Laura Owens

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.

Self-Determination Prospects of Youth With High-Incidence Disabilities: Divergent Perspectives and Related Factors

Promoting student self-determination has emerged as a key component of recommended practices in the field of secondary transition. This article examined the self-determination prospects of 196 youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), learning disabilities (LD), and mild/moderate cognitive disabilities (CD) using the AIR Self-Determination Scale. Teachers reported the capacities of youth with EBD to engage in self-determined behavior to be significantly lower than those of youth with LD but higher than youth with CD. Social skills and problem behavior ratings both emerged as significant predictors of students’ capacity for self-determination but were not associated with the opportunities for self-determination teachers reported providing at school. Teachers generally evaluated students’ capacity for self-determination lower than youth but higher than parents. Implications for transition assessment and planning are discussed and avenues for further research addressing this critical transition domain are suggested.

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.

Assessing the Transition-Related Strengths and Needs of Adolescents with High-Incidence Disabilities

Although meaningful assessment is considered the cornerstone of transition planning, little empirical guidance is available to inform this assessment process. This study examined the transition-related strengths and needs of 160 students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) or learning disabilities (LD) from the perspectives of special educators, parents, and youth. Teachers rated youth with EBD as evidencing more substantial needs than youth with LD across all 9 planning domains. Students ratings were significantly higher than those of their teachers and parents. Variability in the extent to which participants reported having sufficient information to assess each domain, as well as the extent to which they considered each domain to be relevant to planning, highlights the importance of incorporating multiple perspectives into transition planning.

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.

Co-Instructing at the Secondary Level Strategies for Success

ly spend instructional time in general education classrooms, more and more special educators are working there as well. Through interviews and classroom observations, we found that effective special education co-teachers share certain characteristics: professionalism, the ability to articulate and model instruction to meet student needs, the ability to accurately assess student progress, the ability to analyze teaching/teaching styles, the ability to work with a wide range of students, and a vested interest in course content.

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-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.

Establishing a national Employment First agenda

1 Bob Niemiec, Don Lavin, & Laura A. Owens In order to advance the growing national momentum to focus on integrated employment as the desired outcome for individuals with disabilities, the Board of Directors of APSE recently established a strategic objective to support and promote the Employment First movement throughout the United States. The purpose of this paper is to identify the fundamental principles of an effective state or local initiative. The principles identified in this paper are built upon practical experiences and track records of several Employment First projects operating successfully around the country.