Vocational Rehabilitation

Russ Thelin highlights components of building and sustaining partnerships between inclusive postsecondary education programs (IPSE) and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR). Examples of collaborative practices between vocational rehabilitation and inclusive higher education are outlined, as well as common areas of challenge in building partnerships between the two players, with offerings of how to potentially address them.

This “Questions and Answers” (Q&A) from the U.S.

When considering transition, not only is collaboration important, but under the right conditions it can lead to desired outcomes for youth with disabilities in transition from school to careers and adult life.

Since the amendments to the Rehabilitation Act made by title IV of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the vocational rehabilitation (VR) program can be characterized as providing a continuum of services beginning with pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS) for students with disabilities in the early stages of career and employment exploration. NTACT created this simple continuum to provide a very basic overview of these services. 

Completion of career and technical education (CTE) courses and work-based learning (WBL) programs have been shown to close the career readiness gap. In this resource, the authors provide information from seven years of operating SOS, a high-quality WBL program. SOS is built on the collaboration of special education, CTE, vocational rehabilitation (VR) and the business community.

There is growing evidence postsecondary education (PSE) is an effective pathway to employment for individuals with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder (ID/A). Partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHEs) and vocational rehabilitation (VR) are essential in providing better access to this pathway. This study sought to identify elements of effective IHE-VR partnerships through case studies at four sites, involving interviews with faculty and program staff, VR administrators and counselors, and students and families.

This channel features video resources and recorded webinars on topics related to postsecondary education for students with intellectual disability, produced by Think College National Coordinating Center. Topics include academic support, credentials, campus housing, family engagement, program development, and more. 

This presentation, based on 2019-2020 TPSID Data, highlights the importance of vocational rehabilitation in inclusive postsecondary education. Meg Grigal and Clare Papay originally shared this at a Vocational Rehabilitation Affinity Group meeting in May 2021.

This webinar, hosted by the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT), provided information for employment and VR professionals, educators, and families to: discuss collaboration strategies to develop and/or maintain engagement between families, education, vocational rehabilitation and other agency partners in the delivery of work-based learning opportunities for students with disabilities; identify resources, supports and tools related to the implementation of one of the five required pre-employment transition services, work-based learning experiences, that can be utilized

Students with intellectual disability have had poor outcomes after high school compared to their peers without ID . Individuals with ID may rely on government benefits, have extremely high unemployment rates, and experience difficulty becoming part of their local community. Opportunities for students with ID to access postsecondary education are growing. Research indicates that postsecondary education improves employment outcomes for people with ID, but a better understanding of the extent of its effectiveness is needed.