Information Avenue Archives

Worksite Integration
Success beyond a paycheck
By Errol Seltzer

Community Integration is something that we strive for more and more frequently in the field of developmental disabilities. In the past, professionals attempted to shelter and protect their "patients" and then "clients." Now that the "buzz word" has changed to "consumers," increased levels of self empowerment within the community is one of today's main goals. Integration should be a valid and measurable objective for all of us. Everybody, including people without developmental disabilities, must be given the opportunity to become active, functional members of our communities. But, professionals and consumers must realize that with integration comes risk. This risk needs to be gauged on an individualized basis because all of us operate at distinct functional levels.

Most consumers have spent their lives in sheltered environments. These "special individuals" have "special friends" and go to "special schools" until adulthood. Along the way, many of these students learn skills which will hopefully enable them to become vocationally active. Often this training is geared towards available opportunities and is frequently limited to food services and maintenance type work. At the age of 21 or 22, the risk factor really begins to become an issue because yesterday's students have now become today's "consumers." With little and sometimes no training, these individuals are placed in competitive-vocational environments that are foreign to them. In what can seem like the "blink of an eye," the sheltered educational program has been replaced with an unsupervised factory or supermarket. The consumer's "peers," in this new placement are often co-workers who are not prepared to work cooperatively with an employee with special needs.

A related case involves a man named Richard Berkley (the name has been changed at the request of the individual and his family). Mr. Berkley, or "Richard," graduated from a special school program at the age of 22. At that time, he was diagnosed with mild mental retardation and began to seek out employment in "office related work." Many consumers seek this type of work environment, however, due to limited opportunities, they must often accept work in other industries. Eventually, Richard's father identified a part-time position for his son as a "food bagger" at the local supermarket. Richard worked hard and was successful at this site for the first 6 months of employment. Then something happened. For the very first time in his life, Richard became argumentative and even began to lie and steal from his family. While not necessarily to this extreme, some behavior changes should have been expected. Further, it is surprising that this has not happened to more people like Richard. He left a "safe" world and entered a non-supervised environment. Somewhere along the line, at least in this case, the philosophy of Community Integration had permitted too much risk. This level of independence may have caused Richard's change in behavior. For the very first time, Richard's peers were not developmentally disabled. In fact, many of his co-workers were cognitively intact individuals who may have had other primary service needs. These included: poverty, low levels of education and frequent transient behavior. Unfortunately, as Richard prepared to enter this new and challenging world, his supervision was minimal at best. He was assigned a job coach through a local supportive workshop program. This job coach instructed Richard in concrete job duties but did not address much more important issues such as, "What to do during lunch breaks." Richard's success was gauged solely on his "bagging abilities" and not on his total work needs which should have included above all things, "Worksite Integration." So, Richard did what came natural to him. He integrated into a world of supermarket baggers.

Richard's questionable behavior quickly escalated. He was arrested for shoplifting and even struck his mother on 2 occasions. Unable to manage him, Richard's parents have begun seeking emergency residential placement for him. They are hoping that he will be able to find housing outside of his community. They believe this will lessen his ability to maintain contact with his new "community" friends. It is clear that integration as we know it has failed Richard and his family. In fact, his community education in school, which may have included local trips to the mall and maybe even instruction regarding "bagging groceries," did not train him for the world outside of his special education classroom.

Community Integration should not be seen as an alternative for appropriate care. Further, the long term costs associated with Richard's case will be astronomical. He will need a high level of staffing in his new home. He will not be able to work competitively and will require clinical services. Professionals, consumers, and their families need to determine if this case differs from others that they are aware of. If so, it is not because of Richard. He began his supermarket career as a non-aggressive, cooperative individual who was presented a key to the world without knowing how to read the user's manual. Richard failed because he did not get appropriate training and ongoing supervision. Without the prioritization of these 2 components, people like Richard are destined to fail over and over again. The most disturbing fact is that this failure will most likely be blamed on the "consumer's" developmental disability, rather then on a system that does not work.

Individuals and family members must see "the job" as a clinical placement. Functional deficits that were addressed throughout a consumer's school years may continue after he/she is placed at a job site. While the primary duties of the job coach is to ensure basic task skills, the professional also needs to focus on abstract concerns. In order to ensure that this is occurring, advocates for the person with special needs should request information beyond the typical. While getting a paycheck may be the most exciting instant in the life of the consumer and his/her family, the process of earning money and access to these funds could be very dangerous.

Some questions that should be considered are:

• What (if any) training and/or modifications are being implemented to ensure consumer success? The employee with special needs may work in a different manner then the mainstream employee. This does not mean that he/she cannot do the job, they may just do it a little differently. Co-workers and supervisors need to be trained in order to ensure placement success.

• How frequently will the job coach meet with the consumer? Initially, the job coach needs to be frequently available. Observation and training needs to focus on the "total job needs," not just on the required tasks.

• Will job coaching services be reduced or eliminated at anytime? Sometimes job coaching services are short term. It is important that if needed, the case and the support remain available.

• Will consumer training regarding money management and socialization be conducted by the job coach or a designee? Remember, this may be the first time that the consumer has money and time available. He/she needs to use these resources constructively.

• What plan will be implemented if the consumer fails at this site? Nobody wants to go into new situations thinking negatively. However, sometimes a "perfect match" is not made on the first job site attempt. How will the job coach proceed if this occurs?

Worksite Integration will become more and more of an issue as opportunities in competitive employment open for the special needs community. Assurance of appropriate oversight and training can help ensure that consumers and their worksites reap the benefits of this new and exciting partnership.

 

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