Predictors of Employment for Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Participating in a Postsecondary Transition Program to Community Employment

• In Event: Inclusive Learning, Working, and Socializing Beyond Postsecondary Education

Abstract

Previous research has shown that post-secondary collegiate vocational educational programs often have positive effects on employment outcomes for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Using secondary data of a program collected over several years, results are able to robustly indicate that acquiring job-specific skills was a much better predictor than global measures of intellectual or adaptive behavior. Additionally, survival curve analyses as an innovative approach to this population showed that there was a positive relation between the number of job-specific training sessions and eventual community employment. Results are discussed in relation to a historical parallel movement to expand inclusion of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the least restrictive educational setting for primary and secondary public education years.

Authors

• Lucy M. Barnard-Brak, University of Alabama
  Presenting Author

• David Richman, Texas Tech University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kagendo Mutua, University of Alabama
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amy M. Williamson, University of Alabama
  Non-Presenting Author