Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation (Blind)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan [13] must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA:
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[13] Sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA
d. 2. A. Consultation and technical assistance to assist educational agencies in planning for the transition of students with disabilities from school to post-school activities, including VR services;
Current Narrative:
DBVI, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), along with the Department of Education (DOE) first developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about ten years ago, updating it throughout the years to capture changes in resources and maximize our on-going collaboration between agencies. The most recent MOU, signed June 15, 2018, addresses both individual and shared agency responsibilities across our systems to improve employment outcomes for youth with disabilities. It functions as a guiding tool for services to transition age youth with disabilities that are based on best practices and lead to post-secondary education, training and employment upon graduation.
The agreement focuses upon the needs of the individual student and allows for flexibility and professional judgment to be exercised by personnel. It also spells out the roles of each agency in referral, outreach, and the provision of service. The blindness-specific curriculum services that are identified in the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and 504 plans facilitate the achievement of the employment goal, which is further developed in the Vocational Rehabilitation Individual Plan for Employment (IPE). DBVI, the student and parent(s)/guardian(s) develop the IPE, utilizing the interests, strengths, and needs of the student.
Local transition events continue to be effective in connecting employment programs, vocational programs, skills of blindness instruction, and special education programs to employers as an aid to sorting out career options, developing successful work histories, and creating employment opportunities for students. In addition, collaboration with Maine CITE provides education and services for furthering the use of assistive technologies that bridge education and employment.
Examples of some activities relating to transition:
A 2-hour presentation was provided to staff at University of Maine, Learning Center (Bryant Pond). DBVI worked with staff to help them better understand the needs of folks who are blind who attend their programs. DBVI walked through the “school program” that is used and made appropriate recommendations and aided them in some temporary braille signage. The Learning Center is interested in having DBVI staff consult from time/time and would be interested in having students do a field trip to use their outdoor site/staff to do some adventuresome outdoor activities (archery, low & high ropes, zip line, animal and plant exploration, along with basic outdoor education).
A VRT from the Iris Network and DBVI staff presented VRT and O&M Service information to help train the new Career Advisors at Goodwill who will potentially work with DBVI clients. DBVI services were discussed along with demonstrations of items often used with clients with vision loss at home and at worksites to support learning by the staff. Stations were set up to give Goodwill staff time to walk through as teams, one team using vision loss simulators while another team guided them through a task. After this hands-on learning was completed, there was question/answer session to provide a better understanding of when/how DBVI would support a client with vision loss at a jobsite.