1. Enhancing Transition through Pre-Employment Transition Services
Chelsea Lutts
Director, Employment Services
SPIN
Larry Russock
Program Director for Employment and Day Services
St. John's Community Services

2. Agenda Transition- Triumphs and Challenges
Overview of Pre-Employment Transition Services
Discuss how Pre-Employment Transition Services are provided
Review Guided Group Discovery
Activity

3. Transition

4. The Cliff What does life after graduation look like?
How will students spend their day?
Important considerations:
Connecting with adult services
Safety
Transportation
Finances
Maintaining relationships
Motivation
Daily schedule and routine after graduation

5. Triumphs and Challenges of Transition
Team approach to planning for the future (more resources)
Early Planning = more time!
Builds Support team
Exciting!

6. Triumphs and Challenges of Transition (cont.)
Fear of the unknown
Limited knowledge of Adult Service system
Schools have limited resources
Unsure where to begin
Transition goals don’t translate into action

7. PETS: Group Services Workplace Readiness Training
Development of Soft Skills and Independent Living Skills such as “Skills to Pay the Bills” and Classroom Instruction on Workplace Readiness targeted Professional Expectations, Appropriate Workplace Behaviors and Mannerisms, Travel Training, and more.
Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation 7

8. PETS: Group Services Instruction in Self-Advocacy
Instruction in person-centered planning, disability awareness, self-awareness, self-determination, peer mentoring services, youth leadership, implementing classroom instruction, training, and group counseling on skills to promote self- advocacy.
Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation 8

9. PETS: Group Services Independent Living Skills
Training to gain knowledge to perform the daily tasks essential for maintaining or obtaining independence. Independent Living Skills can include the following: household budgeting and financial management; utilizing public transportation; navigating through the social services system.
Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation 9

10. PETS: Individual Services
Job Shadowing Opportunity to shadow employees and obtain an overview of the knowledge, tasks, and abilities needed to work in this field and monitoring of the abilities and workplace behavior is required in order to provide a thorough assessment of the experience. Work-Based Learning Experiences Job development activities and Job placement activities such as setting up community based work assessments, completion of applications, setting up Supported Employment Services, and more.
Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation 10

11. Taking action to achieve better Transition Outcomes
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation funds services for students while they are still in high school
Some Employment Services Providers provide service to students
Benefits of Pre-Employment Transition Services:
Links teams with Adult Service system and education partners
Bridge between school and adult life
Prepare students and their families for life after graduation and adult services
Provide career assessment and exploration
Unique employment experiences that match the students’ interest and career goals
Individualized supports provided by qualified Employment Specialists

12. SPIN Transition Services
Currently serving over 800 students throughout Bucks, Montgomery, Lehigh, Northampton, and Philadelphia counties
Supporting students 14 years and older with a variety of disabilities:
Intellectual Disability
Autism
Mental Health
Compliment to IEP Goals:
Post-secondary education
Community living
Employment
Knowledge that every student is employable!

13. Pre-Employment Transition Services- Group Services
In classroom training
Built into student’s school day
60-90 minutes long
Interactive learning
À la carte
Full 30-week series
One course (SA/ILS/WPR)
Individual classes or workshops

14. Pre-Employment Transition Services- Job Shadowing
Real work environment
Explore interests
Develop soft skills
Guide students to next steps
Respect passions and dreams

15. Pre-Employment Transition Services- Work Based Learning Experience (WBLE)
Paid work experience for a maximum of 90 hours
Full support of SPIN
Travel training available
Individualized employment opportunity
Cultivate relationships and build a network

16. Work Based Learning Benefits
Develop students’ career and workplace interests and preferences
Teach students job-specific skills
Provide feedback to allow the students to reflect on their experience
Provide individualized training strategies, as well as identify and develop skills
Build a student’s resume

17. Self Advocacy Disability awareness Disclosure Communication
Healthy Relationships
Voting
Advocating for Accommodations

18. Independent Living Skills
Navigating Community Resources
Financial Management
Household Budgeting
Community Safety
Healthy Lifestyles
Living Independently

19. Workplace Readiness Resumes Professionalism Social Media
Interview Skills
Applications
Constructive Feedback
Customer Service/Teamwork
Career Mapping

20. Presented by: St. John’s Community Services, Pennsylvania
Guided Group Discovery through the context of Pre-Employment Transition Services (PreETS)
Presented by:
St. John’s Community Services, Pennsylvania

21. What is Guided Group Discovery?
Guided Group Discovery is a tool to help job seekers with disability take control of their job search
Focuses on helping students identify key components of employment, including:
Skills
Interests
Personality traits
Environments of success
Job search team

22. Guided Group Discovery and Its Adaptation for Pre-ETS Participants
We’ve adapted Guided Group Discovery based on challenges participants have encountered with material, such as:
Employment being an abstract concept
Unfamiliarity with self-reflection and personal discovery as a practice
Disenfranchised youth finding difficulty envisioning an ideal future
Slides2-3: brief overview of guided group discovery
Focuses on a job seeker’s preferred:
Interests and contributions to a workplace
Skills they would use in a job and tasks they would complete for a job
Environmental conditions and accommodations for employment
Existing and prospective network and job search team
Blueprint for Employment-captures this information and establishes an action plan

23. Profile of Pre-ETS Groups & Participants
Participants involved in school-based Pre-ETS groups:
Autism support
Intellectual disability
Learning support
Emotional and behavioral disturbance
Participants involved in community-based Pre-ETS groups:
Adjudicated youth
Slides2-3: brief overview of guided group discovery
Focuses on a job seeker’s preferred:
Interests and contributions to a workplace
Skills they would use in a job and tasks they would complete for a job
Environmental conditions and accommodations for employment
Existing and prospective network and job search team
Blueprint for Employment-captures this information and establishes an action plan
Verbally touch on structural disabilities/ difficulties that all of our students face

24. Complementary Themes:
Internal and External Narratives
Future Envisioning
Storytelling
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Goals:
Understanding how to develop professional identity before you start your first job
Comfort with self reflection
Comfortability with sharing stories and knowing which stories to share

25. What is an Internal/External Narrative?
Internal narratives: Your narratives about yourself and the world
External narratives: All narratives outside of your own
How does the narrative you have about yourself and others impact your perception of the world and your place in it?
Importance of understanding how you want to represent yourself personally and professionally
Considering how you influence people’s narratives about you and maintain a positive internal narrative
Talk about representation?
Talk about representation and disability?

26. Internal/External Activity in the classroom

27. Internal & External Narratives Activity

28. What words would you use to describe yourself?

29. What words would the people closest to you use to describe you?

30. What words would people who know you superficially use to describe you?

31. What words would someone who didn’t know you use to describe you if they saw you on the street?

32. Internal & External Narratives Activity
At the bottom of the page, for each layer answer the following question:
“On a scale of 1-10, how important is this layer of narratives to your working future?”

33. Relevance of Internal and External Narratives
Presented through the context of disability
Importance for networking, job shadowing, interviews, and on the job
Activities:
How to make a good 1st impression (interviews/workplaces)
Mock Interview questions
Story about disability: activities we did When filling out OVR pre-application, talk about varying narratives around a person’s disability; the disability of growing up in these areas of the city
2. Story- NET ERC group and whether or not to bring up the ankle monitor in a job interview
Some kids talking about how they want to bring it up to show that they’re looking to do better for themselves
Some kids not wanting to bring it up because of what it will make others think of them as soon as they hear about it

34. Complementary Themes:
Internal and External Narratives
Future Envisioning
Storytelling
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

35. Future Envisioning
Goals:
Understanding how to develop professional identity before you start your first job
Comfort with self reflection
Comfortability with sharing stories and knowing which stories to share
Prompt: Draw a picture of yourself now on the left, and 5 years in the future on the right, then describe the pictures to the group

36. Future Envisioning
Goals:
Understanding how to develop professional identity before you start your first job
Comfort with self reflection
Comfortability with sharing stories and knowing which stories to share
TELL STORY ABOUT EBONY & HER TAKING NOTES ON NURSING PROFESSIONS
Prompt: Draw a picture of yourself now on the left, and 5 years in the future on the right, then describe the pictures to the group

37. Complementary Themes:
Internal and External Narratives
Future Envisioning
Storytelling
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
The Importance of stories:
(As a forestep to the discovery process, we found that including storytelling played a crucial role in catalyzing the discovery process, as students were able to consider their interests and skillset by activities that called for self reflection, and past experiences)
In helping think about your future and articulate your interests, skills, potential contributions, etc.
For job interviews, getting to know co-workers, and networking Activities:
Tell a story when you were at your best self
Draw pictures of yourself now and in 5 years, and describe how you got there
I'd also add in the time activity (think back about where you were a day, month, year, five years, birth. Future: tomorrow, a month from now, etc.) What was our main takeaway with that? seems like it was related.

38. Complementary Themes:
Internal and External Narratives
Future Envisioning
Storytelling
Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
Role Play Activities:
Speaking with different groups of people (customer to employee, employee to boss, student to teacher, child to parent, etc.)
Identifying various forms of nonverbal communication
Non-verbal presentation of themselves at a job interview

39. Next Steps:
Work with LEAD Center to modify a version of Guided Group Discovery to be more youth-focused
Exploring opportunities for youth around themes we’ve been exploring in groups
Role Play Activities:
Speaking with different groups of people (customer to employee, employee to boss, student to teacher, child to parent, etc.)
Identifying various forms of nonverbal communication
Non-verbal presentation of themselves at a job interview

40. Considerations for Student Success
Transportation
Independence
Parent engagement
Student commitment
Scheduling/ graduation requirements

41. Student Engagement
Acknowledge their interests, passions, and personal goals
Encourage self-advocacy
Build confidence
Share success stories
Provide a safe environment to ask questions and voice hopes and concerns

42. Family Engagement Review adult service funding: Share success stories
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR)
PFDS/Consolidated Waivers (ID Waivers)
Adult Autism Waiver (AAW)
Ticket to Work (TTW)
Share success stories
Provide a safe environment to ask questions and voice hopes and concerns

43. Educational Partner Engagement
Identify students for transition services between the ages of 14-21
What are the student’s personal goals?
Where does the student need more experience?
What is the structure of the student’s school day?
What are the student’s graduation requirements?
Build services into school day
Open communication with families and fellow IEP team members
Transition is not just a class…it’s a process that grows and changes along with the student

44. Engage Business Partners
Build relationships!
Community Mapping
Use your network
Connect with businesses who have shared mission and values
Seek small businesses – Avoid red tape!
Communicate value to business:
Pre-screen candidates
Demonstrate diverse workforce
Support local youth

45. Success Stories

46. Meet John Passion for Military and Law Enforcement
Dream job was to become a State Trooper
Worked at Shoprite and Applebee's afterschool, not right fit

47. Meet John Completed Work Based Learning at local FOP
Recently hired at Temple University as Campus Police

48. To learn more about what services SPIN can offer, please contact:
Connect with SPIN
To learn more about what services SPIN can offer, please contact:

49. Larry Rossock lrussock@sjcs.org Chelsea Lutts clutts@spininc.org
Thank you!
Larry Rossock
Chelsea Lutts