Tifton: Work Works for All: Discovery and Customized Employment Training Series

[Guest guest]

Work Works for All: Discovery and Customized Employment Training Series

VR and TACE are paying the cost of this training so there is no cost to you!

Work Works for All:

Discovery and Customized Employment Training Series*

Embracing a Working Life for All

Co-Sponsored by the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Program and Technical Assistance and Continuing Education; University of Georgia and Institute

on Human Development & Disability; Employment First Georgia and Georgia Advocacy Office

The sponsors of this event want to invite all interested entities to attend this training. Research has shown that Customized Supported Employment

is an effective method to secure employment for people with significant disabilities. VR and the DD network are working together to develop strategies and systems that provide for a continuum of services that lead to employment. VR is in the process of establishing

Customized Supported Employment as a bundle of services. Come to these sessions to learn more about this system.

REGISTER EARLY AS THE PARTICIPANTS ARE LIMITED TO 50. Please forward to individuals who would be interested.

Dates and Times: February 8-9, 2012 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (lunch on your own)

March 14-15, 2012 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (lunch on your own)

April 11-12, 2012 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (lunch on your own)

February Location: University of Georgia - Tifton Campus - Conference Center

15 RDC Road

Tifton, Georgia 31793

Email: ugatccc@...

Note: March and April training locations TBA

RSVP: N-Lane@...

* Each session builds on the previous training so participants must attend all trainings to learn this methodology.

Description and Trainers

February 8 – This session is an overview of Customized Employment and the customized process with Callahan.

This powerful strategy allows access to paid, community employment for all individuals with disabilities by avoiding the traditional barriers of demand and comparison while maintaining a business deal with employers. The session will provide an overview of

the concept of customized, supported employment as well as the conceptual framework for making a business case with potential employers.

February 9 - Discovery as an alternative to traditional assessment and as the foundation for customized planning

with Callahan. This session will provide comprehensive training on the implementation of Discovery as an alternative to comparative assessment. The differences between Discovery and traditional assessment will be discussed as well as the focus of

the process, the steps for implementing discovery, the tools necessary to accomplish the process and numerous examples of the successful use of Discovery.

March 13, 14 - Customized Employment Planning and Portfolio with Ellen Condon. During this two-day session trainees

will be introduced to the Vocational Profile Document that is utilized to capture and summarize the information gathered during Discovery; Customized Employment Planning Meeting, the strategy used to translate the information gained through Discovery into

a blue print for customized employment for the job seeker. Attendees will also learn how to assemble and use the individual representational portfolio as a tool to represent job seekers to employers and negotiate positions based on their behalf.

April 11 - Developing and using an Agency Portfolio for presenting Customized Employment to Employers and Conducting

an Employer Needs Analysis with Callahan. This session will provide information on developing an agency portfolio that explains the benefits of Customized Employment to potential employers. This tool is used in tandem with the Visual Resume for representing

job seekers to employers. The agency portfolio is a sales tool similar to a " pitch book " used in traditional sales. Additionally, participants will learn how to conduct an employer needs analysis during job development activities. The Needs Analysis provides

the information necessary for the development of a customized job description. Participants will be provided a format to use as well as a sample needs analysis.

April 12 - Job Development Negotiations with Callahan This session focuses on the strategies to negotiate

customized job descriptions with employers. The differences and similarities between traditional sales techniques and those used by job developers will be detailed along with strategies for negotiating a deal. This session will also present a five step sales

process that provides job developers a process to use in their efforts to customize employment for individuals with disabilities.

Callahan, PH.D has

consulted throughout the US, Canada and Europe in the area of supported employment for the past twenty-three years. He has worked with Marc Gold & Associates (MG & A) since 1979 and has served as president of the organiza­tion since Marc Gold’s untimely death

in 1982. MG & A is a n­etwork of consultants that provides techni­cal assistance to sys­tems, agencies and families interested in insuring the complete com­munity participation of persons with severe disabilities. Mike also studied vocational rehabilitation

while at Syracuse Universi­ty in a doctoral studies program.­­ He is an editor of a popular " how-to " book on employment for persons with severe dis­abilities, Getting Employed, Staying Employed (1987) and co-author of ­Keys to the Work Place (1997) a text

on systematic instruction and natural supports in supported employment. He has written numerous articles, chapters, manuals and curriculums pertaining to employment of persons with disabilities. is the vice-president of Employment for All.

also worked with United Cerebral Palsy Association's (UCPA) from 1987-2000. He directed a Department of Labor grant, One-Stop to Success, which offered persons with significant disabilities access to services in generic one-stop employment centers. He was

also the former d­irector of the Choice Access Project, a six-year project that examined the feasibility of providing direct vouchers to persons with severe physical disabilities and for them to purchase the employment services of their choice. He managed

the UCPA’s Research and Demonstration Project on supported employment and the UCPA Self-Directed Staff Training Project for Supported Employment, a pilot project to test the feasibility of an individualized, competency-based curriculum for staff develop­ment

as well as the UCPA National Demonstration Project for Supported Employment in the late 80's. These projects employed hundreds of persons with significant physical disabilities using individualized supported employment. and his family live in Ocean

Springs, MS.

Ellen Condon, M.

Ed. is the Transition Projects Director at the University of Montana’s

Rural Institute on Disabilities where she has worked since 1996 on Transition and Employment for youth with significant disabilities. She is also a consultant with Marc Gold & Associates (MG & A), -Hammis Associates, and on the board of Employment for

All (EFA). Ellen has worked in the field of Developmental Disabilities since 1986. Prior to coming to Montana her experiences included hands-on service delivery, program development and program management in community

residential and supported employment programs. She received her Master’s degree in Special Education from Boston College in 1990 after completing course work in Transition and Supported Employment. At the Rural Institute she has served as the Principal Investigator

and Project Director for numerous Federal and state-funded grants. She provides technical assistance, training, and on-site support to schools, agencies, and individuals and families predominantly in the areas of employment, transition, and Social Security

Work Incentives. She lectures and consults with schools and adult service agencies nationally. She and her staff have produced numerous publications on Transition issues and employment. Visithttp://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/transition.