To date, research on Intellectual Disability (ID) has focused almost exclusively on childhood and early interventions to support development. Adolescents, youths and adults with ID are an under-studied population. Youths with disabilities have less favorable transition outcomes than do youths in the general population and employment opportunities are even less promising. As a matter of fact, in the 21st century, new strategies, new partnerships and new perspectives are needed in most European countries, including Ireland, to empower youths with ID to acquire employment and independent living skills. The research presented considers and addresses the current educational and career preparation context for youths with ID in Ireland. We have developed a transition program E-IDEAS, “Empowerment of youth with Intellectual Disabilities through Education and training for Acquiring employment Skills”, aimed to develop evidence-based pathway that provides real-life work experience highlighting the importance of promoting better employment skills and outcomes for youths with ID. The framework of the transition program is composed by two curricula delivered concurrently for supporting the transfer of knowledge and competences: Employment curriculum and Individualized internship curriculum. The first curriculum was developed using a “top/down” driven approach, which means it was based on best practice outcomes from previous research and projects. The second curriculum will be realized using a “person-centre approach”, in order to match person’s needs with employment context requirements, for guaranteeing an effective work-placement experience. Participants will be provided with a range of aids such as job-coaching, peer-to-peer support with non-disabled co-workers and mentoring as appropriate. Through a mix of participatory research and qualitative and quantitative research methods, E-IDEAS is engaging youths with ID, family members and careers, service providers, educators and employers. Participants are 10 youths with mild to moderate ID that will be supported also by Information Communication Technology and Assistive Technology (ICT-AT) solutions to acquire employment and independent living skills. The delivery and evaluation of both the curricula designed as well as the mapping of customizable ICT-AT with educational and employment purposes and the analysis of the impact on different participants/stakeholders will be discussed.

E-IDEAS transition program: a personalized learning pathway addressed to youths with intellectual disabilities for acquiring employment skills

Traina I
2018-01-01

Abstract

To date, research on Intellectual Disability (ID) has focused almost exclusively on childhood and early interventions to support development. Adolescents, youths and adults with ID are an under-studied population. Youths with disabilities have less favorable transition outcomes than do youths in the general population and employment opportunities are even less promising. As a matter of fact, in the 21st century, new strategies, new partnerships and new perspectives are needed in most European countries, including Ireland, to empower youths with ID to acquire employment and independent living skills. The research presented considers and addresses the current educational and career preparation context for youths with ID in Ireland. We have developed a transition program E-IDEAS, “Empowerment of youth with Intellectual Disabilities through Education and training for Acquiring employment Skills”, aimed to develop evidence-based pathway that provides real-life work experience highlighting the importance of promoting better employment skills and outcomes for youths with ID. The framework of the transition program is composed by two curricula delivered concurrently for supporting the transfer of knowledge and competences: Employment curriculum and Individualized internship curriculum. The first curriculum was developed using a “top/down” driven approach, which means it was based on best practice outcomes from previous research and projects. The second curriculum will be realized using a “person-centre approach”, in order to match person’s needs with employment context requirements, for guaranteeing an effective work-placement experience. Participants will be provided with a range of aids such as job-coaching, peer-to-peer support with non-disabled co-workers and mentoring as appropriate. Through a mix of participatory research and qualitative and quantitative research methods, E-IDEAS is engaging youths with ID, family members and careers, service providers, educators and employers. Participants are 10 youths with mild to moderate ID that will be supported also by Information Communication Technology and Assistive Technology (ICT-AT) solutions to acquire employment and independent living skills. The delivery and evaluation of both the curricula designed as well as the mapping of customizable ICT-AT with educational and employment purposes and the analysis of the impact on different participants/stakeholders will be discussed.
2018
978-84-09-02709-5
Empowerment
Youths with Intellectual Disabilities
Personalized transition program
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11562/1050578
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