Beth Swedeen

Summer Employment and Community Experiences of Transition-Age Youth with Severe Disabilities

Although early work experiences during high school represent one of the most consistent predictors of postschool employment for young adults with disabilities, little is known about how these adolescents might access these valuable transition experiences. This study examined the summer employment and community activities of 136 high school students with severe disabilities. The majority of youth was either not working (61.7%) or reported sheltered employment (11.1%). The most prominent predictors of summer employment status were holding a job during the spring semester and teacher expectations for employment. Recommendations for research and practice focus on increasing the capacity of schools, families, and communities to support the involvement of youth with severe disabilities in meaningful summer activities.

Availability of and Access to Career Development Activities for Transition-Age Youth With Disabilities

Equipping youth with and without disabilities for the world of work has been the focus of ongoing legislative and policy initiatives. The authors examined the extent to which career development and vocational activities were available to and accessed by youth with severe disabilities or emotional and behavioral disorders attending 34 urban, suburban, and rural high schools. Although school-level representatives (e.g., administrators, guidance counselors, student services directors) identified an array of career development opportunities offered by their schools, participation by youth with disabilities in these experiences was reported to be fairly limited. Potential factors influencing the participation of youth included disability-related needs and limited professional development opportunities for educators. The authors present recommendations for improving research and practice aimed at better preparing youth with disabilities for their future careers.

“I Don't Have to Do This by Myself?” Parent-Led Community Conversations to Promote Inclusion

Parents have long played a pivotal and powerful role in advocating for improved services, supports, and increased opportunities for their children with significant disabilities. Yet inclusive opportunities remain strikingly limited in many schools and communities. We examined the viability and impact of parent-led community conversation events as an avenue for launching or strengthening efforts to involve children and youth with disabilities more fully in school, work, and community life. Events were held in 10 locales, used the World Café process by Brown and Isaacs, and addressed specific issues identified by parents (e.g., expanding employment opportunities, recreation options, extracurricular activities, and inclusive education). Interviews with parents and their collaborating partners, observations of the events, and anonymous surveys of more than 300 community members who attended the conversations suggested that the events were successful at accomplishing the goals of promoting greater awareness, generating new strategies and ideas for programmatic changes, encouraging school–community–family linkages, and drawing in new partners. Recommendations for supporting the contributions of parents as leaders in this type of local change effort are provided, along with directions for future research on conducting asset-focused change efforts.

Exploring school-employer partnerships to expand career development and early work experiences for youth with disabilities

Although career development and early work experiences are associated with improved postschool employment outcomes for youth with disabilities, transition personnel report having few natural community partners to support and enhance these experiences. We surveyed 135 chambers of commerce and other employer networks to examine (a) whether and how these networks have partnered previously with local high schools on 18 youth-focused career development activities, (b) the extent to which they would consider such involvement to be feasible, and (c) the influence of disability status of youth on their responses. Although respondents considered a number of youth-focused support activities to be feasible, most chambers had limited previous involvement and their views and experiences were clearly influenced by the disability status of youth. Recommendations for expanding the involvement of employer networks in supporting the career development and early work experiences of youth are offered.

Special Educators' Perceptions of Summer Employment and Community Participation Opportunities for Youth with Disabilities.

Although connecting youth with disabilities with early work experiences has emerged as a recommended practice in transition education, little is known about the extent to which the summer months might offer a meaningful context for providing such experiences. To understand the perspectives of special educators regarding promoting summer employment and other community activities for youth with disabilities, the authors interviewed 14 teachers from 10 high schools. Although teachers identified the summer months as a promising avenue for engaging youth in career development experiences, they articulated several school-, family-, and employer-related barriers that may hinder youth from accessing these experiences. This article discusses recommendations for engaging youth more meaningfully during the summer months and offers direction for future research.

Conversations that matter: Engaging communities to expand employment opportunities for youth with disabilities

favorite after-school or summer job held during high school. Indeed, finding and holding a part-time job is a fairly typical adolescent experience, with almost 90% of youth without disabilities working at some point during high school (Zimmer-Gembeck & Mortimer, 2006). These early work experiences can provide youth with opportunities to explore potential career interests, gain valuable workrelated skills and attitudes, establish relationships in the community, strengthen their résumés, and earn extra income (which often is the most enticing part for students). For high school students with disabilities, accessing such early work experiences also has been strongly linked with improved employment outcomes in adulthood (Benz, Lindstrom, & Yovanoff, 2000). High school is a time when the experiences of students with significant disabilities increasingly become anchored to the community, and promoting career-development experiences becomes an essential element of transition programming (Carter, Ditchman, et al., in press). Yet, substantial numbers of youth miss out on these valuable experiences. Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study2, for example, indicate that only 36% of youth with intellectual disabilities, 15% of youth with autism, and 22% of youth with multiple disabilities held a paid job at any time during the previous year (Wagner, Cadwallader, & Marder, 2003). Leaving high school without these early work experiences can set a future course of unemployment, underemployment, and lowered expectations that can last throughout adulthood. Such discouraging outcomes underscore the need for innovative but practical approaches that lead to more meaningful high school transition experiences for all youth (Rusch & Braddock, 2004). Although preparing youth with significant disabilities for future careers is a central focus of transition education, the task can be overwhelming for high school teachers and staff to tackle alone (Kohler & Field, 2003). Educators describe a number of common barriers to promoting youth employment, including the perceived inexperience of the student, the unwillingness of local employers to hire youth with disabilities, limited awareness by teachers and families of the array of work-related opportunities and resources that might exist in their communities, weak linkages between schools and community employers, and difficulty finding transportation and on-the-job supports (Johnson, 2004; Trainor, Carter, Owens, & Swedeen, 2008). Clearly, a pressing need exists to engage the broader community more meaningfully and effectively to substantively improve outcomes for youth with significant disabilities. Communities are rich reservoirs of expertise, relationships, supports, opportunities, ideas, and other assets that can be used to expand the employment experiences of youth with disabilities. The chamber of commerce, business networks, and employers— more than anyone else—know about the current and future hiring needs and opportunities in their community, but schools often are not able to effectively engage these groups as partners. Civic and service organizations have valuable information regarding the needs in their communities, but rarely have an avenue to communicate with schools. Human service agencies have considerable expertise and access related to funding, services, and programs, but youth with disabilities rarely access

Community Conversations An Approach for Expanding and Connecting Opportunities for Employment for Adolescents With Disabilities

Although early work experiences can impart a number of benefits to adolescents with disabilities, few students have meaningful access to these opportunities. The authors examined “community conversations” to build capacity and interest in expanding employment opportunities. Events were held in seven different communities and used the World Café process (Brown & Isaacs, 2005) to facilitate asset-based identification of localized next steps. Observations, analyses of surveys completed by the 239 community members who attended, and examination of artifacts suggested that the events offer a promising avenue for identifying solutions, building social capital, and increasing employment opportunities. The authors offer recommendations for drawing on this approach to harness and build the capacity of communities to support youth in transition, along with directions for future research.

Getting Everyone Involved: Identifying Transition Opportunities for Youth with Severe Disabilities.

prises more than just the academic courses students take. The wide range of extracurricular clubs, sports teams, performing arts programs, student government positions, career development activities, service-learning projects, and other school-sponsored activities offered in middle and high schools provide a rich range of valuable learning opportunities. These activities can shape students’ career paths; help them develop the communication, team-building, and leadership skills needed for the world of work; and link what is learned in the classroom to students’ everyday lives. Schools offer these opportunities because of the contributions they make to a well-rounded transition experience for all youth. Indeed, national high school redesign efforts emphasize the importance of engaging students more fully in and outside of the classroom through meaningful, interactive coursework; active involvement in a range of school activities; and strengthened relationships with school staff and other students (McNulty & Quaglia, 2007; see box, “What Does the Research Say About Involvement in Extracurricular Activities?”). For students with significant disabilities—such as intellectual disabilities or multiple disabilities—a broad range of school experiences are especially valuable for increasing functional life skills, peer relationships, self-determination, and a sense of belonging. The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 calls on educational planning teams to consider the supplemental aids, services, and supports students with disabilities need to “participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities.” Yet, for many youth with disabilities—and a substantial number of students without disabilities—involvement in the array of social and learning opportunities available within their middle or high school can be quite limited (Kleinert, Miracle, & Sheppard-Jones, 2007; Simeonsson, Carlson, Huntington, McMillen, & Brent, 2001). According to the National Longitudinal Transition Study2, more than one third of adolescents with disabilities had not participated in an organized group at school or in the community during the past year (Wagner, Cadwallader, & Marder, 2003). For youth with significant disabilities, these experiences are particularly limited. Our own conversations with high school special education teachers about this aspect of transition education highlight a recurring theme: Students with significant disabilities never or rarely participate in the larger life of the school. “They’re not involved, and as a result, they don’t feel connected to the school,” one teacher told us. Moreover, the school involvement of youth with significant disabilities often is limited to a small number of specialized or segregated options, such as Special Olympics (Storey, 2008). Many factors can contribute to the limited involvement of youth with disabilities in these valuable adolescent experiences. Students frequently are unaware of the extracurricular and other out-of-class activities offered at their school, or they may not recognize how existing opportunities align with their interests, strengths, and future goals. For example, students with significant disabilities may have limited contact with general education peers and teachers and may not hear about existing club offerings, an upcoming job fair, or other school-sponsored

Community-Based Summer Work Experiences of Adolescents With High-Incidence Disabilities

Although summer offers a natural context for adolescents to gain community-based work experience, little is known about the extent to which youth with disabilities are accessing these transition-related opportunities. We examined the summer employment experiences of 220 youth with high-incidence disabilities at two time points. Although more than half of all youth were employed at some point during the summer, youth with emotional/behavioral disorders and intellectual disabilities worked at significantly lower rates than youth with learning disabilities, and all received limited formal support related to finding and maintaining their jobs. Skill-related factors and spring work experience emerged as prominent predictors of summer employment outcomes. We present recommendations for schools, families, and communities to expand summer employment opportunities for youth with disabilities as an avenue for promoting career development.

What Are You Doing After School? Promoting Extracurricular Involvement for Transition-Age Youth With Disabilities

The school activities, social relationships, and leadership opportunities youth with disabilities experience outside of the classroom can make important contributions to positive adolescent development and successful transitions to adult life. Unfortunately, many high school students with disabilities are not accessing or benefiting from the rich experiences and important learning experiences offered through extracurricular clubs and activities. This article examines common challenges to extracurricular participation and outlines steps school staff can take to ensure that students with disabilities participate fully and meaningfully in these activities.