July 2013

Southeast TACE Logo 

TACE Talks Transition 
Monthly Transition Information from the Southeast TACE

TACE Training Archives

 

2010 - 2013 TACE webinar recordings, handouts and PowerPoint slideshows are archived and available for you to access at your convenience.
TACE Learning Community
 

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 vocational rehabilitation professionals with the information and tools they need to successfully engage employers and address a wide range of barriers to employment.

Upcoming Training Events

Overview of RSA.ED.GOV features

July 9, 2013

2:00-3:00 PM ET

This presentation will cover some of the main features and pages on the RSA.ED.GOV website.  

 

The NET: Branding VR's Business Team 

July 11, 2013

1:00-2:00 PM ET
The National Employment Team or The NET is VR's response to public and private sector employer customers who requested an easily accessible national team that provides business-focused services. Learn why is it important to market the NET as a national entity.

 

ADA Anniversary Update: 23 Years Later

July 16, 2013

2:00-3:30 PM ET

Representatives of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice will present an update on litigation, technical assistance, and enforcement efforts over the past year. 

 

Person-Centered Employment Practices in Postsecondary Education

July 17, 2013

2:00-3:00 PM ET

Cost: $25 APSE Members/$50 Non-members

This presentation will discuss how Western Carolina University's University Participant works collaboratively with participants, families, current and potential employers, and VR to form person-centered job development and work-based experiences.

 

Ticket to Work and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Know Your Rights and Responsibilities

July 24, 2013

3:00-4:30 PM ET

In addition to Ticket to Work basics, participants will learn about the EEOC's role in enforcing employment laws; the ADA; and where to find more information.

 

Cloud-based Accessibility: Implications for the Workplace and Employment

July 24, 2013

1:00-2:00 PM ET
This session discuss the implications of the international Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure initiative (GPII.net) for the workplace and employment.


Disability as Diversity: Including America's Largest Diversity Population in Diversity Planning and Practice

July 25, 2013

1:00-1:45 PM ET

Presenters will review topics such as the value proposition of diversity, lack of disability inclusion in diversity efforts, statistics and case studies, workplace connections and strategies, customer/market issues, and supplier diversity and strategies.

 

Promoting Employment - Discovering Your Potential: Using Discovery to Identify Your Employment Goals

July 31, 2013

3:00-4:30 PM ET

The webinar will provide information on how to use Discovery to help job seekers identify personal employment goals. Participants will gain an understanding of Discovery, how to use Discovery components individually or in preparation for Group Discovery, and the potential outcomes.

 

The 2013 Arc National Convention: Achieving Momentum

August 3-5, 2013

Bellevue, Washington

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.

 

ADA Title I. Rights and Responsibilities

August 15, 2013
2:00-3:00 PM ET

Cost: $25 APSE Members/$50 Non-members

This presentation will provide an overview of Title I of The Americans with Disabilities Act, focusing on the rights and responsibilities offered to both job seekers and employers.

 

Leveraging Resources through Relationships: CVS, NYS and PA VR and More

August 16, 2013

1:00-2:00 PM ET
Learn what the CVS Caremark, NY and PA Business partnership has meant for consumers and how the relationship continues to grow.  

 

Transition to Employment for Students: Strategies for Success

August 22, 2013

2:00-3:30 PM ET

Cost: $50 TASH Members/$70 Non-members

All youth can work! And work should be an important feature of secondary education and transition programs for youth with disabilities. Join us to learn how schools and communities can incorporate strategies into successful transition programs.

 

Employer Perspectives in the New Economy

August 22, 2013

1:00-2:00 PM ET

This session will identify what the significance of the current economy is to employers, their strategic response to this environment, and ultimately the implications for improving employment outcomes for people with disabilities.   

 

Everyone Can Work!
August 29, 2013

2:00-3:30 PM ET

Cost: $50 TASH Members/$70 Non-members

This session will introduce the audience to strategies of Discovery and Customized Employment, which are effective in creating employment for people who face significant challenges to working.

 

Lights, Camera, Access: Spotlight on Disability Inclusive Diversity
September 30 - October 3, 2013
Los Angeles, California

Attend the U.S. Business Leadership Network's 16th Annual Conference, where you will gain actionable knowledge to build a business case for your disability inclusion initiatives and develop robust strategies that align with your organization's goals to create culturally competent workplaces.

 

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. 

 

Other Learning Opportunities
The American Sign Language University offers
free ASL I and ASL II courses
on their website.  Lessons include videos, quizzes and more. 

 

The Job Accommodation Network's webinar More Than One Path to the Top of the Mountain: Self-employment as an Individualized Process for Individuals with Disabilities is now available for viewing on the JAN website.  

 

 

Greetings!  

Welcome to the monthly electronic Southeast TACE Talks Transition! We've gathered transition-related information from across the country to help you guide the young people you serve successfully into adulthood. 

 

We encourage you to let us know about your creative local practices, transition tips for VR Counselors, and Customized Employment success stories. Send an email to Kim Brown at [email protected] and she'll schedule a telephone interview with you to learn more about what you are doing. The information will be written up and shared in a future TACE Talks Transition and on the TACE Transition Services web site.  
  
News Flash:

 Application Deadline July 15, 2013!

The University of Maryland is recruiting students for the 2013-14 Academic Graduate Certificate in Transition from School to Career. This will be the University's fifth time offering the 12-credit certificate to transition specialists in schools, rehabilitation, and adult service agencies. The four courses, which start this fall, are offered entirely online to meet the demands of working professionals. Certificate students are offered state-of-the-art curriculum through the teaching and mentoring of highly qualified transition instructors. The deadline for applying is July 15, 2013. A scholarship is offered to pay for tuition and educational materials. For application materials or additional information please visit the University of Maryland's Website. For information about applying or details about the certificate, contact Ellen Fabian, Ph.D. If you have questions regarding the learning content, contact Debra Martin Luecking, Ed.D.  

 

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 producing 30-second trainings and posting them on the Southeast TACE Asset Development Exchange (ADX) webpage. This month, learn about Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) - What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

Regional Spotlight:

The Importance of Collaborating on Concurrent Work and Education Experiences: Kentucky Experiences [PDF] by Kathy Sheppard-Jones, Victoria Reilly and Melissa Jones describes how Kentucky Vocational Rehabilitation and postsecondary programs are working together to provide employment opportunities to students with intellectual disabilities who are enrolled in postsecondary programs.

 

Peer Mentoring in Postsecondary Settings: Experiences at the College of Charleston [PDF] by Meghan Trowbridge, Kinsey Carlson and Edie Cusack discusses the importance of mentoring in supporting students with intellectual disabilities on the college campus. Strategies from Charleston College's REACH Program are shared as examples of effective practice.

 

Tennessee is one of five states chosen to form the Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The Community of Practice is a Project of National Significance funded by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.  

 

Counselor Tips:

The NIDRR-funded Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities (RTC: RURAL) launched TelecomToolbox.org, a website designed to increase vocational rehabilitation counselors' capacity to use online communication methods with their clients.  Visit the site for information about email, social media, video conferencing, and telecommunication in counseling practice.

Transition:

Promising Practices in Transition: Results of Multi-Year, Multi-Site Study, an archived webinar from the Center on Transition to Employment for Youth with Disabilities, covers factors contributing to employment for predominantly minority youth with high incidence disabilities.

 

Eduployment: Creating Opportunity Policies for America's Youth [PDF] from the Youth Transition Funders Group introduces the concept of "eduployment," a term recognizing learning and work are inextricably linked. The report suggests "opportunity policies" to help young people achieve success. Foundational elements of these policies include:

          Keeping students in school

          Early work experience

          Ensuring students graduate with a meaningful diploma

          Successful postsecondary skill development

 

The U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division has found that Harold H. Birch Vocational School in Providence, Rhode Island violated the Americans with Disabilities Act [PDF] by operating a sheltered workshop for students with disabilities within the local high school. Students were only paid 50 cents to $2 an hour for work and they were required to work long hours. After graduating or aging out of school, students were given few options for employment and were often funneled into the local sheltered workshop. The Justice Department found that, "The City, in part, by operating an in-school sheltered workshop at Birch, has planned, structured, administered, and funded its transition service system in a manner that imposes a serious risk of unnecessary segregation upon Birch students."

 

Read Richard Luecking's latest Employment First Blog post, Resource Integration and Alignment for Youth in Transition (Part 2): Capacity Issue or Systems Entrenchment?

Announcements: 

The TASH Conference Registration is now open! The 2013 TASH Conference: A Movement United will be held December 11-14 at the historic Hilton Chicago in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. This conference brings together advocates and professionals from across the U.S. and abroad to learn about best practices in the disability field, share information and experience, and develop lasting relationships and networks. "This year's theme draws its inspiration from three challenges facing the disability community today: 1) People with disabilities are often lumped into segregated (or parallel) systems and services; 2) there are significant gaps in the communication between systems and services; and 3) the wide array of stakeholders in the disability field approach issues differently, and are not always aligned to advance the common goal - equity, opportunity and inclusion in all aspects of community life."  

 

The Spring 2013 issue of the Shriver Center Spotlight [PDF] newsletter is dedicated to functional communication for people with a range of developmental and intellectual disabilities.

 

First Step: A Youth Practitioner's Resource Guide to Supportive Services [PDF] provides quick and easy-to-use information about programs and services that might benefit the young adults you serve.

 

Employment:

The Critical Importance of Customized Employment and Discovery, a TASH guest blog by Michael Callahan, TASH Board member and Chair of its Employment Committee, calls for Customized Employment and Discovery to be made widely available for people with significant disabilities.

 

Customized Self-Employment and the Use of Discovery for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities (Heath, K., Ward, K., & Reed, D., Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 39, no. 1, 2013, pp. 23-27) reports findings from the StartUp Alaska research-demonstration project. The project's aim was to identify promising self-employment practices. According to the article abstract, "Results based on a self-employment facilitator generated database and survey on individual participants indicated an association between successful business launch and the use of Discovery." The full journal article is available for purchase online.

 

Best Practice Models of Effective Vocational Rehabilitation Service Delivery in the Public Rehabilitation Program: A Review and Synthesis of the Empirical Literature (Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, Volume 56(3), pp. 146-159) examines 25 years of rehabilitation research to identify best practices at the state VR level. (Article abstract is free; the full text version may require a subscription or purchase.)   

 

National News: 

The ADA Legacy Project (TALP) is gearing up to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 2015. TALP's mission is to honor the contributions of people with disabilities and their allies by:

          preserving and promoting the history of the disability rights movement;

          celebrating the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as other related disability rights legislation and accomplishments; and

          educating the public to create opportunities for inclusion, access, and equal rights for the future.

 

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History is featuring the web exhibition EveryBody: An Artifact History of Disability in America. The exhibition uses images and text to share history from the perspective of people with disabilities.

 
Post-Secondary Education:

Profiles and Promising Practices in Higher Education for Students with Intellectual Disability is a Think College publication that describes the background and structure of five post-secondary programs serving students with intellectual disabilities. It also identifies promising practices that appear to have a positive effect on student outcomes.

 

A Taxonomy for Postsecondary Education Programs for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities [PDF] is a policy brief presenting the taxonomy and examples of how it can be used. The taxonomy facilitates comparison of the growing number of postsecondary programs for individuals with ID/DD.
 

In June 2013, the National Gateway to Self-Determination published a Research to Practice in Self-Determination brief focusing on The Impact of College on Self-Determination [PDF].

 

Social Security:

Do you need to know how many people in your state or region are receiving Social Security and/or SSI payments? How many SSI recipients are aged, how many are blind, and how many are disabled? What the total monthly payment amount is? The Social Security Administration's Office of Retirement and Disability Policy's Congressional Statistics, December 2012 provides the answers to these questions and more.

 

Technology:

New Gadgets Help Disabled Find Work, a July 1, 2013, article from the Columbus Dispatch written by Martha Mendoza, describes the booming U.S. market for assistive technologies. The article mentions several specific technologies that have been life-changing for individuals with disabilities.

 

The Job Accommodation Network released its newest Just-in-Time training module on Assistive Technology in the Workplace. This 21-minute introductory training module covers the basics of assistive technology, alternative input, products, and resources available for use in the workplace.

 

Websites:

Employment First Across the Nation is an interactive map of Employment First activities around the United States. Visit the website to see what is happening in your state and region, and to gather ideas about initiatives you might like to promote in your area.

 

The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) has added the ReadSpeak player to their website. This feature allows users to listen to the site content and follow along with highlighted text.  The website's Spanish pages offer a Spanish voice and an Escuchar button.

 

Have you accessed your Portal today?

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

 

Attended a TACE Webinar? You may already have created a MyTACE Account. If you have a MyTACE Account, email [email protected] and request to join the TACE Transition 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.

Please forward this TACE Talks Transition to others. Invite them to subscribe by joining the Southeast TACE Transition Listserv. To join the listserv, they simply visit the Southeast TACE Transition Services web site and follow the Transition 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 Civa Shumpert at [email protected].

For questions about the Southeast TACE Transition Listserv or the monthly Southeast TACE Talks Transition, please contact Kim Brown at [email protected]

Sincerely,
The Southeast TACE Transition Team
Meet the Southeast TACE Transition Team
 
Chip Kenney, Project Director & Principal Investigator
Jill Houghton, Deputy Director
Norciva (Civa) Shumpert, TACE Transition Consultant
About the Southeast TACE Talks Transition:
This free service is being sponsored by Southeast TACE, the Technical Assistance & Continuing Education (TACE) Center for 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.
To unsubscribe to the Southeast TACE Transition Listserv, use the SafeUnsubscribe link at the bottom of this message or send an email with "unsubscribe transition" 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 Talks Transition.