Calling All Managers and Supervisors in
Vocational Rehabilitation State Agencies
Did you know that if vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors are going to use research, their motivation for doing so may depend on if they think it matters to their supervisors or managers (Graham, Inge, Wehman, Murphy, Revell, & West, 2013)? Given that finding, the KTER Center is offering a no-cost training for managers and supervisors in VR settings, worth five Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) credit hours, on cutting-edge research in two key topic areas: pre-employment transition services (pre-ETS) and ways to support adults with autism in their efforts to enjoy successful employment outcomes. This training is designed to enhance supervisors’ and managers’ abilities to translate research findings directly into practice. Delivery is online and self-paced, and kick-off orientation sessions are launching soon!
Check out https://tinyurl.com/KTERstudy for details.
Want even more background? Listen to a chat between KTER Center staff Joann Starks and Center Director and Principal Researcher Kathleen Murphy in “Research Liaisons in Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies: A KTER Center Study.” Please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqyfEwY87qw&feature=youtu.be
Tip: You can navigate directly to what you want most to hear using our bookmark links:
- About the research: 3:02
- About the training: 6:21
- Incentives: 8:08
- How to sign up: 17:36
Moving the Field Forward With a
Dual Customer Approach to Vocational Rehabilitation
One of today’s hottest VR topics concerns the “dual customer approach” to rehabilitation delivery. Are you interested in research on baseline measures of VR business relations capacity? In a study funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), researchers from the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts–Boston, working with Kathy West-Evans of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Research (CSAVR) National Employment Team (the NET), developed new and exciting findings. See their recent article, titled Vocational Rehabilitation and Business Relations: Preliminary Indicators of State VR Agency Capacity (Haines et al., 2018), at https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/2cb546_788793c1d40f4c3e8c4b1dd27c4cdd82.pdf
The KTER Center is building on research such as this study in its new outreach to NET members.
Thanks to its Business Track Technical Working Group members, including Kathy West-Evans and John Connelly of Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, John O’Neill of Kessler Foundation, Kathe Matrone of the Job-Driven VR Technical Assistance Center, and several retired NET members, the KTER Center has developed a survey that collects information from NET members about their current training needs. Findings will inform topic selection for an upcoming literature review. (As an aside: e-mail us at KTER@air.org if you have questions about the ins and outs of different kinds of evidence syntheses, and don’t forget that if you’re an NIDILRR grantee, KTER offers no-cost technical assistance in that area.)
The next step following completion of the survey and literature review will be to apply what we learn to the development of a training for NET members similar to the program described above for VR managers and supervisors. Stay tuned! Or come find Kathleen Murphy at AIR’s booth in the Exhibition Hall of the USBLN annual conference in Las Vegas, July 10-12, 2018 to learn more.
Upcoming Informational Webisodes:
Focusing Knowledge Translation Science on VR
NIDILRR funds the KTER Center to support its grantees’ knowledge translation (KT) needs, and that mission is very important to us. But did you know that the KTER Center itself conducts original research related to knowledge brokering, autism, and pre-employment transition services? In addition, the KTER Center houses a database of disability research studies. Register today for four short webisodes to learn more. We are seeking one-hour CRC-CEU credit for attendance in these webisodes. Attendees may expect to receive their Verification of Completion form by August 1, 2018.
- Check out the first webisode below for an overview of KTER’s study on knowledge brokering in vocational rehabilitation contexts (if you are a VR director, manager, or supervisor interested in this research liaison training, please contact us to participate! See https://tinyurl.com/KTERstudy for more details).
- The study was built on what we learned during two sets of focus groups with consumers and VR counselors. Those findings are summarized in the second and third webisodes.
- Finally, if you want to know how to navigate KTER’s employment research database—which houses published work from other studies related to disability employment—navigate to the final webisode.
Date: June 28, 2018
Register: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4414974/Reg-2018webisodes
Employment Research Outreach Team (EROT)
Attention NIDILRR grantees working in the disability employment field: Interested in joining KTER’s Employment Research Outreach Team (EROT)? What’s involved? Read on…
The EROT consists of KT and research staff members representing NIDILRR’s employment outcomes grantees and consumers with disabilities involved in these NIDILRR projects. Grantees commit to appointing staff representatives and helping to recruit consumers who are already working with their NIDLRR-funded projects to participate in the EROT.
Team members assist the KTER Center in developing products and outputs with wide applicability and use. For example, members of the EROT identify needs of fellow employment portfolio grantees in the NIDILRR community, help to plan and disseminate KTER outputs, and assist with usability testing.
KTER awards a small honorarium to members as a token of our appreciation. We have welcomed past support from the many NIDILRR employment projects, and we look forward to continued collaboration. Please contact Ann Outlaw if you wish to join our team.
Join Us in Welcoming Our New Summer Interns
Joshua Taylor, M.Ed., is a research and training associate at Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU’s) Autism Center for Excellence and Rehabilitation Research and Training Center. In this role, he develops training, provides technical support, and conducts research into best practices for promoting lifelong success for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in school, work, and community settings. Josh is also a Ph.D. candidate in VCU’s special education and disability policy program. He has more than 10 years’ experience in public schools, most recently as an autism specialist in Arlington Public Schools. His research interests include autism, implementation science, technology, social skills, cognitive-behavioral strategies, inclusive education, community integration, universal design for learning, learning sciences, and disability policy.
Amanda McClelland is a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas–Austin studying teacher-student relationships for students with disabilities. She received her Master’s in severe disabilities from Simmons College and her Bachelor’s from the University of Maine at Farmington in special education K–8 and theater arts. Amanda enjoys baking, volunteering for GLSEN and the U.S. Army, and playing with her two dogs, Hocus and Maya.
Conference Connections
As part of its Conference Connections activity, the KTER Center seeks to promote networking among NIDILRR’s employment portfolio grantees at the conferences they attend. If you know you will be presenting at an upcoming conference, such as those listed below, or if you will simply be attending, please advise Tracy Bauman TBauman@air.org of your intentions and we will work with you to develop a short announcement in our next KTER Today newsletter.
2018 Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association Wellness and Recovery Summit
Date: June 15–18, 2018
Location: Denver, Colorado
https://www.psychrehabassociation.org/events/41st-annual-wellness-and-recovery-summit
- How to Design and Provide Intentional Services for Young Adults; How to Develop and Support Goals in Young Adulthood; and Providers’ Experiences in Delivering Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services to Young Adults
Presenter: Michelle Mullen
2018 Work and Family Researchers Network Conference
Date: June 20–23, 2018
Location: Washington, D.C.
https://wfrn.org/conference-2018/
- Bullying Disability in the Workplace
Presenter: LaWanda Cook
Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) National Conference
Date: June 26–28, 2018
Location: Lake Bueno Vista, Florida
http://apse.org/2018-national-conference
- Imagination Versus Reality: Supporting Students’ Transition to Employment
Presenters: Teresa Grossi and Faith Thomas
USBLN 21st Annual Conference & Expo “NextGen Disability Inclusion”
Date: July 7-12, 2018
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
http://conference.usbln.org/2018_conference/registration
- AIR Booth in Exhibit Hall
Hosts: Kathleen Murphy (KTER Project Director) and Dahlia Shaewitz
2018 AHEAD Conference (Equity and Excellence: Access in Higher Education)
Date: July 16–20, 2018
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
https://www.ahead.org/events-programming/conferences/
- The Real Reasons Why Students With Mental Health Conditions May Struggle Academically
Presenter: Michelle Mullen
2018 University of Maryland Training Institute
Date: July 25–28, 2018
Location: Washington, D.C.
http://www.ssw.umaryland.edu/traininginstitutes
- Presenter: Michelle Mullen
n4a Annual Conference and Tradeshow
Date: July 28–August 1, 2018
Location: Chicago, Illinois
http://www.n4aconference.org
- Enhancing Your Capacity to Serve Older Adults With Disabilities
Presenters: LaWanda Cook and Wendy Strobel Gower
Reinventing Quality 2018 Conference
Date: July 29–31, 2018
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.reinventingquality.org/upcoming
- Communicating Community Inclusion Through Media and Advocacy
Presenters: Jerry Smith, John Smith, Ann Outlaw (KTER Dissemination Lead), Heidi Eschenbacher, Amie Lulinski, and John Butterworth
|
