NEWS

Employment First changing attitudes

Chris Balusik
Reporter

CHILLICOTHE – A change is underway in how special needs students are encouraged to see their future and in how Pioneer Center teachers and administrators help them prepare for it.

Launched in 2012 through an executive order issued by Gov. John Kasich, Ohio’s Employment First initiative is designed to expose students with developmental disabilities to work possibilities at a younger age and help them choose a career path in the local business community rather than in a sheltered work environment.

The approach is more “person-centered,” said Pioneer Center Superintendent Rick Marriott, meaning that it focuses less on matching opportunities to the limitations an individual has and more on what that person wants to do.

“They are the center of the plan and we’re prioritizing that – what their wants, wishes and desires are – and we cater around that process in a little different way,” Mariott said.

“The other option is a deficiency model when you do assessments of what people can and cannot do and your plan is developed around what somebody cannot do skill-wise,” said John Hocker, adult services director for the Pioneer Center. “The person-centered planning model is totally different because instead of writing a plan that’s basically what somebody cannot do, it’s a plan that focuses on a target of a desirable future.

“So you look to the future and say, ‘Hey, this is where this person wants to go in the next five years,’ and so we focus our energies and our resources on just going to that desirable future, not wasting a lot of money and time for things that people don’t really want or aren’t a part of their desirable future anyway.”

The Pioneer Center, in its Employment First initiative, has created a four-phase plan to help students achieve that future, starting with job exploration around the age of 14. This is done through classroom discussions, role playing job experience simulations, field trips, guest presentations, job shadowing, community service and participation with the Ross County Junior Achievement program.

Phase two involves person-centered planning during annual individual educational plan (IEP) meetings from age 14 through roughly age 22. The discussions look at such things as home situation, relationships, community participation and desires for the future to determine the best paths to follow for the student. That is followed by phase three, which is work experience for those ages 16 to 22 in which a job developer works with area employers, school personnel and the student’s family to provide employment options for the student to try that fit with that desirable future approach. Hocker said the intent is to try and provide a variety of opportunities for students to try so they can make an educated decision about what they really want to do.

“That’s part of the strategy,” Hocker said. “We want young people to experience more than one (opportunity). A lot of times young people with disabilities are only given one opportunity. It’s kind of like you ask them what’s your favorite type of hamburger and they might say McDonald’s. Maybe they never had Burger King, so how do they know?

“You’ve got to give them choices and different restaurants and farming experiences and other experiences so they have something to compare to so by the time they are reaching graduation, they can have a better idea when they’re presented the options where they would like to work.”

Since Jan. 1, 55 students have been served through work experience in the community, with those students combining for 2,700 work hours during the current school year. Work experience sites have included Frisch’s, Hair Mechanics, Aspra Farm, Sack N Save, Sam’s Club, Tumbleweed, Big Lots, Adena Health System, the Charles Black Equestrian Farm through a partnership with Ohio University-Chillicothe, Chillicothe Municipal Court and the City of Chillicothe offices and Parks and Recreation Department. The partnership with the Parks and Rec Department will have some students involved in operations of the municipal pool this summer.

Other employment partners in job placements include Walmart, Kroger, Red Lobster, KFC, Aadvantage Tent Fittings, Arby’s, Danbarry Cinemas, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s.

In the final phase between the ages of 18 and 22, students can move on to a more permanent job placement with an area employer, transition into an adult service program or sheltered workshop if that is the best option or embark on a micro-enterprise opportunity suited to the student’s skill set.

The new approach is significantly different from the past development track, and officials believe it will encourage independence among those with developmental disabilities by putting them more in charge of their own futures. To get there, however, there are obstacles to overcome, mostly tied to changing the way others – including families – think about the capabilities of those with disabilities. Continuing to build a base of employers interested in utilizing the talents that are there, including the reliability and dedication workers with disabilities tend to bring to their job performance, is another hurdle to work through.

“It’s about changing attitudes,” Marriott said. “A lot of times, they learn attitudes through their families, and getting families to say, ‘You know, I think my son or daughter does have a shot at working in the community’ where they didn’t really dream that before because of past practices.”

cbalusik@nncogannett.com

740-772-9360

Twitter: @Chris_Balusik