Florida Supported Employment Course Information

Note: This course is only for Florida providers of supported employment as it contains Florida-specific content. The course is presented in two sections."

• Section 1: Introduction to Supported Employment

  In this course you will be introduced to the importance of employment to people with disabilities, a group historically with the highest unemployment rate in the country. You will also learn about some of the unique obstacles they face in getting hired and succeeding at work.

  You will discover the history leading up to supported employment, how the process of supported employment works, the current outcomes it has produced, and what legislation, regulations and funding governs it. We will review of the roles of some key players in making supported employment happen, the job seeker, his or her family, and the employment specialist, as well as the job seekers rights to services and non-discrimination. Finally, we will review the process of supported employment and work incentives to minimize loss of social security benefits.

• Section 2: Tools of Supported Employment

  You will learn about assisting people to make informed choices through self-determination and using the tools of vocational assessment. The section continues with the process of person-centered planning, how to build on each individual\'s interests and aptitudes, and developing personal career profiles and goals that lead to a career plan.

  The course continues by discussing the concept of developing partnerships with businesses. You will learn about the employer concerns, especially related to hiring and workforce diversity, and how to research businesses to discover employer hiring attitudes toward people with disabilities. The section then reviews how to develop a marketing plan and utilize marketing tools, with a special eye toward the portrayal of disabilities. It ends with a discussion of how to successfully develop jobs, including handling typical concerns, whether to disclose the presence of disability in the job seeker, and the employment incentives available when hiring people with disabilities.

  Lastly, we view of the tools and strategies needed for supporting the worker on the job. It begins with the early stages of a new job, looking at job acquisition, analyzing a job to better match the tasks and routines with the worker's capabilities and interests, as well as considering accommodations and assistive technology. You will learn about the key elements of social relationships and natural supports, from the orientation process of new employees to the need for understanding and fitting into the culture of the workplace. The section then discusses the basics of teaching, from understanding multiple intelligences to task analysis, prompting, reinforcement, fading, generalization and data collection. The section ends with a discussion of how to respond to behavioral issues that might arise on the job.