Increasing Work Skills for Students With Significant Disabilities: A Six-Step Model for Transition Worksite Programs

Abstract

Students with significant disabilities typically experience poor postschool employment outcomes. However, when provided opportunities to work and engage within their communities, they can gain necessary work-specific and workplace social skills to improve outcomes. This article outlines a six-step model for community-based employment programs designed to support students with significant disabilities. The six steps include (a) interagency collaboration, (b) staff training, (c) scheduling, (d) skill acquisition, (e) data tracking, and (f) student involvement. One teacher’s experience as she worked to create such a program is used as a guide to indicate how the steps can be transferred to other schools.

Keywords

significant disabilities transition model community-based employment program

Ms. Sandoval is a special education transition teacher of students with significant disabilities in a large urban city. Every year, Ms. Sandoval finds three to four community work experiences for her students to gain internship experience. After witnessing the positive results these experiences provided her students, Ms. Sandoval began to create a long-term community-based employment program so all of her students could gain work experience. After months of work, Ms. Sandoval secured worksites for 35 transition-aged students with significant disabilities. By November, her students would begin work at one of the participating community worksites: a hotel, a hospital, or an urban garden. Ms. Sandoval knew actual work experience was a crucial component in her students’ transition education. She also knew her students had the ability to engage with the community, and through this experience, her students would gain experience in a more meaningful and tangible way than books and videos could provide.

The degree to which students with disabilities participate in meaningful community-based employment programs while in high school has been a major concern at the federal, state, and local levels. Paid employment/work experiences, transition programs, and vocational education (i.e., career technical education) are known predictors of postschool employment for students with disabilities (Test et al., 2009). Yet, few students with significant disabilities (SWSD) are offered these experiences (Carter et al., 2012). SWSD have lower postschool employment outcomes and lack access to needed supports (Newman et al., 2009).

Needs and Barriers in Employment Training

Employment training and work experiences improve outcomes for youth with disabilities (Carter et al., 2012; Mazzotti et al., 2016; Test et al., 2009), especially for SWSD (Dutta et al., 2008). Dutta et al. (2008) identified job placement and on-the-job support services as momentous contributors to employment outcomes, and confirmed state vocational rehabilitation (VR) services are associated with increased employment for youth with disabilities, including those with significant disabilities.

VR services and counselors play a pivotal role in the transition from school to employment for SWSD (Agran et al., 2002). VR has a long history of working with schools to provide employment support for youth. However, VR counselors often cite dissatisfactory relationships with school transition teams as a hindrance for the delivery of services students should receive (Agran et al., 2002). For this reason and others, VR counselors report many students transitioning out of school do not have the necessary skills to seek and maintain employment (Riesen et al., 2014). Given the barriers to employment training VR counselors and school transition teams experience, a comprehensive community-based employment program is needed to support the postschool employment outcomes of SWSD. Such a program also has the potential to improve interagency collaboration and strengthen the quality of supports available.

Six Steps for Employment Training

Cannella-Malone and Schaefer (2017) found teaching vocational skills to SWSD has been successful across both segregated and community employment settings. Unfortunately, far too often, SWSD are confined to segregated classrooms, learning skills that are not generalizable to community employment settings. White and Weiner (2004) stressed the importance of natural nonschool environments include practicing social skills, accessing public transportation, and on-the-job training, yet many educators are overwhelmed with the thought of taking SWSD off campus. Using the following six steps, educators and school districts can provide SWSD authentic community-based training experiences to strengthen work readiness skills and improve postschool employment outcomes.

Step One: Interagency Collaboration

Collaboration with state agencies is vital in the public-school setting where funding is often lacking. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA; 2014) requires VR agencies to provide students with disabilities employment training and transition supports while in school (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2014). As VR has increasingly become a primary funding source for employment and transition services in public schools, interagency collaboration and continuous communication between the agency and schools is of the utmost importance. VR, or its parent agency, Disability Determination Services (DDS), is generally equipped to locate resources school personnel do not have easy access to or, in most cases, time to locate. VR services and protocols may look different state-to-state, but the purpose of the agency remains the same across the nation. VR’s main directive is to provide direct VR services needed for individuals with disabilities to prepare for, gain, regain, or retain employment under a state-approved plan (Department on Disability Services, 2018).

In Ms. Sandoval’s case, collaboration with the state agency was essential to the overall success of the workforce program. To oversee the multifaceted community-based employment program, Ms. Sandoval scheduled an initial meeting with her school’s VR counselor one year before the intended start date. At this meeting, Ms. Sandoval started the conversation by sharing her vision for the program and goals for her students. Ms. Sandoval laid out the preliminary plans and outlined student needs and supports. In these initial conversations, VR personnel were able to confirm the services they could provide under the state’s plan and included available, services Ms. Sandoval was not aware (e.g., travel training, work uniforms, financial counseling). Ms. Sandoval and the VR counselor set monthly meetings to share program updates. In these meetings, they addressed areas of need and plans to support students. Ms. Sandoval reported progress to her school principal and district officials. All parties subsequently gathered to discuss outstanding needs and plans on a bi-monthly basis. As the start date grew nearer, meetings with the VR counselor occurred weekly, and progress reports to all involved increased in frequency. As a new program, many unanticipated issues arose not initially planned for but through collaborative efforts, they were effectively and efficiently addressed to ensure a productive first year.

Step Two: Staff Training

Before students see the worksite, the school transition team needs staff training to teach and track work-specific skills and workplace social skills. Transition teachers, paraeducators, and other stakeholders should be trained to support students with work-related tasks and navigating ever-important professional and social interactions. Teachers and paraeducators should serve as site supervisors to a small group to ensure all students are supervised and supported, and progress tracking should occur without overwhelming any one educator. The primary goal for the team should be to enable students to be successful on the worksite, gain skills transferable to other employment settings, and encourage increased self-advocacy.

On a district professional development day, Ms. Sandoval’s team went to each worksite and met with employees to learn about explicit tasks students would be assigned to do once work started. Each team member spent time observing and recording how tasks should be completed, learned how to complete the tasks themselves, and listed the steps to completion in order. As a team, the educators created progress-tracking evaluation forms for each job available at the worksites. They agreed on a universal scoring method and scheduled monthly meetings to assess data collection and student progress (see Table 1). Once students started working, supervisors were responsible for tracking individual student progress daily, summarizing scores weekly, and identifying/reporting areas of concern during the monthly meeting. In these meetings, the team discussed action plans and next steps to improve individual and group outcomes.

Table 1.

Sample Progress Tracking Evaluation Form for a Hotel Kitchen Worker.

Student progress tracking evaluation form
Step	Student name	Rate the student 0–4.4 = complete (w/ no prompt),3 = partially complete w/ minimal prompt,2 = complete w/ full prompt,1 = complete w/ physical prompt,0 = did not complete
	Job title	Date	Date	Date	Date
1	Clock-in at scheduled time
2	Promptly go to your work area
3	Greet coworkers
4	Job task 1—ex: Wash hands, put on apron and gloves
5	Job task 2—ex: Clean and prepare vegetables
6	Job task 3—ex: Gather serving dishes
7	Clock out for lunch break
8	Clock back in from lunch break
9	Job task 4—ex: Properly store foods
10	Job task 5—ex: Clean used dished
11	Job task 6—ex: Sanitize kitchen
12	Say goodbye to coworkers
13	Clock out at scheduled time
	Total score (out of 52)
	Percentage correct

For worksite employees, Ms. Sandoval scheduled staff trainings to impart information on the students who would soon be working alongside them. Ms. Sandoval and the worksite manager scheduled multiple dates to meet and share program goals and details with worksite employees. In these trainings, Ms. Sandoval specified the ways and extent to which staff were expected to train and work with incoming students. She and the worksite manager assured employees they could support student learning in the workplace while meeting their own requirements. Site employees and managers were given the opportunity to meet the school transition team and ask pressing questions about the program and incoming students in a safe space where their questions and concerns could be addressed. Encouraging open discussion allowed worksite staff to address topics which concerned them most. One of the factors which serves as a deterrent in hiring individuals with disabilities is lack of awareness on how to deal with workers with disabilities and their accommodation needs (Kaye et al., 2011). Ms. Sandoval used the training to provide as much information as possible on her students and their work-based needs. She also made herself available for questions and comments from worksite staff on a regular basis. Providing staff training helped increase student ability awareness and counteracted the negative perception that SWSD struggle to obtain and maintain community-based employment.

Step Three: Scheduling

Scheduling for a multifaceted community-based employment program can be an arduous process all on its own. In the wake of stringent academic pressure, many educators fail to find the time to instruct on transition skills (Kochhar-Bryant & Bassett, 2002), much less develop entire transition programs that seamlessly integrate academic skills. Scheduling is not an easy task to undertake, but it is essential to students’ ability to acquire work-specific and workplace social skills.

To ensure students received wrap-around services as mandated by their individualized education programs (IEPs), educators need to schedule time with related-service providers (e.g., speech therapist and occupational therapist) to (a) explain the purpose of the program and (b) help find ways to serve students in school and in the workplace. Related services providers need to contend with their own schedules to ensure they can meet the participating student needs and IEP requirements. Most services will still be provided in the school setting; however, providers can also schedule a monthly visit to worksites to support students in their work environments.

After conferring with the district and school calendar, Ms. Sandoval scheduled four days a week for students to work, sent initial calendars to worksite managers, and adjusted dates as needed. Ms. Sandoval then shared the calendars with the VR counselor. This allowed VR to coordinate when funding of supplies and supports would be made available to students. After approval from the school principal and district, Ms. Sandoval shared the calendar to school-based providers. On days students were scheduled to be in-school, Ms. Sandoval and the transition teachers addressed work-specific skills, workplace social skills, and IEP goals. In annual IEP meetings, goals and progress notes were updated to include the work-related education and experience students were getting. This streamlined process addressed the academic and transition related needs of the adult-aged students in the community-based employment program and focused on functional and practical skills needed for post-school success.

Step Four: Skill Acquisition

Once at the worksites, teachers should focus instruction on work-specific skills and workplace social skills. To teach these essential skills, forward and backward chaining training procedures can be used. Forward chaining is used when students understand basic directions and show ability to complete tasks with minimal prompting. In forward chaining, behaviors are taught in the order they naturally occur, and students are reinforced after each new learned step in the sequence (Cooper et al., 2007).

Brenda , a 20-year-old student diagnosed with an Intellectual Disability, interested in the hospitality industry, worked in a hotel’s kitchen and dining area. On her first day, Brenda was shown all the duties of her job as a hotel kitchen worker and reported feeling overwhelmed to her teacher. Ms. Sandoval used forward chaining to break down the steps of her expected tasks. Each time Brenda learned a new step in the sequence and performed all the past tasks correctly, she was reinforced with one extra minute added to her iPad time. When Brenda could perform all the steps expected of her, she no longer needed the extra break time as a reinforcement because she was completing work much faster and was able to make the connection between her work and the bi-weekly pay she received for work completed.

Backward chaining procedures are used for skill acquisition of tasks which require more directions or when students find the skill particularly challenging to master. In backward chaining, the teacher initially completes behaviors, except for the last step. When the student completes the last step, they receive reinforcement. With each next-to-last behavior mastered, the student is reinforced until the entire sequence is completed (Cooper et al., 2007).

Even with teacher support, Brenda had difficulty learning how to set dining tables correctly, she would lose sight of the end-goal, stop working and refuse to continue. Ms. Sandoval decided to employ the backward chaining procedure so Brenda could access her added iPad time reinforcement much quicker, making the work more meaningful to her. Once Brenda learned the tasks in their entirety and could perform them consistently, Ms. Sandoval was able to withdraw the amount of reinforcement needed.

Step Five: Data Tracking

To quantify the effectiveness of any community-based employment program, teachers need to be able to track student progress. Using a simple data tracking system, such as the commonly used pre-assessment and post-assessment design, could yield information useful for teachers to determine whether students gained skills in pre-identified competency areas from the beginning to the end of the work experience. Educators should report student progress on the effectiveness of the community-based employment program and individual student progress on work-specific skills. A noninvasive way to record student performance on a daily/weekly basis is to develop a task analysis evaluation form for each student to follow specific to their job placement and tiered by level of ability (see Table 2). Then, create a spreadsheet for educators and other site supervisors to rate student performance on a 5-point Likert-type scale based on individual task list. This process will allow educators to pinpoint specific areas students are experiencing difficulties and identify supports needed to improve performance.

Table 2.

Sample Task Analysis Evaluation Form for Student Cafeteria Worker Requiring Significant, Moderate, and Minimal Supports.

Task analysis: Significant support
Step	4 = complete (w/ no prompt), 3 = partially complete w/ minimal prompt, 2 = complete w/ full prompt, 1 = complete w/ physical prompt, 0 = did not complete
1	With partner, go to assigned work area
2	Greet coworkers
3	Job task 1—ex: put on clean apron and gloves
4	Job task 2—ex: get clean dish rag and sanitizing spray
5	Job task 3—ex: spray and wipe empty tables
6	Job task 4—ex: clear food trays in cafeteria
7	Continue working until lunch time
8	Go on lunch break at scheduled time
9	Continue working until end of shift
10	Clock out at scheduled time
Task analysis: Moderate support
Step	4 = complete (w/ no prompt), 3 = partially complete w/ minimal prompt, 2 = complete w/ full prompt, 1 = complete w/ physical prompt, 0 = did not complete
1	Begin work at scheduled time
2	Greet coworkers
3	Job task 1—ex: put on clean apron and gloves
4	Job task 2—ex: clear cafeteria tables, wipe clean
5	Job task 3—ex: clean floors
6	To/from lunch at schedule time
7	Clock out at scheduled time
Task analysis: Minimal support
Step	4 = complete (w/ no prompt), 3 = partially complete w/ minimal prompt, 2 = complete w/ full prompt, 1 = complete w/ physical prompt, 0 = did not complete
1	Begin work at scheduled time, greet coworkers
2	Job task 1– ex: complete all assigned duties
3	To/from lunch at schedule time
4	Clock out at scheduled time

After implementing the task analysis procedures, Ms. Sandoval met with the school principal quarterly. Ms. Sandoval used the data collect as proof of program effectiveness and student growth in tracked skills. At the end of the first year, and every following year, these data were used to evaluate overall program outcomes, help determine future funding, and inform program and teaching practices.

Step Six: Student Involvement

Sharing data and progress monitoring reports with individual students is a particularly useful method in increasing skill acquisition. Once students are aware of their own areas of growth and needs, performance outcomes may potentially increase. This is especially beneficial for students who usually have a firm understanding of their responsibilities but are often unaware of the steps needed to correctly complete or excel at the assigned task. Through a weekly goal awareness activity, students can become conscious of how they could improve their skills and the site supervisors observe, provide feedback, and record student progress in self-correcting known behaviors.

Ms. Sandoval shared individualized data with her students at the end of every week. Using the data, she had the students write, verbalize, or express a goal they would work on during the following week and at the next check-in students would report progress on the goal to the entire class. Skill awareness transferred easily into increased self-advocacy and involvement in post-school decisions. Students began to share progress of their newly acquired work and workplace social skills with family members, related-service providers, the VR counselor and other important figures in their lives. Students like Brenda were usually given the opportunity to provide input when it came to post-school planning, but now that she had actual work experience, she could more adequately address her aspirations for post-school options.

Putting It All Together

Exposing students to community experiences is a known predictor of improved postschool outcomes (Test et al., 2009) and increased quality of life (Modell & Valdez, 2002). Using six steps (a) interagency collaboration, (b) staff training, (c) scheduling, (d) skill acquisition, (e) data tracking, and (f) student involvement, students have the opportunity to explore and familiarize themselves with the surrounding community. On days “off” from work, students can go to malls, restaurants, and museums to learn and practice social and life skills in natural environments. During community outings, the transition team can use social and financial skills tasks analysis evaluation forms to record student interactions and provide real-time support to students when navigating social situations and completing financial transactions (see Table 3).

Table 3.

Sample Tasks Analysis Evaluation Forms for Social and Financial Skills.

Social skills checklist
4 = complete (w/ no prompt), 3 = partially complete w/ minimal prompt, 2 = complete w/ full prompt, 1 = complete w/ physical prompt, 0 = did not complete
Skill	Score	Comments
Greets others appropriately
Listens and maintains eye contact when spoken to
Shakes hand with others (if introduced)
Responds when spoken to, asked a question, directed to
Respects the personal space of others
Asks for support when needed (ex: directions)
Expresses an idea, question, or feeling appropriately
Financial skills checklist
4 = complete (w/ no prompt), 3 = partially complete w/ minimal prompt, 2 = complete w/ full prompt, 1 = complete w/ physical prompt, 0 = did not complete
Skill	Score	Comments
Knows the value of money (coins and bills)
If using cash, gives clerk appropriate currency for transaction
If receiving change, ensures correct change is given
If using debit card, ensures enough funds available for transaction
Uses calculator on phone or other handheld device to ensure there are enough funds for desired purchases and/or receives correct change
Knows how to locate, access, and use an ATM
Creates a simple budget for purchases
Understands want versus need when budgeting and purchasing

As an effort to expose students to numerous employment and community options, the school can hold an annual transition and job fair for students to connect with disability resources, community organizations, and local businesses. With the students’ newly developed job and workplace social skills, students can prepare resumes, cover letters, and practice interview skills prior to the job fair. Local businesses in attendance can meet with students, interview them for open positions, and offer employment opportunities when possible.

If students in a community-based employment program choose to pursue a career in the field in which they were assigned, they would be equipped with background knowledge and prerequisite skills for a smooth transition into a part-time or full-time position. If they wanted to explore other types of employment positions, they could transfer many of the skills learned in the employment program to a new environment while simultaneously citing gained work experience on their personal resumes. Through this community-based employment program, students also may establish connections with the state VR agency, a crucial support as they look to find and maintain stable employment after graduation.

There are many factors to consider when creating an entire community-based employment program. In an increasingly tumultuous time for school budgets, it can be difficult to justify an entire program dedicated to work experience for youth with disabilities. However, this is a needed area which requires appropriate funding and administrative support. The six steps outlined and accompanying task analysis evaluation forms can facilitate the process to include predictors of postschool employment in any school-based employment program.

The task of finding a job a student is interested in, qualified for, and successful in doing can be daunting for anyone, making it ever more important for students with disabilities to receive services and supports prior to leaving high school. The opportunity to fully engage in a community-based employment program with VR support is essential to a student’s transition education while in school. Thus, more schools should use this six-step or similar models to create a transition worksite program that increases work skills for SWSD.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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