Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan* must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by WIOA:
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* Sec. 102(b)(D)(iii) of WIOA
d. 2. F. Arrangements and Cooperative Agreements for the Provision of Supported Employment Services
Current Narrative:
For consumers with developmental disabilities who qualify for services under the Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS), VR works collaboratively with BDDS to provide SE services and seamless transition to extended services. BDDS defines extended services as ongoing employment support services which enable an individual to maintain integrated competitive employment in a community setting. Individuals must be employed in a community-based, competitive job that pays at or above minimum wage in order to access this service.
The initial job placement, training, stabilization may be provided through Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Extended Services provide the additional work related supports needed by the individual to continue to be as independent as possible in competitive, integrated employment. Ongoing employment support services are identified in the participants’ Individualized Support Plan and must be related to the participants’ limitations in functional areas (i.e. self-care, understanding and use of language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, economic self-sufficiency), as are necessary to maintain employment. Extended Services are provided in competitive, integrated settings where persons without disabilities are also employed. Extended Services do not include sheltered work or other similar types of vocational services furnished in specialized facilities or volunteer endeavors.
Reimbursable Activities • Ensuring that natural supports at the work site are secured through interaction with supervisors and staff. A tangible outcome of this activity would be a decrease in the number of hours of Extended Services an individual accessed over time. • Training for the participant, and/or the participant’s employer, supervisor or coworkers, to increase the participant’s inclusion at the worksite. • Regular observation or supervision of the participant to reinforce and stabilize the job placement. • Job-specific or job-related safety training. • Job-specific or job-related self-advocacy skills training. • Reinforcement of work-related personal care and social skills. • Training on use of public transportation and/or acquisition of appropriate transportation. • Facilitating, but not funding, driver’s education training. • Coaching and training on job-related tasks such as computer skills or other job-specific tasks.
BDDS may provide long-term employment support services through Medicaid Waiver. VR counselors initiate transfer to extended services at the time of job placement. This ensures that BDDS eligible consumers move directly into extended services after case closure without a gap in services.
In July 2015, VR implemented a new employment service model that increases access to VR-funded SE services to ensure that individuals with the most significant disabilities who require SE services receive the supports they need to achieve stabilization on the job prior to transferring to extended services as appropriate. This procedural change was designed to ensure more accountability from both VR and employment service providers in determining that individuals are stable in their jobs prior to VR closure and transfer to extended services. Additional evaluation and training is necessary to ensure that this shift in practice is achieving the desired outcome of consumers receiving increased access to SE services from VR to better ensure stabilization, prior to transitioning to extended services.