Winter 2015

Time to Register for Winter Online Courses!

Job Development - Nov 17 - Job development is the "process of locating and creating work opportunities for individuals with disabilities". This is achieved by earning an opportunity to engage an employer and from there hopefully moving on to earning a commitment to meet, interview, and hire a specific job seeker. This course covers specific principles associated with job development via online lectures and readings and then requires the learner to take action on his or her behalf to further develop a particular skill. Details

Employing People with Disabilities: A Business Perspective - Jan 12 - Employing People with Disabilities: A Business Perspective is an online course designed for employers who want solutions to increasing disability workplace diversity. At the conclusion of the course, participants will be better able to build a more diverse and inclusive culture by implementing a number of practical and forward-thinking strategies. Details

Supported Employment for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury - Jan 19 - Early demonstration projects paved the way for using a supported employment approach for someone who has sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI). This course will offer participants an overview of TBI and the supported employment literature suggestions on specific strategies to use to get to know the job seeker, look at possible workplace supports with an emphasis on compensatory memory strategies and some insight into ways to provide pro-active job retention services. Details

Transition to Work for Individuals with Autism - Jan 26 - Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are participating in the mainstream of school, work, and the community. Careful transition planning from secondary education is critical for young people with ASD to be successful. This course will provide the participant with an in-depth understanding of the concepts related to positive transition planning for youth with autism. The issues, challenges, and strategies that are involved with helping young people with autism participate to the fullest degree in society will be examined. Details

Customized Employment - Feb 2 - Customized employment is a process for individualizing the employment relationship between a job seeker and an employer in ways that meet the needs of both. It is based on a match between the unique strengths, needs, and interests of the job candidate with a disability, and the identified business needs of the employer or the self-employment business chosen by the candidate. Customized employment uses a flexible blend of strategies, services, supports, and funds to facilitate employment outcomes for job seekers with complex needs through negotiated employment relationships. Details

VCU-ACE Webcast

Lori Ernsperger Girls under the Umbrella of ASD Part 1: Diagnosis and Gender Differences

Presenter: Lori Ernsperger, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Nov 11 | 3:30 - 4:00pm ET

Girls and women with ASD are often under diagnosed and lack effective comprehensive services to establish and maintain a quality of life. During this webcast, Dr. Lori Ernsperger will highlight the core gender differences between males and females with ASD. The focus of this webcast will be to review the current research and findings on girls and women with ASD and provide recommendations for future research.

Meet the Presenter & Register

Register for the entire ACE webcast series or select individual webcasts . View the 2014-2015 ACE Webcast Series brochure.

VCU-RRTC Webcast

Joey Wallace RESNA Catalyst Project: Providing Assistive Technology Support and Technical Assistance

Presenter: Joey Wallace, Ph.D.

Nov 13 | 2:00pm ET

In this webcast, Dr. Wallace will give an overview of the services offered by the RESNA Catalyst Project. He will define the services and devices of assistive technology and describe the benefits of assistive technology such as independence, community living, and employment. In addition, Paul Galonsky, MPA, and Jason Luciano, PhD, both with RESNA, will discuss the options to help individuals live independently through Statewide Assistive Technology Programs. Dr. Luciano will explain alternative financing programs designed to help make assistive devices affordable. Register Online (Registration is free but required.)

Autism Speaks Releases Assessment Tool for Transition-Aged Youth

Autism Speaks, the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization, today released its Community-based Skills Assessment, a new transition assessment tool to help parents and professionals measure the skill levels and abilities of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) beginning at age 12 and continuing through adulthood. The transition from school services to adulthood can be challenging for individuals with ASD and other disabilities. The Community-based Skills Assessment, developed through a contract with Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, is designed to help parents and professionals identify areas of instructional priority so that teams can develop comprehensive transition plans for those with ASD. While employment support needs of individuals are addressed through internships and work experiences, this is the first tool to assess needs in the area of community-based living, from transportation to financial management to peer relationships and more. Find out More

Journal of Vocation Rehabilitation

JVR Issue on Evidence Based Practice (Open Access Special Issue)

Michael Leahy, Fong Chan and John Lui have served as Guest editors for this Special Issue. The issue addresses the findings of the NIDRR funded RRTC EBP VR of a multistate case study methodology regarding best practices in the public VR program. In this issue, they have given a great deal of thought to challenges facing state VR agencies and have selected a group of highly respected and skilled scholars from their RRTC research team to address these topics for an informed and scholarly discussion, in order to extend the national dialog on evidenced-based practice research and knowledge translation to the public VR program.

The JVR 41(2) issue is on-line and freely available here.