Overview
The exploration of possible career choices is a very important aspect of the
education of all students. These students, however, whose learning rate is
slower and whose ability to make generalizations less developed than that of
other students, need more opportunities to practise work-related skills in the
classroom and the community.
In the elementary years, good work habits and attitudes are developed
through an emphasis on punctuality and the satisfactory completion of tasks.
Participation in regular classroom routines (e.g., watering plants, feeding
pets, cleaning chalkboards) can help students to develop positive and
responsible work habits. Stories about people in a variety of careers form part
of the environmental studies curriculum.
Secondary school students begin to explore career options more
systematically in consultation with the guidance department. Their programs may
include cooperative education and work experience. They may also choose to
develop skills and knowledge in business studies, technological studies, or the
arts, with a view to possible future careers.
Teenage students should be provided with workrelated experiences in various
kinds of environments, both in school and in the community. Such experiences
help to both pinpoint and develop students' vocational strengths. Their
reading, writing, oral language, and mathematics skills can then be developed
to suit the needs of the community and the workplace.
Students also need to develop the social skills required for successful job
placement. The ability to interact appropriately with peers, fellow workers,
and employers in a variety of settings starts with the social skills learned in
the classroom and the community.
Students should be helped to explore a variety of options that may lead to
meaningful employment in the community on graduation. Careers discussed can
include semiskilled and unskilled jobs, as well as jobs with high academic
requirements. Teachers should be responsive to students' individual preferences
and strengths.
As a student approaches school-leaving age, cooperation among the school,
the student's f amily, community agencies, and potential employers is essential
to the student's smooth transition to the work environment. Options such as
work in a regular workplace, supported work placements, and sheltered
placements should be explored.
The Planning Cycle
Assessment and Development
In the first two phases of the planning cycle, educators need to:
- identify students' career preferences and interests through observations
and conversation;
- identify students' job-related social, physical, and cognitive abilities;
- involve parents in their children's long-range career planning;
- work closely with community agencies and employers to survey job
possibilities and to inform employers of students' potential;
- design realistic goals for students based on individual capabilities and
employer expectations.
Implementation and Evaluation
In the last two phases of the planning cycle, educators need to:
- begin career education early, targeting skills that will be useful in a
variety of work settings (e.g., punctuality, productivity, initiative,
persistence, concentration);
- include specific training in job-related interpersonal skills;
- provide motivating and meaningful work-related experiences at school;
- have students test out school-based learning in community settings, with
varying personnel, conditions, and expectations;
- provide students with opportunities to acquire experience in various kinds
of appropriate jobs;
- allow for interaction and training with non-disabled peers where possible;
- provide special equipment and support personnel for workplaces where
students would otherwise be unable to participate;
- increase the percentage of time that is spent in natural work settings as
students approach the school-leaving age;
- monitor and assess student progress carefully, evaluating the
contributions of school personnel, employers, and parents as well as the
achievement of the students; - develop, for each student, a portfolio of work
placements and evaluations to be passed on to potential employers;
- provide opportunities for students to participate in co-operative education
programs and school-to-work transition programs.
Resources
Ontario. Ministry of Education. Career Week Is Every Week. Toronto:
Ministry of Education, Ontario, 1988.
_____. Co-operative Education: Policies and Procedures for Ontario
Secondary Schools. Toronto: Ministry of Education, Ontario, 1989.
_____. Guidance, Intermediate and Senior Divisions. Curriculum
Guideline. Toronto: Ministry of Education, Ontario, 1984.
_____. One Step at a Time: Educational and Career Explorations,
Intermediate Division (Grades 7 and 8). Support Document. Toronto: Ministry
of Education, Ontario, 1984.
_____. Personal Life Management, Intermediate and Senior Divisions.
Curriculum Guideline. Toronto: Ministry of Education, Ontario, 1985.
Ontario. Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour. Bridges to Employment
for Students With Disabilities: A Resource Guide for School-to-Work Transition
(SWT) Programs. Toronto: Ministry of Education, Ontario, 1988.
Wehman, Paul, and McLaughlin, Phillip J. Vocational Curriculum for
Developmentally Disabled Persons. Baltimore: University Park, 1980.
Case Study - Elementary Level
Student Profile Maria is a twelve-year-old with autistic
tendencies. She is independent in basic self-care skills, such as feeding,
toileting, and dressing. She has no spoken language; communicates her needs by
gesture, physical touch, and sounds; and understands simple two- to three-word
sentences. Maria likes to listen to music with headphones and to do finemotor
activities such as puzzles and Lego. She sometimes engages in rocking and head
banging. Her parents wish to begin long-range vocational planning for her.
Learning Environment Maria attends a special education class
in a senior public school. In order to remain on task, she requires
individualized attention from the teacher or an educational assistant.
Expected Learning Outcomes Maria is expected to:
- assist the school office staff in short, meaningful tasks requiring
fine-motor dexterity (e.g., stapling notices, stuffing envelopes);
- complete tasks in the workshops at school (e.g., sanding, using a
screwdriver) and, by the end of the school year, perform these tasks
independently for periods of ten minutes at a time.
Student Program Maria is being provided with opportunities to:
- increase her on-task behaviour by completing short tasks at intervals
during the day (the length and complexity of the tasks is gradually increased,
and concrete reinforcements such as listening to music are gradually replaced
by more abstract reinforcements such as verbal praise);
- develop her communication gestures so that she can make herself understood
at home, at school, and in the community;
- co-operate with another person in such activities as collating three
papers and stapling or folding them, stuffing envelopes, and putting stamps on
envelopes;
- develop a better sense of one-to-one correspondence by placing one stamp
on an envelope, one paper in an envelope, and so on.
Case Study - Secondary Level
Student Profile Jean-Marc is a sociable nineteen-yearold with
Down syndrome. He speaks in short sentences and reads about seventy words in
context. He counts by rote to 100 and performs numerical operations to 10. He
can purchase items that cost up to $1.00, but he cannot make change. He tells
time to the hour and half-hour. He is very tidy and likes to clean the
classroom. He also enjoys preparing food and has expressed interest in working
as a busboy or assistant in a restaurant. He has difficulty in remaining on
task.
Learning Environment Jean-Marc attends a small special
education centre that emphasizes life skills and the transition from school to
adult life. Every day at lunch time he assists with such tasks as serving food
and cleaning tables and floors. He is also being provided with workexperience
trials in local restaurants, with a view to his eventually taking on a
supported work placement.
Expected Learning Outcomes jean-Marc is expected to develop
the social and vocational skills necessary for suc cessful work placement in
the community.
Student Program Jean-Marc is being provided with opportunities
to:
- develop work skills, such as following directions and functioning
efficiently and productively in his work placements;
- visit work settings to find out the hours, pay, and working conditions of
potential jobs;
- increase his ability to travel independently to job placements;
- extend, through role playing or modelling, his workrelated language (to
include job-related jargon and the elements of adult social conversation) and
his ability to ask for help on the job, take a job interview, and talk to
customers;
- read words that he will need to recognize if he works in a cafeteria or
restaurant, including warning labels, words on menus, the names of hazardous
products, and the words on job application forms;
- prepare to fill out job-application forms by practising his signature and
address (sometimes with the aid of a computer, which helps him to improve his
spelling of important personal words);
- learn to tell time, so that he can be punctual, understand clocking in and
out, and time his lunch and coffee breaks;
- refine his money-handling skills by using a vending machine, purchasing
his lunch, and banking his earnings;
- learn the importance of personal hygiene (e.g., showering, using
deodorant, wearing appropriate clothing, using an apron in the cafeteria,
following hygienic procedures in the kitchen).
Community Living Skills
Overview
Learning community living skills is critical for students because such
skills will enable them to adapt to and live in the community independently and
successfully. The key to learning community living skills is practice in
reallife situations. If students are to develop the social and economic
competence necessary to function independently, their programs must give them
opportunities to integrate into the community.
A key feature of community-living-skills programs is decision making - that
is, learning to identify problems, to decide on plans of action, and to accept
the consequences of the chosen actions.
Community living skills can be taught in all grades and in a number of
program areas. For the younger student, community awareness is emphasized
through excursions in the community -excursions that involve, for example,
observing community helpers in action or purchasing items for use in the
classroom.
For the older student, community living experiences can be provided through
consumer studies and personallifemanagement courses. Students require
individualized, community-focused programs that include activities such as
shopping for goods and services, using public transportation, using financial
services, and selecting appropriate support services.
Experiences for students with multiple needs may include opportunities for
sensory and social stimulation from sounds and sights in the community.
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