employment Awareness Training: Putting Abilities to Work
May 23, 2013
8:00 AM- 4:00 PM MT
Helena, Montana
Cost: $50
Disable myths about people with disabilities and learn to put their Abilities to work! Discover ways to attract, hire, welcome and retain employees with disabilities. Whether you are a hiring manager, HR professional, disability service provider, legal staff or a person with a disability this conference is for you.
ADA Title I. Rights and Responsibilities
June 6, 2013
12:00-1:00 PM MT
Cost: $50 APSE Members/$100 Non-members
Often, qualified job seekers and supported employment professionals are unaware of how Title I can be a valuable tool in finding and keeping a job. This presentation will provide an overview of Title I, focusing on the rights and responsibilities offered to both job seekers and employers. |
Learning Opportunities: Other States
National ADA Symposium
May 12-15, 2013
San Antonio, Texas
This comprehensive conference on the Americans with Disabilities Act will provide practical, expert training on implementation of the ADA and related laws.
Employment First: Race to Success- Employment Comes in First
June 24-27, 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.
The 2013 Arc National Convention: Achieving Momentum
August 3-5, 2013
Bellevue, Washington
Register now to attend the premiere event for the intellectual and developmental disability movement and join hundreds of other individuals, families, advocates, experts and professionals in the field for three days of informative sessions, unique events and opportunities to connect.
31st Annual Closing The Gap Conference
October 9-11, 2013
Minneapolis, Minnesota
This year's conference builds on a tradition of providing a comprehensive examination of the most current uses of technology by persons with disabilities and the professionals who work with them. Topics will cover a broad spectrum of technology as it is being applied to all disabilities and age groups in education, rehabilitation, vocation, and independent living.
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Greetings!
Welcome to the latest edition of Transition Tidbits. We hope you find the news and resources in this issue useful as you support young Montanans with disabilities in their transition to adult lives. |
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Montana News
Save the Date! The 2013 Montana Youth Transitions Conference will be held November 6-8 at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. Speakers are invited to submit proposals for conference workshops pertinent to professionals, parents/families, and/or youth with disabilities.
The Rural Institute Consumer Advisory Council (partially funded through a contract with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Children's Special Health Services) is recruiting representatives from the Montana Developmental Disabilities Program and the foster care system (especially youth/young adults who are or have been in foster care). We also seek Native Americans/American Indians with a disability and children and youth with special health care needs to serve on the council. For more information or an application, contact Kim Brown at brown@ruralinstitute.umt.edu or by calling 406-243-4852. |
Announcements
The call for proposals is now open for the 2013 TASH Conference, A Movement United, to be held December 11-14, 2013, in Chicago. Consider submitting a proposal to share your innovative ideas, programs and practices that lead to positive outcomes for people with significant disabilities. The deadline for proposals is May 8, 2013.
The Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults offers a two-week Young Adult Summer Program for deaf-blind high school/transition-age individuals. Students in the program learn about vocational rehabilitation services, post-secondary education, employment, and more. This year's session will run from July 29 to August 9, 2013. Additional information is available on the HKNC website. |
Employment
In April 2013, the State Employment Leadership Network released the revised Employment First Resource List [PDF]. The list includes descriptions of and links to legislation, regulations, and policy directives implementing Employment First policies; reports from individual states; and a variety of documents that provide a national perspective. In mid-March, the U.S. Census Bureau issued a press release with findings from the American Community Survey. Statistics shared include: - Between 2008 and 2010, individuals without disabilities were about three times more likely to be employed than individuals with disabilities
- People with disabilities who were employed generally held jobs with lower earnings
- More than half were concentrated in four general occupation groups: service workers; administrative support; sales workers and management; and business and finance
- Janitors and building cleaners had the highest number of employees with a disability
In late April, the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a press release [PDF] that summarized barriers to employment reported by people with disabilities. According to the Bureau, in May 2012, half of all people with disabilities who were not working reported having a barrier to employment. Commonly cited barriers included: - Lack of education or training
- Lack of transportation
- Need for special features at the job
- Person's own disability
The Institute for Community Inclusion's StateData: The National Report on Employment Services and Outcomes 2012 [PDF] is now available as a free download. The report provides national and state-level statistics addressing the status of employment and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with ID/DD. Dale DiLeo's March 27, 2013 blog post, Ending Disability Segregation-Low Productivity: More of an Excuse Than Obstacle to Real Work, addresses one of the common fears about and arguments against moving people out of segregated day programs and into integrated employment for competitive wages. The Job Accommodation Network publication Accommodation and Compliance Series: Return-to-Work Programs provides information about return-to-work programs, specific accommodation examples, and resources for additional information. Enriching Discovery While Staying Focused on the Concept by Michael Callahan, Marc Gold & Associates, briefly describes the Discovery process, which provides the foundation for a customized plan for employment for job seekers with significant complexities. The article then goes on to distinguish between interactions that are "discretely about Discovery and those that are about the services necessary to assist individuals to have a meaningful and participatory life." Resource Resourcefulness: Some Thoughts on Advancing Community Employment is an Employment First Blog post written by Cary Griffin, Senior Partner, Griffin-Hammis Associates. In the post, Griffin offers a number of options states and local agencies can explore in order to overcome the low reimbursement rates for developing and maintaining employment. |
Health
The April 9, 2013 NCWD/Youth Blog post offers tips to Help Youth Take Charge of Their Health. The new Health Home Information Resource Center offers technical assistance for states to support the development of health home programs. |
National News
In April, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced the Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act (H.R. 1601), which would update the SSI resource limits, general income disregard and earned income disregard. The bill would also repeal the in-kind support and maintenance provision and repeal the SSI transfer penalty. |
Post-Secondary Education
CLASP has updated their 2010 Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Funding Toolkit for States. According to the CLASP website, "Career pathways are linked education and training services that enable students to advance over time to successively higher levels of education and employment in a given industry or occupational sector. Each step on a career pathway is designed to prepare students to progress to the next level of employment and education. The career pathways approach is a framework for weaving together adult education, training, and postsecondary programs, and connecting those services to the workforce needs of employers." The toolkit offers a number of resources to support states' career pathways initiatives. The archived Family Perspectives on Postsecondary Education webinar [Webinar Recording] from Think College is now available for online viewing. The April 2013 Think College E-News is now available. Features include the NIUSI LeadCast Blog Guest Post by Meg Grigal and Debra Hart: Inclusive Higher Education - Its Time Has Come; The New Transition Handbook: Strategies High School Teachers Use That Work!; and the Call for Proposals for the 2013 State of the Art Conference on Postsecondary Education and Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. |
Social Security
Ticket Talk, Ticket to Work podcasts, are archived and available for on-demand listening. |
Transition
NCWD/Youth, in conjunction with the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, has developed Youth in Action! tip sheets addressing such topics as self-advocacy, transition planning, disability history, volunteering, internships and more. The tip sheets are designed for youth but professionals may find them useful in their work with transition-age students. For ideas about how states can use the Guideposts for Success to increase coordination across the entities responsible for youth transition outcomes, visit the NCWD/Youth website and read the Innovative Strategies profiles of Maryland and South Carolina . On the America's Promise Alliance website , Rebecca Cokley, Director of Priority Placement, Presidential Personnel Office of the White House, summarizes important factors in the success of young people with disabilities. These factors include such things as exposing children to positive role models, setting high expectations, and teaching young people to advocate for their civil rights. Promise for the Future: How Federal Programs Can Improve Career Outcomes for Youth & Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions [PDF] examines various federal programs that can help young people with serious mental health conditions be successful in higher education and employment. Advancing the Well-Being and Self-Sufficiency of At-Risk Youth [PDF] offers a framework for efforts to help youth successfully transition to adulthood. While the focus of this conceptual framework is on at-risk youth, most of the elements apply to all young adults. The Personnel Factor: Exploring the Personal Attributes of Highly Successful Employment Specialists Who Work with Transition-Age Youth by George Tilson and Monica Simonsen(published in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 38, no. 2, 2013, pp. 125-137) reports the findings of a qualitative study examining personal qualities of effective employment specialists. According to the abstract, these qualities include "(a) principled optimism; (b) cultural competence; (c) business-oriented professionalism; and (d) networking savvy." The complete article may be accessed via a subscription or by purchase. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's Transition Action Guide [PDF] was developed to guide interagency agreements to improve communication, coordination, and services for students with disabilities transitioning from school to employment. The guide includes a format for delineating expectations and responsibilities that other states may wish to replicate. |
Web Sites
In recognition of April as Autism Acceptance Month, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network launched their new Autism Acceptance Month website. The site includes fact sheets and resources for autistic people, family members, educators, and the general public.
The American Academy of Pediatrics National Center for Medical Home Implementation website offers a variety of autism-related resources for pediatricians and families.
The newly reorganized Youth to Work Coalition website houses work-based learning resources organized into eight categories: (1) career exploration, (2) job shadowing, (3) job sampling, (4) service learning, (5) internships, (6) apprenticeships, (7) paid employment, and (8) mentoring.
The National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness is a national technical assistance and dissemination center for children and youth who are deaf-blind. The organization's website offers access to a wide variety of resources for professionals and families.
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