Teaching students with disabilities employment skills and to work independently Transition Tuesday

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If you’d like to receive our 51st episode bonus rubric to help students to improve their ability to work independently and employment skills, click this link http://tensigma.org/episode51bonus • One of the most common challenges faced by special education teachers involves preparing students with disabilities to succeed in employment, which is part of a student’s postsecondary goals required by Indicator 13. • An important part of this preparation, involves teaching students to work independently. There are several prerequisites in guiding students to success in their jobs which include providing opportunities for them to: • • Learn and understand the job responsibilities • • Practice performing their responsibilities • • Understanding job safety (general and specific) • • Following directions (verbal and written) • • Take initiative and being persistent • • Learn problem solving skills and have a plan to solve problems • For many students with disabilities, learning important independent working skills involves several steps and teachers often do this through scaffolding. Some suggestions for various scaffolding techniques could include: • • Using rubrics or checklists (which can be developed by searching the Internet for job responsibilities for a specific job) to help students understand their responsibilities. • • Breaking down job tasks into steps • • Modeling and role playing • • Pictures and charts which break down tasks and responsibilities • • Graphic organizers • • Videos about various jobs or skills (which can found on the Internet) • Another important aspect of teaching workplace independence involves communication. It is important (whenever possible) to match the job with the students abilities and skills. It is also important to communicate with the employer and anyone who is working with the student to understand their expectations. We suggest explaining that the student will likely make some mistakes and that this is important in teaching them the skills they will need to succeed in the workplace. Another great tip is to ask the employer if there is an employee that could be a mentor to assist in their training. • Communication with job coaches is critical. Teachers play an important role in helping the job coach to understand the student’s capabilities along with understanding the different between supporting a student and doing tasks for students. It is important to understand and allow students to mistakes – as long as they don’t jeopardize their safety or the safety of others. Lastly, we suggest making sure making sure that the employer, job coach, student, and parent have a copy of the job responsibilities, rubrics, and checklists. • Proving feedback for students is important. Rubrics and checklists can be used to provide this feedback. Another suggestion is to consider having students do some self-evaluations which helps to improve performance, understanding, and leads to positive dialogue between the employment team. We also suggest reviewing and re-teaching important concepts and prerequisites as needed. • As part of each episode of Transition Tuesday, provide additional tips, teacher tools, and resources related to the topics we cover. • This week, Ten Sigma is offering a rubric that can be used to establish a baseline employment skills, which can also be used as a progress monitoring tool. You can access this rubric by clicking on the top of this description. • To learn more about educational resources and tools for teachers or parents, please visit our website http://tensigma.org and you can also connect with us on social media at: • Facebook - / ten-sigma-1572734446323526 • Twitter - / ten_sigma • LinkedIn - / ten-sigma • If you know anyone else who would benefit from the information we share in these videos, please share this video and invite them to visit http://transitiontuesday.org • We hope you enjoyed this episode and that you use this information to help your student learn important skills to work independently and succeed in the workplace.

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