Transition

5/25/2023

Perspectives on the Implementation of Pre-ETS Services: Identification of barriers and facilitators to early career planning for youth with disabilities

There are differences between and within states in the delivery of Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) for students with significant disabilities early in their career planning process. This complicates the delivery of services for these youth with disabilities (YWD) and leaves gaps in communication between families, educators, and vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors.

5/25/2023

Researchers Call for Systemic Changes to Improve Career Prospects of Young People with Disabilities

A deeper level and different kind of coordination, collaboration, and cooperation are needed to narrow the gap in employment opportunities between youth and young adults with and without disabilities. Experts present strategies to challenge the status quo that young people with disabilities face in the transition from school to employment in a special issue of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

5/17/2023

The Center Welcomes Kelly Kurtz Majewski as the New iGROW Program Director

We would like to welcome Kelly Majewski M.Ed. to the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University Team! Kelly Kurtz Majewski has accepted the position of iGROW Program Director and will be leading the rural transition work in Central Texas as well as future replication sites across Texas. The iGROW impact report for year one is included in this post.

5/16/2023

Aggie ACHIEVE Ring Day

On Friday, April 14 the seven juniors and four seniors from the Aggie ACHIEVE program received the first-ever Aggie ACHIEVE Rings in a ceremony at the Rec center at Texas A&M. The ACHIEVE Ring represents the students' dedication to excellence in their 4 year certificate program of Interdisciplinary Studies. We are so proud of each student's accomplishments!

4/14/2023

Iowa Works Together to Address the DSP Workforce Shortage

Recently, our UCEDD joined our sister agency, the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council, and other organizations, including the Iowa Association of Community Partners, Iowa Caregivers Association, ASK Resource Center, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Serves and Iowa Workforce Development, to develop a new recruiting tool. "A Job That Matters: Learn How You Could Become a Direct Support Professional" is publication that features a series of stories about the job, the people who need supports and services to live in the community, and the people who do these jobs in different ways. The publication was recently inserted into local Sunday newspapers and is being circulated electronically throughout the state to build awareness and support DSP recruitment.

4/13/2023

PATHS Student Highlights at Texas A&M Unviersity

The PATHS Program is an inclusive, two-year, certificate training program designed to prepare students, with and without disabilities, for a career as a Direct Support Professional - General, who will work with the elderly or people with disabilities in the community; as a Direct Support Professional - Paraprofessional who will work in school districts and other educational settings; or as a Child Care Professional who will work with children, ages birth to five years old in a daycare setting.

4/5/2023

ICI's Think College Launches Accreditation Agency for Inclusive Higher Education

Think College, a center within the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston, announced the launch of the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council (IHEAC), a new accrediting agency for inclusive postsecondary programs for students with intellectual disability (ID).

3/16/2023

UCLA PEERS for Careers: Breaking Employment Barriers for Autistic Adults

There will be an estimated 700,000 autistic adults aging into adulthood over the next 10 years and yet, a staggering 80% of autistic adults are unemployed. UCLA PEERS� for Careers is an innovative offering to support autistic undergraduate and graduate students in successfully transitioning from post-secondary education to the workforce.

The Need for Mentoring Youth with Disabilities:Youth with physical or mental disabilities represent special populations at risk for juvenile delinquency, victimization, educational failure, and poor employment outcomes and often have multiple, overlapping risk factors. Such youth can and do benefit from mentoring relationships.

The Need for Inclusive Mentoring Programs:Youth with disabilities typically to receive mentoring within disability-specific programs rather than in inclusive, community-based programs that have a diversity of resources that promote education, job readiness, development of employment skills, and/or training in and exposure to entrepreneurial activities.

The Benefits:

• Youth with disabilities can participate with their typically developing peers in mentoring programs,
• The community capacity to serve people with disabilities would be enhanced with training, technical assistance, and programmatic supports,
• There is a social value to providing inclusive supports and services, and
• Through building the capacity of community-based mentoring programs to serve all youth well-including those with special physical or mental challenges-is more cost-effective than supporting multiple specialty services.

 Factsheet:

AUCD has developed a factsheet that provides an overview of mentoring youth with disabilities, and gives examples of promising practices from the AUCD network. Click here: factsheet in PDF