“While October’s gains were modest for people with and without disabilities, this is encouraging in light of the continued effects of COVID-19,” said John O’Neill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation.

EAST HANOVER, N.J. (PRWEB)
November 06, 2020

Kessler Foundation and University of New Hampshire nTIDE Report—featuring Job Path, a New York City based nonprofit that taps multiple sources of funding to create comprehensive opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to work, live and play in their communities of choice.

October’s job numbers showed small changes for Americans with and without disabilities, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). Although people with disabilities have remained engaged in the labor market, the ongoing effects of the pandemic and uncertainty about continued federal aid are major concerns as the year draws to a close.

nTIDE COVID Update (month-to-month comparison)

In the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released Friday, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased from 28.3 percent in September to 29.2 percent in October 2020 (up 3.2 percent or 0.9 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 70.0 percent in September to 71.3 percent in October 2020 (up 1.9 percent or 1.3 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

“While October’s gains were modest for people with and without disabilities, this is encouraging in light of the continued effects of COVID-19,” said John O’Neill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. He added, “However, we may see declines in the employment-to-population ratio next month as COVID-19 infections increase during the fall and federal aid has yet to be renewed.”

The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities increased from 32.7 percent in September to 33.3 percent in October 2020 (up 1.8 percent or 0.6 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate also increased from 75.7 percent in September to 76.2 percent in October 2020 (up 0.7 percent or 0.5 percentage points). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working, not working and on temporary layoff, or not working and actively looking for work.

“The labor force participation rate improved slightly compared to last month reaching the same level compared to this time last year,” noted economist Andrew Houtenville, PhD, research director of the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability. “This is good news and suggests people with disabilities are staying engaged in the workforce by either working, actively looking for work, or expecting to be recalled. It will be important to track this indicator as economic restrictions are reinstated to combat the increasing spread of COVID-19.”

nTIDE COVID Update – Friday, November 20 at 12:00 pm Eastern

Stay tuned for more about the employment of people with disabilities as we follow the impact of COVID-19 and look at the numbers in more detail.

Traditional nTIDE Numbers (comparison to the same time last year)

The employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities decreased from 30.7 percent in October 2019 to 29.2 percent in October 2020 (down 4.9 percent or 1.5 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio decreased from 75.1 percent in October 2019 to 71.3 percent in October 2020 (down 5.1 percent or 3.8 percentage points).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities was the same, 33.3 percent in October 2019 to 33.3 percent in October 2020 (up 0 percent or 0 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate also decreased from 77.6 percent in October 2019 to 76.2 percent in October 2020 (down 1.8 percent or 1.4 percentage points).                                                                    

In October 2020, among workers ages 16-64, the 4,344,000 workers with disabilities represented 3.1 percent of the total 140,340,000 workers in the U.S.

Funding for nTIDE is provided by Kessler Foundation.

Beyond the Numbers

As job losses steepen and more Americans begin actively looking for work, the landscape is changing for jobseekers with disabilities and the agencies that support their competitive integrated employment. For more than 40 years, Job Path, a not-for-profit provider agency in New York City has provided employment and day and residential support services for people with autism and other developmental disabilities, aiming for inclusion in community life, as well as the workplace.

While employment is the major focus, Job Path fosters involvement in community life, encouraging clients to volunteer with organizations that interest them, and engage in hobbies, artistic and spiritual pursuits. Job Path blends and braids multiple sources of funding to create comprehensive opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to work, live and play in their communities of choice. To accomplish this Job Path draws on multiple funding sources including state vocational rehabilitation, foundation funding, government grants, Medicaid’s waiver funding, Social Security’s Ticket to Work program, and local funding.

In New York City, more than 100 employers have hired workers with disabilities through Job Path, for jobs in diverse areas including retail, animal care, childcare, healthcare, clerical and administration, food service, media and communications, and maintenance services. Using customized employment strategies, Job Path works with each individual to identify their skills and talents and works with employers to create positions that meet the needs of both the business and the job seekers. Job Path’s job coaches provide flexible ongoing support for new hires, maximizing their likelihood of success. With this approach, Job Path has succeeded in finding employment for 85% of job seekers, and 85% have stayed on the job at least a year. In 2019, their clients earned more than $2.6 million.

The pandemic’s broad effects on employment have impacted the ability of nonprofits such as Job Path to maintain their support of jobseekers with disabilities. While new placements have slowed, ongoing supports for those currently employed have continued, according to Dr. O’Neill, a member of Job Path’s board of directors. “We are confident that as the economy shifts and workplaces evolve, this model that includes customized employment will help jobseekers adapt to employers’ changing needs, and supply businesses with the diversity of human resources they need to adapt to this new reality. While working is important, supporting a lifestyle that is full and rewarding has taken on new meaning in the COVID era. As the impact of the pandemic persists, Job Path will continue to implement its comprehensive approach to job seekers with developmental disabilities.”

Ask Questions about Disability and Employment

Join our nTIDE Lunch & Learn series today, November 6, at 12:00 pm Eastern. This live broadcast, hosted via Zoom Webinar, offers attendees Q&A on the latest nTIDE findings, provides news and updates from the field, as well as invited panelists to discuss current disability-related findings and events. Today, Fredda Rosen, Carly Teichman, and Rachel Pollock from Job Path, join Dr. Houtenville, Dr. O’Neill, and Denise Rozell, Policy Strategist at AUCD. Join live or watch the recordings at: ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

NOTE: The statistics in the nTIDE are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers but are not identical. They are customized by UNH to combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16 to 64). nTIDE is funded, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (90RT5037) and Kessler Foundation.

About Kessler Foundation

Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes — including employment — for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.

About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, visit ResearchonDisability.org.

For more information, or to interview an expert, contact:

Carolann Murphy, 973.324.8382, CMurphy@KesslerFoundation.org.

Spaulding Academy & Family Services celebrated its annual Authors Tea event, which is the culmination of weeks of student work that align with a specific theme.

“I was truly impressed by the staff’s ability to flex with the demands of COVID-19 to create their works and still enjoy a school-based, school-wide event,” said Colleen Sliva, M.S.Ed., School Principal & Special Education Director.

NORTHFIELD, N.H. (PRWEB)
November 05, 2020

Spaulding Academy & Family Services (formerly Spaulding Youth Center) virtually celebrated its annual Authors Tea event in October to accommodate COVID-19 safety precautions. This event is the culmination of weeks of student work: brainstorming, writing, revising, illustrating, and producing creative writing projects that align with a specific theme. The school selected “Choose Love” as the 2020 theme, since it has recently integrated the social and emotional learning (SEL) Choose Love Movement curriculum across academic departments.

Each classroom developed grade level-appropriate projects focused on specific modules of the Choose Love curriculum: Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Compassion in Action. For example, younger students used each letter of their names to write and illustrate descriptive words that demonstrate courage, while older students wrote poems and stories – and even designed cartoons – about courage, gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion.

Typically, students and staff are joined by family and friends at the Authors Tea to showcase their works and celebrate their imaginations, creativity, and diligence. Due to COVID guidelines, this confidence-building event took place in-house with students and staff this year, and was shared virtually with other cohorts and loved ones.

“I was truly impressed by the staff’s ability to flex with the demands of COVID-19 to create their works and still enjoy a school-based, school-wide event,” said Colleen Sliva, M.S.Ed., School Principal & Special Education Director. “Many of the student works were especially poignant and insightful, while aligned with our integration of the Choose Love curriculum.”

For more information about Spaulding Academy & Family Services and its comprehensive special education services, visit SpauldingServices.org. Details about the Choose Love Movement are available at chooselovemovement.org.

ABOUT SPAULDING ACADEMY & FAMILY SERVICES

Spaulding Academy & Family Services is a leading provider of educational, residential, therapeutic and community based programs and services for families, and children and youth with neurological, emotional, behavioral, learning or developmental challenges, including Autism Spectrum Disorder and those who have experienced significant trauma, abuse or neglect. Established in 1871, Spaulding Academy & Family Services is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was formerly known as Spaulding Youth Center since 1958. Our scenic hilltop campus is located on nearly 500 acres in Northfield, NH and welcomes boys and girls from ages 4 to 21 from around the state of New Hampshire and beyond. In addition to programs provided on our Northfield campus, Spaulding’s community based programs include foster family licensing, Individual Service Option (ISO) foster care, ISO in-home services, child health support services, and more for children ages 0 to 20 and their family. For information about Spaulding Academy & Family Services, visit http://www.SpauldingServices.org.

Share article on social media or email:

The results are in from our informal straw poll of neurotypical parents, teachers, and students: These symbols can be confusing!

MARTINEZ, Calif. (PRWEB)
November 03, 2020

Most communication systems for people with autism use visual symbols. When learning how to use words, pictures are vital supports. They’re consistent physical images that don’t fade away after a moment, unlike the spoken word, but for language to have real value, it has to be universally recognized. To give children with autism the best chance to communicate with as many people as possible, they need to learn how to use standardized symbols that are widely recognized outside their inner circle.

That’s why leading AAC apps such as InnerVoice have chosen to update. InnerVoice will be replacing all symbols that represent emotions (such as anger) or concrete nouns (such as pizza) with universally recognizable Twitter emojis.

With over 145 million people using Twitter daily — and more than 10 billion emojis being sent every day online — teaching AAC users to recognize a visual language that can be used outside of an app as well! And, with Twitter’s customizable hair and skin color, emojis give users a better chance to represent themselves using avatars they identify with.

What about symbols for abstract concepts?

Learning to express concepts that are more abstract, such as “again,” “help,” and “more,” is an essential part of language acquisition. Speech therapists will often target the words “yes” and “no” when first working with a child. These two small words can give a kid the power to express their wants and frustrations at last.

Classic communication aids employ symbols like smiling & frowning to represent “yes” and “no,” accompanied by the corresponding word.

On the left, a smiling face with some curved lines and vertical arrows, and on the right, an unsmiling face with some horizontal arrows (see illustration). There’s actually a fair amount of abstract meaning to decode within each image, particularly considering these symbols are widely used with individuals on the autism spectrum — generally known to struggle with ambiguous information.

These icons also force an unnecessary, and at times absurd, association with a particular emotion, to give a simple yes/no answer. Take, for example: “Did you get a flat tire today?” or “Does your stomach hurt?” These are seemingly easy questions to answer; however, using the common symbols for “yes” and “no,” there seems to be no accurate response. We have essentially set non-verbal children up for failure, but what do neurotypical thinkers make of these symbols?

Well, if the words “yes” and “no” are removed from the original icons — an informal survey of 42 parents, teachers, and students produces inconsistent results (see illustration):

It turned out that without accompanying words, the neurotypical participants didn’t know what the symbols represented either! The images alone are basically visual noise.

For too long, the basic comprehensibility of abstract symbols in AAC systems has gone unquestioned. These symbols might be easily accessible for practitioners and globally used, but they’re rather ambiguous — to everyone! — without the words written alongside them. And as researchers such as Stephen Krashen have noted time and again: In order to learn a language, input needs to be both compelling and comprehensible.

Faced with abstract symbols and written words they haven’t learned to read yet, kids with autism may well favor forms of non-verbal communication. Finding it makes more sense to them in terms of human interaction, but what can be used instead of abstract symbols?

Symbols that represent abstract concepts as-well-as concrete nouns should be uniform and universally recognized. Using words as symbols is a concept that has been gaining momentum over the past few years.

First, stop assuming that non-verbal children can’t learn to recognize words. Words are just patterns. Research studies with children on the autism spectrum has shown, that these kids can learn to recognize these patterns and subsequently learn to read. Given the right tools and expectations, three-year-olds with autism are learning to read, without the use of confusing abstract icons!

That’s why InnerVoice has chosen to update and remove all icons/symbols that represent abstract information. Instead, we will use the written word and universal emojis — or at times GIFs (another widely used form of communication) or short videos — to represent verbs, adjectives, or other action words more clearly.

The importance of expectation

There are still many who question whether non-verbal kids can learn to read, but these children’s cognitive skills may be widely underestimated. Non-verbal children might have sensory challenges and think in ways that are different from neurotypical people, but, like all of us, they need lessons that actually suit their style of learning.

Though abstract icons are still heavily used worldwide, the potential for teaching words as symbols to those with autism is something that has been noticed by other practitioners. For a case study of a teacher who persevered with this method to great success, check out Daniel McNulty’s work with children in Indiana.

It is essential to keep pushing the boundaries of expectation for all the remarkable children with autism around the world. There is hope that through teaching the use of universally accepted symbols — emojis and text — more children will maximize their potential for successful communication.

Share article on social media or email: