This digest describes support strategies for overcoming obstacles to finding and maintaining employment for students with emotional disorders. These youths may avoid risk-taking situations and often have difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication, such as struggling to make telephone calls to employers and exhibiting limited communication…

This book was designed to share lessons learned from vocational rehabilitation research conducted at 11 Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers. Papers for the book were developed to provide practical guidance to the common efforts of professionals, advocates, consumers, and public figures interested in creating workable rehabilitation…

The Pioneer-Syracuse University Project was designed to help people with severe disabilities find community jobs and become integral participants in their work places, using on-site and off-site resources and supports from job personnel and other community members. Specifically, project staff who had directly trained and supported people with…

This vocational program book is intended to assist vocational rehabilitation counselors in moving toward the goal of community employment for people with autism. The first section considers vocational issues for this population and discusses the following: autism and work, educational experiences/programming, vocational evaluations, purposes of…

This paper describes transitional programs developed by Black Hills Special Services Cooperative (BHSSC) to meet the needs of disabled students in rural areas. In cooperation with other public and private agencies, BHSSC provides comprehensive vocational rehabilitation services and community living programs to help individuals with severe…

These profiles of Minnesota individuals with severe disabilities were developed as part of an evaluation of the impact of supported employment on their lives. The profiles describe individuals who have severe disabilities, who receive assistance from a wide variety of programs, and who were evaluated through both qualitative and quantitative…

This report presents results of focus groups which addressed critical issues identified by a Tennessee study as creating the greatest barriers to the expansion of quality supported employment for persons with disabilities. After an initial introduction, a section explains the interagency Tennessee Initiative on Employment (TIE) in which 20…

This bibliography provides information on resources available for parent training about supported employment and transition of individuals with disabilities. The annotated bibliography includes journal articles, manuscripts, books, and audiovisual materials. The resources are organized into the following categories: (1) parental involvement (17…

This newsletter theme issue contains several articles on postsecondary education for individuals with disabilities. "Supported Education for People with Psychiatric Disabilities...Issues and Implications" (Karen V. Unger) describes three prototypes for postsecondary education of individuals with psychiatric disabilities--the self-contained…

Intended for use with supported employment job coaches and job developers as well as business and industry personnel, the training module is part of a kit designed to demonstrate how individuals with disabilities and older persons can be assimilated successfully into the labor force. This module explains the systematic process needed to…

The role of supported employment in the transition of disabled students from school to work is examined. Needed are functional vocational training curricula, student placement in jobs, school collaboration with adult service agencies, development of a community transition team, staff development, collaborative planning, parental involvement,…

Many public programs providing employment services and support to developmentally disabled adults foster dependency and work disincentives and fail to provide adequate vocational service. Programs should be better coordinated, focus on transitional and supported work activities, and provide incentives to motivate clients to attain the most…

The changes in what people with developmental disabilities wanted and got for living and daytime settings in South Dakota and Wyoming during 1988 were compared to what they wanted and received in 2000. Although the percentage of people in their desired setting rose, there were substantial changes in the types of settings recommended over the…

This report discusses the findings of a project that conducted a series of six focus groups to gather information from different employee groups about their perceptions of issues pertaining to the employment of individuals with disabilities. Focus groups were convened with human resource managers, supervisors, and coworkers of employees with…

A 1992 conference on strategies to secure and maintain employment for person with long-term mental illness brought together providers, consumers, family members, researches, and others to develop as complete an overview as possible of the current state of knowledge in the field. This booklet summarizes findings from the conference. There were many…