A Vision of Employment For All: From competitive to customized

1. A Vision of Employment For All:From competitive to customized Ellen Condon University of MT Rural Institute on Disabilities GHA & MGA http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/transition condon@ruralinstitute.umt.edu (406) 243-4134

2. What if we began with the vision that everyone will work? You need to opt out of work rather than opting in or demonstrating that you are ‘ready’ or able to work.

3. Customized Employment: An individualized approach to providing access to employment for all students and adults with complex lives

4. Customized Employment According to DOL: Customized employment means individualizing the relationship between employees and employers in ways that meet the needs of both. It is based upon an individualized determination of the strengths, needs, interests and conditions of the person with a disability, and is also designed to meet the specific needs of an employer.

5. Supported Employment • Offers additional support to enable people to compete successfully in the workplace. • Over 150,000 people with disabilities became employed through the strategy of Supported Employment.

6. Supported Employment • 1 person 1 job • In the community along side coworkers without disabilities • Paid (sometimes subminimum) • Ongoing support for the life of the job

7. Customized Employment Uses the same base, and some of the same strategies as supported employment but: • Always starts with the job seeker, not the employer or the job, and the process of discovery • Initiates and assumes negotiation • Representation of a job seeker is typical • Is an option for anyone

8. Disability Age: maturity/youth Poverty Homelessness Family responsibilities Lack of experience or skills Low self-esteem Cultural Health Addiction Lack of education Habits/life routines Dependence on benefits Customization and Complex Lives

9. Customized Process • Discovery of the job seeker • Capturing discovery through profiles • Customized, person-centered planning • Portfolio/visual resume development • Job development and negotiation • Job site analysis, accommodations, support

10. What does this mean for adults & youth with significant needs? • We presume that everyone can work in their community, • There are many ways to earn a living and contribute, • We can define “work” in many ways, • We look for strengths, support needs, interests, factors that motivate each person,

11. What does this mean for youth with significant needs? • Focus on supporting each person to make a contribution and maximize their participation in all activities, • Focus on identifying the conditions needed to be successful, • Eliminate the prerequisite to get ready and the need to be competitive.

12. Features of Customized Employment • Based on discovery of the applicant more than on evaluative/comparative processes, • Driven by a customized plan developed by the applicant’s strengths, needs and interests, • Focuses on tasks rather than job titles to negotiate essential responsibilities,

13. Features of Customized Employment • Specific job duties are negotiated with employers, voluntarily, to customize the job, • Occurs in regular community workplaces or in self-owned businesses, • Involves pay of at least the minimum wage up to prevailing wage.

14. If the Post School Outcome is Employment for Everyone, How does our time in school change? Will IEP goals change? Will work experiences look different for students with significant disabilities? Will how we provide support change?

15. Two Distinct Approaches Labor Market Job Development:Responding to the needs of employers with applicants who are “qualified” to meet those general needs. Customized Job Development: Discovering the “strengths, needs and interests” of applicants and proactively negotiating a job description that meets both the applicant’s and employer’s specific.

16. Customized Job Development Job Seeker initiates Employer Reacts Considers proposal Reviews their unmet needs or allows developer to I.D. unmet needs If a match is identified, a new job description is created. • Job seeker’s skills, tasks & contributions are emphasized • Employers are contacted because their needs might match what the job seeker brings • Job seeker or representative presents a proposal • A position is negotiated

17. The importance of Discovery Discovery is the foundation of customization. The lessons learned in discovery have a direct impact on the negotiations with employers and should be reflected in the customized job descriptions for job seekers.

18. People are ready to contribute It is up to us to determine what they need for conditions, tasks and supports to make a contribution.

19. Categories of Customized Employment • Single source job descriptions based on tasks derived from a single traditional job • Multiple source job descriptions based on tasks derived from a variety of jobs • Created job descriptions based on heretofore unmet needs of a work setting • Contract jobs based on single or multiple source or created job descriptions performed under a contract

20. Categories of Customized Employment • Self Employment based on the unmet needs of a local market • Business within a Business • Resource Ownership

21. Customizing a job requires that we explore these five components from the applicant’s perspective: 1. Conditions 2. Preferences and Interests 3. Contributions to Be Offered 4. Discrete Tasks to Be Performed 5. Specific Employers to Be Contacted

22. Customized Jobs in the Community When does the negotiation occur?

23. In order to customize employment, we must begin by answering the question, “Who is this person?” Interests, preferences, support needs, conditions where they are at their best, contributions to an employer, tasks that the individual can do

24. Discovery • A process to get a picture of who this person is ‘where they are most who they are’; • Looks at what they do, how they do it, what works, what doesn’t work, where they are most motivated, skills, interests, abilities; • It helps get a picture of where the student is now so you can build a vision of the future.

25. IDEA 2004 requires schools to Use age appropriate transition assessments to guide post school outcomes and transition planning. UM Rural Institute, Missoula, MT

26. Discovery and Post School Outcomes • Discovery is optimistic • Results in robust information • and descriptive information • And crosses all areas of someone’s life (home, community, school, work) UM Rural Institute, Missoula, MT

27. Traditional Approaches to Assessment • Attempt to answer the question whether or not the person can work, • Or to determine the specific job or career path the person should pursue, • These approaches lead the job seeker into a competitive process and narrow the field of potential jobs.

28. Testing… • Most tests are standardized and compare the tester against a norm • Many are checklists or short answer • Yes/no answers • A reflection of one discrete time • Tends to predict success or failure • Don’t offer direction for customization

29. Discovery and Traditional Procedures • Discovery seeks to identify already-existing information rather than developing information solely for the purposes of evaluation or diagnosis. • Identifying a direction for employment is based on information obtained from the person's entire life and not from an instance of performance.

30. Discovery and Traditional Procedures • The discovery process focuses more on ecological validity than predictive validity.  It is more important that the direction to employment makes sense in relation to a person's life than to attempt to predict success based on test performance.  • The information of discovery is used only as a guide for matching and customization and may not used to systematically exclude a person from employment.

31. Discovery and Traditional Procedures • By implementing discovery, we try to identify the real complexities faced by the individual and attempt to negotiate and match employment that fits, rather than putting the burden of resolving complexities solely on the individual. • The profile strategy seeks to empower and involve applicants, their families and friends rather than to exclude them. Natural, common sense approaches to employment are given priority over strategies which rely solely on professional judgment and service.

32. Let’s Experience Discovery Ask your partner: • What is an activity that you enjoy and spend time doing at home? Tell me about it….. • Where/when are you at your worst? • What supports help when you when you are at your worst?

33. Discovery • We think we know someone, but it is based upon the context in which we got to know them, • We must validate what we think we know, and observe in new contexts to gain a complete picture.

34. Need for Discovery • Discovery is often assumed, we think “what we see is what they’ve got.” • People come to us with ‘a past’, assumptions about behavior and ability, • Information on an individual is often disjointed, different people have different parts of the “puzzle.”

35. Using Discovery to Clarify Support Needs • Jake does best in an environment where the rules are clear and enforced • Mostly male • Working around the same few people daily • Succinct instruction up front • A variety of familiar tasks • Physical tasks

36. Recognize that some youth have ongoing support needs • That will need to be met in order for them to work in the community, • They can be met in various different ways: natural supports, paid supports, accommodations or adaptations to the workplace, • And they may be minimized by increasing the quality of a job match.

37. Clarifying Support Needs • He needs a 1:1 all the time v.s. • He needs a predictable schedule and a coworker nearby to remind him to check his list if he looks lost. • Do to her lack of safety skills with strangers she needs to be in supervised setting v.s. • We want her to work with familiar people in a nonpublic setting. UM Rural Institute, Missoula, MT

38. Turning ‘issues’ into Conditions • Wanders off • Requires 1:1 all the time to be safe with women • Needs to stop destroying property before he goes to work • Off task • Family fear of child being ridiculed

39. Conversation Interview Time together Observation Participation with the student in activities both familiar and novel Finally, Review of records Strategies for Facilitated Discovery

40. Remarkable moments Remarkable moments refer to the strategy of focusing on those aspects of the individual of concern’s performance/behavior that are felt to be of sufficient significance to merit our descriptive remarks. In this way, facilitators who do not have dedicated time for discovery can find these moments of time to write up the description of the behavior/performance.

41. Intentional moments Intentional moments refer to the strategy of planning for a specific time in the near future for a focus on discovery and descriptive writing, regardless of whether the performance is “remarkable”. We recommend that a 2 – 4 minute focus period be planned for discovery purposes. Facilitators should plan for this observation during times when the individual is likely to be engaged in performance activity.

42. Observation Strategies within Activity • Try to remember what you see • Take notes afterwards • Offer the individual the “lead”, subtly • Use an “asking” conversational style • Let the individual speak • Wait for the person, allow periods of silence • Notice small things while you participate • Create a system to capture information

43. Developing a Plan for Discovery • What is the intended outcome of Discovery? • Time-frame? • Who • Where • What Marc Gold & Associates 4101 Gautier-Vancleave Rd. Ste. 102, Gautier, MS 39553 (228) 497-6999

44. The person of concern Their family and loved ones Close and trusted friends Neighbors with good relationships Professionals who care Counselors Teachers Case managers Service providers The “Who” of Discovery

45. Home/Living Context: Discovery starts where relationships start – where we live Neighborhood Local Community Ethnic group/peer group School One-stop center Church Places where the person is “most who they are” The “Where” of Discovery

46. Routines Relationships Responsibilities Challenges Associations Friendships Shops and Services Tasks Solutions Connections Education Location Life performance Community inventory The “What” of Discovery The best aspects of the person

47. Itinerary for Discovery • 1) what is the outcome for Discovery right now? • 2) who makes sense to be on the team doing discovery?

48. Discovery Identifies interests, skills, tasks, connections…. All the information needed to custom tailor a job for an individual job seeker.

49. Discovery facts Average hours required for Discovery = 20 hours (range 16-24 hrs) Average time frame for Discovery = 4 weeks (range 3 – 6 wks) We recommend a team effort of 2 – 4 members while learning discovery

50. 20 Steps to Successful Discovery The following steps will provide you with a tool to organize the interactions necessary for discovery. We recommend that you use the Discovery Log as a data form to take you through the sequence of activities.