Competitive Employment: An Important Consideration for All Students with Disabilities!

Audience: Advocates, Educators, Other District/School Staff, Parents, Students | Topic: Postsecondary Readiness, Special Education | Hosted by: Office of Special Education, Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness

Requirement for School / District Staff: Not Required

On-Demand format

Module 1: Understanding the Importance of High Expectations for Employment

After completing this module, you will have a basic understanding of Employment First, including the importance of embracing high expectations for all students with disabilities as well as the need to begin transition planning as early as possible. You will also learn about current transition efforts taking place across Colorado and you will have the opportunity to apply the Sequencing of Services Framework to your local educational agency. (45 min)

Module 2: Employment First Training Strategies

After completing this module, you will have a better understanding of customized employment and how to connect students and their families to state agencies such as the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Workforce Centers. You will explore several types of assessments used to help students identify their employment and will also have the opportunity to apply this information to the students that you are serving. (33 min)

Module 3: School Staff’s Role with Employment

After completing this module, you will understand the importance of collaborating with district personnel, community partners, and family members when helping students with disabilities reach their employment goals. You will understand how school staff, including paraprofessionals, can support students with disabilities at job sites and during community-based instruction. As part of this module, you will have the opportunity to discuss the separate roles and responsibilities of each team member. (44 min)

Module 4: Supporting a Student’s Self Determination to Achieve Employment

After completing this module, you will be able to identify the characteristics of someone who is self-determined, and you will understand the importance of teaching students with disabilities these skills. You will learn strategies to help encourage students to become more self-determined as they transition into adulthood. You will have the opportunity to discuss the ways you can help increase self-determination skills of the students you are currently serving. (21 min)

 Module 5: Strategies for Increasing Independence to Support Employment

After completing this module, you will gain strategies to help support students in achieving greater independence. You will learn about various levels of prompting, how to select appropriate prompts that will increase a student’s independence, and the importance and process of fading prompts. You will have the opportunity to apply what you learn to students you support. (23 min)

Module 6: Managing Behavior in the Community to Prepare for Employment

After completing this module, you will understand the different functions of behavior and how to determine these functions in order to identify effective strategies that can be used to help prevent and/or reduce the behavior while in the community or workplace. You will learn about the importance of providing support that is more proactive in nature such as creating predictability, providing choices, ensuring students have effective communication systems, and focus on building relationships. You will have the opportunity to apply what you learn to students you are currently supporting. (37 min)

Module 7: School Staff’s Roles and Responsibilities in Progress Monitoring 

After completing this module, you will understand why it is important to take data when working with students in work and community-based activities. You will learn the steps needed to design an effective data collection system and the role that school staff play in implementing this system. You will also have the opportunity to analyze your current progress monitoring practices and identify components that need to be put into place within your setting. (35 min)    

Module: Work-Based Learning Options for Students with Significant Support Needs

After completing this module, you will understand the importance of work and high expectations for students with the most significant disabilities, the need to presume competence when supporting these students, and the need to start the transition planning process early. You will also learn about the need to ensure that transition assessments are individualized, customized, and accessible for students who have varying levels of support needs to gain information to better identify post-secondary goals and supports and services needed by these students. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to learn what work-based learning experiences are and why they are important for students with significant support needs. You will learn different ways to develop worksites by incorporating self-determination and through working with students’ family members. Finally, you will have the opportunity to analyze current worksite supports, including assistive technology and transportation, that you are providing to students you serve. (1 hours, 42 min)

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