Individualized Transition Planning for Students With Learning Disabilities

Many transition plans for students with learning disabilities suffer because (a) they often focus on the employment needs of students with more severe cognitive and physical disabilities and (b) they are not required until as late as 14 years old, sometimes too late for many students with learning disabilities. Lack of effective transition planning may result in inadequate postsecondary adjustment problems (e.g., under‐ or unemployment, restricted participation in community and leisure activities). The authors describe specific problems in transition planning for students with learning disabilities and offer suggestions for designing K‐12 transition plans that are uniquely suited for these students.     

Abstinence-Only: Are You Not Working the Program or Is the Program Not Working for You?

Low retention rates are common in substance use treatment programs. The dominant model of service delivery in the United States is abstinence-only, a high-threshold service delivery model requiring abstinence. What “doesn’t work” for the client—from the client point of view—is an overlooked source of insight about client engagement and disengagement. We report client counter-narratives about the choice to disengage from abstinence-based services, shifting from a story of “dropouts” to one of self-respect. Understanding why clients choose to disengage from treatment can help us as practitioners to “meet clients where they are” and enhance engagement in substance abuse treatment.     

Comprehensive career planning: The VCU Career Connections Program

Individuals with disabilities who complete post secondary education programs must be prepared to plan and direct their long-term careers. Despite recent legislation, students with disabilities exiting higher education continue to face obstacles such as negative employer attitudes, architectural barriers, and lack of necessary services and supports when attempting to access employment and pursue their careers. This article describes a comprehensive career-planning program designed to enhance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities as they graduate from higher education.     

Order of selection in vocational rehabilitation: implications for the transition from school to adult outcomes for youths with learning disabilities

Interagency cooperation between special education and vocational rehabilitation (VR) is central to ensuring the continuity of services to young adults with disabilities who are in transition from school to adult living. However, the interface between special education and VR may be complicated by order of selection, an equally binding mandate in federal VR policy to provide priority services to individuals with the most severe disabilities. Because students with learning disabilities are typically perceived as having mild rather than severe disabilities, these youths are most at risk for falling through the cracks in the service landscape once they leave the school setting in states where the VR agency is implementing an order of selection procedure. This article identifies and discusses common impediments to collaborative transition planning for students with learning disabilities that may be intensified when the state VR agency is operating under an order of selection plan. Recommendations are provided to facilitate greater interagency cooperation among schools and VR agencies so that transition planning and implementation for students with learning disabilities is not subverted as a result of the order of selection mandate.     

Welfare‐to‐Work Services: A Person‐Centered Perspective

Services designed to assist job seekers to leave public assistance and gain employment are well established throughout the U.S. Many of these programs are created and delivered by professionals of higher socioeconomic class backgrounds, but many program participants are of lower social class status. This situation can create “cross‐class” difficulties in the design and delivery of effective job‐search services. The author argues that using a person‐centered perspective, with the deliberate inclusion of genuineness and empathy in all phases of programming, may neutralize cross‐class variables and increase the effectiveness of interventions. Examples from programs emphasizing person‐centered concepts are offered.     

On Accepting Relationships between People with Mental Retardation and Non-disabled People: Towards an Understanding of Acceptance

This article outlines the “sociology of acceptance” as a theoretical framework for understanding relationships between people with mental retardation and typical people. As a point of departure, the authors review sociocultural perspectives on deviance and explore their contribution to the study of mental retardation. Based on qualitative research on community programs for people with severe disabilities, the authors next examine the nature of accepting relationships and describe four sentiments expressed by typical people who form relationships with people with mental retardation: family; religious commitment; humanitarian sentiments; and feelings of friendship. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of a sociology of acceptance for the field of mental retardation.     

Transition and the community college: a Career Keys model for students with disabilities

Transition models are needed that address multiple phases in the postsecondary education of students with disabilities. These models must first address the recruitment of high school students with disabilities for community colleges through career exploration experiences that help students clarify their educational and vocational interests and relate those interests to a two-year postsecondary program. Students with disabilities then need a comprehensive service program while attending community college to help them identify accommodation needs in classroom and workplace environments and develop the skills to request such accommodations from their instructors and employers. With this skill base, they are well prepared to initiate the next transition in their lives, that is, the movement from the community college to a four-year educational institution or to employment. Programs are needed to facilitate this transition, such as a placement planning seminar involving rehabilitation professionals and employers and an accommodation follow-up assessment with students in their new educational and employment settings. The "Career Keys" model describes how to deliver the services needed in each of these critical transition phases.     

The transition of the mentally retarded from school to work: The implications of structural unemployment

The recent federal policy initiative placing a national priority on the transition of individuals with disabilities from school to working life has focused a great deal of attention on issues of employment of the disabled. However, most of the discussion and activities have concentrated on the supply side of the equation: training for employment, job design, and the social and economic value of work. Relatively little attention has been paid to the question of demand for workers with disabilities or the nature of the labor market they face. This paper examines the question of employment for one group of disabled, those with mental retardation. We analyze the factors influencing the ability of the economy to absorb these new workers and make a series of recommendations for policy research needed to facilitate the success of the transition policy.     

Transition from school for youths with a disability: issues and challenges

Australian research has demonstrated that students with a disability are more likely to remain out of the full‐time workforce. These research findings have been the catalyst for a call for a comprehensive career development and transition planning approach for all students with disabilities in schools as well as for employers to rethink the role of people with disabilities in the workforce. In the Australian context the transition from school for individuals with a disability is complicated by a disparate and fragmented group of service agencies providing a range of services, including employment, supported accommodation, recreation and leisure pursuits, as well as training and placement, along with, at times, a deep‐seated prejudice towards people with disabilities in the market place. This paper reviews a number of issues and challenges confronting individuals with a disability making the transition from school to the post‐school environment.     

Students' Attitudes to the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in the Community

This study measures and compares the attitudes of students studying different subjects to the inclusion of people with mental retardation and mental illness in the community. The Community Living Attitude Scale (comprising the four subscales of Empowerment, Exclusion, Sheltering, and Similarity) was administered to a random sample of 149 Israeli college freshmen and women (social work: n = 43: law: n = 24; natural science: n = 42; and social science: n = 40). Overall, the students endorse Empowerment and perceive the Similarity of persons with disabilities to themselves more than they agree with the Exclusion attitude of segregating persons with disabilities from community life. Social work students showed more positive inclusion attitudes to people with disabilities than other students. Students were more likely to endorse Exclusion for people with mental illness than for people with mental retardation.     

Children with developmental disabilities in the child welfare system: a national survey

A survey of state agencies responsible for developmental disabilities/mental retardation and child welfare investigated the coordination of services for children with developmental disabilities. Recommendations are offered with regard to further research and model program development.     

Talking or Keeping Silent About Parental Mental Health Problems—A Grounded Theory of Parents' Decision Making and Experiences with Their Children

This grounded theory study explored parents' experiences of responding to their children's need for understanding parental mental health concerns. Fifteen parents with severe and enduring mental health difficulties participated in the study. The findings suggest four main social processes that influence parents' talk with their children about parental mental health issues, namely “Protecting and being protected,” “Responding to children's search for understanding,” “Prioritizing family life,” and “Relating to others.” Implications of the findings for clinical practice and future research are considered. In particular, the need for more family‐orientated services where parents experience parental mental health problems is highlighted.     

Foster care transition services for youth with disabilities: findings from a survey of county service providers

This study explores the transition services available for youth with disabilities in foster care and the collaboration among foster care transition programs with other types of providers. Findings from this survey of independent living coordinators working for child welfare agencies indicate that while youth with disabilities are being served through transition programs and these programs collaborate with other government agencies, there are few services targeted directly toward their needs, little collaboration with community-based agencies, and a need for more information sharing.     

Women with disabilities making the transition back to work: Psychosocial barriers and interventions

The economic impact of disability on employment, earnings, and education appears to be more devastating for women than for men. Women with disabilities who are making the transition either back into the workforce or into the workforce for the first time often face barriers that are unique to this population. Many researchers have described women with disabilities as having a "double disadvantage" that results in social and psychological barriers to their transition back to work. The purpose of this article is to help vocational and career development programs better address the psychosocial needs of women with disabilities by (a) describing key psychosocial barriers faced by women with disabilities in their transition back to work and (b) providing career development strategies designed to ease this transition process for women with disabilities and enhance their employment outcomes.     

One Hundred Years of College Mental Health

Abstract

Although the first student health service is credited to Amherst College in 1861, almost 50 years passed before Princeton University established the first mental health service in 1910. At that time, a psychiatrist was hired to help with student personality development. Although other schools subsequently established such services, the first 50 years of college mental health were marked by a series of national conferences. At the American Student Health Association's annual meeting in 1920, “mental hygiene” was identified as critical for college campuses to assist students to reach their highest potential. However, it took another 40 years before mental health and psychological counseling services became common on college and university campuses. The American College Health Association formed a Mental Health Section to serve mental health professionals in 1957, and most colleges and universities have now developed mental health and counseling programs commensurate with the size of their student bodies.     

'The more things change…': Barriers to community services utilisation in Queensland

Community services are central to the lives of many elderly Australians or Australians with disabilities if they are to remain in the community. Over the past two decades, significant advances have been made in policy and associated programs, significantly improving the standards of service delivery. This research reports on the perceptions of service providers in community services for people with disabilities in six communities in Queensland. It illustrates that significant barriers to service utilisation remain, despite reform. It suggests that continuous efforts to promote service access need to be built in at the program level.     

近年来我国大学生自杀心理剖析

研究自杀大学生的心理变化过程,对预防大学生自杀具有积极的作用。对大学生自杀案例进行剖析的结果表明,大学生自杀行为“因穷至卑”和“因穷自杀”现象不明显;不同原因自杀的心理动机存在差异,并且主要集中在“情感挫折”、“学习就业压力”、“个人心理障碍”、“家庭原因”和“生理健康”5类。自杀大学生的心理状态随着自杀意念的发生发展呈现一定的规律性,他们在实施自杀的过程中都经历了复杂的心理过程。     

Barriers to Utilization of Mental Health Services amongst Male Child Sexual Abuse Survivors: Service Providers’ Perspective

ABSTRACT

Most research on child sexual abuse has been on survivors to the exclusion of service providers. This paper focuses on one group of findings from a larger qualitative study. The aim of the paper is to identify existing services and highlight the gaps in the current programs available for male CSA survivors from the perspective of service providers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 mental health service providers, recruited from two Southern and Central Ontario cities. Findings presented here report service providers’ perspective of gaps in services for male CSA survivors. “Limited Male CSA Programs”, “Institutional Barriers”, “Attitudinal Barriers”, and “Systemic Gaps” emerged as four major themes from the data analysis. Findings demonstrate the need to re-evaluate currently available service and highlights gaps in mental health service available for male CSA survivors. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.     

Facilitators and barriers to employment: the perspectives of people with psychiatric disabilities and employment service providers

This study examined the perspectives of people with psychiatric disabilities and employment service providers regarding factors that most directly help or hinder consumer efforts to obtain and maintain employment. Forty-four adults with serious mental illness (SMI) (consumers) and 30 providers participated in 12 focus groups across Massachusetts. We began both consumer and provider groups by posing two broad questions: 1) what factors most help people with SMI get and keep jobs (facilitators), and 2) what factors most prevent people with SMI from getting and keeping jobs (barriers)? Data were analyzed qualitatively and both person and environmental factors were highlighted. Among facilitators, participants agreed that quality consumer-provider relationships and individualized employment services are most instrumental in helping consumers achieve employment goals. Participants identified a range of environmental barriers, including issues related to the service system, entitlement programs, non-human resources, and social stigma. Implications for services are discussed.