Enhancing Employment and Youth Transition Opportunities
Employment Policy Group
Center for Disabilities and Development

Iowa Department of Human Services


The Developmental Environment
Education, youth and future workforce development are priorities in the business community.
Low unemployment rates are projected in the long-term, making finding and keeping employees a premium.
The Developmental Environment
Jobs are clustering into two categories
High wage positions with a continuing career pathway.
Low-wage entry level jobs.
Businesses "in the know" emphasize wellness and family-centered practices.


HOT TOPICS OF DISCUSSION
Career-related work experiences in transition planning.
Preparation for college-entry standards.
The role of business in education.
Expanded participation in post-secondary education.
HOT TOPICS OF DISCUSSION
Development of community-referenced skills.
Services aimed at preparing supports, not people.
"Scaffolds" to support all youth. 
Presumption of employment.
Youth & Family Apprehensions
Young adults who trust one health care system are reluctant to change to an unknown system.
The adult care system is seen as less supportive and nurturing than the pediatric system. 
Youth & Family Apprehensions
Low expectations for individuals with special health care needs.
Youth with special health care needs have different educational and work experiences than their nondisabled peers.
Physician Apprehensions
Physicians have a limited knowledge of many disabling conditions.
Limited provider knowledge of available community resources. 
Physician Apprehensions
Sub-specialist pediatricians who have followed many of these youth are reluctant to "turn over" responsibility to a provider.
Physicians are reluctant to assume responsibility for conditions with which they have only passing familiarity. 
Physician Apprehensions
Systems of care often are not clinically-based or receptive to the comprehensive role of the medical provider in the community. 
Employer Apprehensions
Employers do not have "disability experience".
Employers do not know where to turn for assistance.
Employers, for the most part, do not feel they have had the opportunity to provide work-based learning experiences.
Systemic Issues
Most systems of care separate education and career development from health care activities.
Business is often not engaged.
Educational practices are not typically structured to be inclusive.
Elements For Enhanced
Transition 
A restructuring of career-related support services and associated health care from the school outward.
A high degree of continuity of care for as long as youth with special health care needs and families require it.
Opportunities for career exploration.
Experiential employment for better self-care abilities.
Elements For Enhanced Transition
Integration of the perspectives of the educator and employer.
Multiple points of assessment of youths' medical regimens.
Gearing health care to patients' employment.
Elements For Enhanced
Transition
Engage youth with successful role models.
Teach "soft skills", i.e., interpersonal and communication skills.
Youth with disabilities as part of the larger community.
Prepare youth to manage their own medical/dental/mental health needs.
Youth involvement in program development and implementation. 
Elements For Enhanced Transition
Physician participation in supportive role required by the workplace.
Focus on anticipatory health-related responses.
Health services equally oriented to functioning, symptoms and diagnosis.

Elements For Enhanced Transition

Regular physician contact with the community to obtain a more comprehensive and relevant view.
Regular involvement with the health care provider allows for teaching and reinforcing skills of staff.
Elements For Enhanced Transition
Expanded interaction between health care providers, the business community and educators.
Weaving school and community resources together.
Integration between health care, education and essential support services for employers. 
Elements For Enhanced Transition
Differentiation between remediation and accommodation to support career-development.
Schools, employers and health care providers thinking collaboratively. 
Expanded role for family physicians in the career-development process.


Elements For Enhanced Transition
Clinical rotation in a credible community-based support agency. 
Improved training of primary care physicians in social, emotional and physical development of adolescents.


Questions? 
Jack Hillyard, Director
Employment Policy Group/Center for Disabilities and Development
Telephone: 515.283.2310
Email: jack-hillyard@uiowa.edu
Webpage: http://e-epg.info

Holli Noble, Transition Planning Program Manager 
Iowa Department of Human Services
Telephone: 515-281-6786
Email: hnoble@dhs.state.ia.us