Transition of Individuals with Special Needs from School to Work

People often distinguish themselves with the work they do (Burgess & Cimera, 2014). As a result, they achieve a sense of accomplishment and pride in addition to improved satisfaction with life (Certo et al. , 2008; Chen, Sung & Pi, 2015). At the same time, work can serve as a source of frustration and dissatisfaction. However many students experience a lot of challenges while searching for a job after school. In his study, he categorized the possible barriers into domains such as networking, systemic barriers, student involvement skills, parent and family involvement, interagency collaboration, training and education, community integration and access, funding, knowledge of transition process, transportation, diversity and multicultural issues, and post-secondary education (Baldwin, Costley & Warren, 2014). The list comprised low impact barriers. The high impact barriers examined include lack of employment skills, inadequate access to long-term support, unclear student’s expectations, lack of self-advocacy skills, and limited knowledge of how to access community resources, lack of soft skills, and lack of meaningful on the job training for the special needs students.

The high impact barriers also consisted of lack of problem-solving skills, lack of established relationships with employers, lack of support and inability to follow through with activities and communities. Working with a sample size of 37-panel members from vocational rehabilitation centers, Riesen et al. (2013) reported that impairments in addition to other factors such as ageing and chronic illness influence how an individual executes some tasks. Fear of lack of capacity resulting from impairment makes individuals develop the fear of work. Individuals with mental impairments were reported to have difficulties preparing for inclusion in the work community, expressed unfavorable attitudes and lacked the necessary locomotion and transportation strategies to perform some works. The individuals expressed fear for transitioning from school to work (Coelho et al.

Xu, Dempsey & Foreman (2014) conducted a study to examine Chinese parents and transition teacher’s perspectives on the school to work transition for adolescents with intellectual disability. Among the listed barriers, attitudinal barriers contribute to other barriers and most dominant. The finding implies that changing people’s attitudes towards people with special needs is the first step towards improving their transition from school to work. Transition Planning For People with Special Needs Transition planning involves the participation of the individual with special needs, family members, community service providers, school personnel and government to support their transitioning to work and adulthood (Wilson, Hoffman & McLaughlin, 2009). The transition planning process is interactive and dynamic and requires some deliberations to plan, execute and implement a successful transition program.

Transition planning helps the individuals with special needs to identify and utilize the opportunities and experiences during in school to better prepare for the future (Wilson, Hoffman & McLaughlin, 2009). The ways include underscoring the importance of the person and environment, furnishes researchers with information about and ways to quantify attributes of persons and environments, embedding the theory in a broader developmental perspective and providing concepts that can be easily translated into disciplinary contexts (Swanson & Fouad, 1999). The theory explains that individual’s variables must meet the environment variables before the person can fit in the environment. The theory implies that an individual’s choice of work environment and adjustment to the environment must be considered during school to work transition. The theory appears to disagree with the arguments applied in the implementation of programs that focus on building the students skills as required by the employer.

The theory highlights the need to consider the individual as well through training and continued partnership with educational institutions (Swanson & Fouad, 1999). Social Cognitive Career Theory The social cognitive theory applied to school to work transition focuses on six developmentally connected themes experienced through the school years. The themes include self-efficacy, development of interest, linking interests with goals, translating goals into actions, performance skills, and negotiation of transition barriers and supports (García‐Villamisar & Hughes, 2007). The social cognitive theory provides an understanding of how the individual interacts with other individuals and environment at the workplace. The individual’s environment contains people with different gender, race, social; support and barriers to career development (Lent & Worthington, 1999). The theory argues that an individual must develop relevant career attributes and competencies during school years and beyond to sustain their inclusion in such activities (García‐Villamisar & Hughes, 2007).

The learners acquire the necessary skills, needs and preferences in the workplace. The learners are coached regarding vocational skills, accommodations, financial management and transport (Nel, Van der Westhuyzen & Uys, 2007). The final phase is where the learner is placed at the job and allowed to utilize his knowledge, skills and experience to deliver the goals of the organization. The program enables the individual with a disability to negotiate part-time or full-time employment, negotiate for labor practice and assist the learner with re-employment. Source: Nel, Van der Westhuyzen & Uys (2007) The program acts as a vocational therapy for the people with disability to take up employment positions. The model further incorporates some of the best practices correlated with school to work transition. Some of the best practices include family and parent involvement, vocational intervention, individualized planning, social skills curriculum and paid work experience.

The program is implemented in three phases such as school-based learning, facilitated community involvement, and paid work experience (Nel, Van der Westhuyzen & Uys, 2007). School-based learning provides students with an opportunity to access school-based education and training experiences to enable him to identify awareness of career options, social interaction skills and work habits. The components addressed in the first phase include job exploration, acquisition of appropriate work habits, and development of social skills, self-care and social interaction skills (Wilczynski, Trammell & Clarke, 2013). The theory recognizes that the presence of disability limits the individual’s ability to perform some tasks necessitating a need to adjust the work environment to meet the person’s abilities. The programs so far discussed in the paper have similar goals and almost similar implementation style.

The programs focus on the need to motivate and encourage the individual to change their attitudes towards work and their abilities. The programs are implemented with the phases overlapping and with concurrent exposure to the practical work environment to facilitate smoother and successful transition. The government and relevant stakeholders should consider revising policies that may act as barriers to access to equal employment opportunities for people with special needs. , & Cimera, R. E. Employment outcomes of transition-aged adults with autism spectrum disorders: A state of the states report.  American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 119(1), 64-83. Certo, N. L. , Sung, C. , & Pi, S. Vocational rehabilitation service patterns and outcomes for individuals with autism of different ages.  Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 45(9), 3015-3029.

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