The mission of Employment First in Michigan is to establish the expectation and promote opportunities for all working-age individuals with disabilities in Michigan to gain individual competitive integrated employment, with or without supports, and to engage businesses and organizations that value the contributions of employees with disabilities (Michigan Autism Council, 2014).

For many students with intensive support needs, the coordination of services requires the educational team of transition-age students with IEPs to collaborate with vocational rehabilitation agencies to begin planning for competitive integrated employment. For the purpose of this training, we will focus on the pre-employment resource of the V3 Discovery Process (a discovery process adapted from the Collaboration on Discovery & Innovation in Employment (CODIE, 2013). This process leads the team through a process to discovery using customized employment designs as the avenue to Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE). This process is intended for students with intensive support needs that require non-traditional paths to gaining employment. Participants will further explore considerations for strategies students might need in conjunction with high expectations in the employment setting.  

National Technical Assistance Center for Transition -The Collaborative (NTACT-C)

The NTACT-C has defined a number of Predictors of Post-School Success. For employment, some of the key predictors with extensive research support include career and technical education, inclusion in general education, paid employment or work experiences, parents maintaining high expectations, program of study, self-advocacy/self-determination, student support, work-study programs, and youth autonomy/decision making. Many of these predictors are discussed as part of the employment component but are also embedded in the other four components a significant amount of the transition and student-centered planning focuses on preparedness for employment, which leads to greater independence into adulthood.

Intended Audience: the educational team: student, family, educators, agency representation

Planning for Competitive Integrated Employment Q & A

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