Archives: Lessons

Based on feedback from your Parent Survey, choose one of the ideas below to implement in your classroom or program.

• Share a family spotlight in an email, text or parent newsletter. Use it as an opportunity to help families connect and get to know each other better.  (This would be great to do monthly!)
• Share information about social and community groups for families.
• On a bulletin board, in a family newsletter on your agency’s Facebook page, etc., share information about the benefits of healthy relationships and signs of negative relationships.
• Host a Parent Café at your center.
• Have an alternate idea for getting parents involved in sharing ideas about Social Connections? Email the course facilitator for approval before implementing the activity to complete this assignment.

Now that you have feedback it is time to implement an activity to support families in growing their social connections, which can result in being resilient.

Based on feedback from the Family Survey, choose one of the ideas below to implement in your program. The idea you choose to implement should help support what your families identified as a need.

• Learn family member names and greet them by name, every time you see them.
• Connect families who are interested in sharing resources, such as help with transportation.  
• Plan a social event, such as a Parent café, for families that reflect their interests.  Use name tags when bringing family members together and find ways to help families interact.
• Help families create a personal Eco-Map or create a group Eco-Map on a bulletin board where families can share formal and informal supports.
• Help families connect virtually through a private Facebook Group, shared documents (Google Drive) or another method that would work for your families.
• Have an alternate idea for getting caregivers involved in sharing ideas about Social Connections? Email the course facilitator for approval before implementing the activity to complete this assignment.

In order to plan family-driven activities, you need to include families in the process. The information you collect on this survey will serve as a guide as you implement Activities 2-3. The survey should involve at least ten families. The survey will gather information regarding Social Connections. You are welcome to survey the families you work with but note the more surveys you get back, the easier it will be to complete the remaining activities.

Please note that it may take a week or two to get the responses back.

What is the best way to have your families respond? You may find one of these methods works better for the families you serve or you may find that you utilize multiple methods.

• Sending an e-mail with the questions and they reply with their responses?
• Providing families with a paper survey to fill out?
• Texting or e-mailing a link for a google form they can fill out?
• Or 1:1 conversations in person or by phone where you fill out the form as you talk to caregivers?

The method that you use to collect information is not as important as how you will use the information to make informed family-driven decisions.

After you have collected information from your families, you will be asked to share what you have learned before moving on to the next activity.

What to say?

Sometimes just providing a survey to a family is not enough for them to remember to complete it. Families are typically busy and may not realize the value of completing the survey. Most families, however, will complete if they know the value of completing.

As you are providing the survey take a moment to verbally or written share why you are collecting the information and how it will be used. Let them know you are completing training on ways that you can support them as a family and need their input. Provide as much detail about social connections as you think the family would be interested in knowing.

Also, giving the families reminders when they are not as distracted can remind families to complete at that moment.

Drop-off and pick-up can also be a great time to get surveys back. Ask families to come or stay an extra five minutes to complete and provide them access to the survey, either in paper form or electronically.

Family Survey Questions

What questions should be asked on the survey? Below are 5 short questions that can be used. You can copy the questions and put them in an e-mail or text, print the PDF below to share with families or use the Google form to create your own survey.

You may also use any survey that you already have, just make sure the questions are related to social connections.

Remember the method(s) used to collect the data is not as important as the fact that you are getting the information.

• Do you have friends or family members you are close to?
• Who do you specifically call on to help you every once in a while?
• Who can you count on to advise you on issues related to the kids, finances or transportation?
• Can you turn to your social network for help in times of need (for instance, when you need help with transportation, child care  or other resources)?
• What kinds of things do you like to do for fun or just to relax? Would you be interested in meeting some other parents who have similar interests?

Instructions for Copying the Google Form

1. Click the Google form with questions link above.
2. Make a copy of the Form.
   1. Right click on the Form you need.
   2. Select Make a copy.

3. Open the copy you made.
   1. By default, the new file gets saved in your main My Drive folder.
   2. Double click on the file to open it.
4. Make any edits or changes you like to the questions and instructions.
5. Click the purple Send button.
   • Send the form directly on the Email tab by pasting in email addresses.
   • Click the Link tab and select Shorten URL to create a short link to text, email, or share on social media with your class or center.
   • You can use the code on the Embed tab to show your form on another website, like a page on your school’s website.

Families and young children are best supported by professionals who understand and recognize the importance of self-awareness and self-care in their own professional practice.

The way we can look at how these concepts are aligned is to think of the Protective Factors as the leaves on the tree and the Premises as the roots of the tree. This visual shows the connection between the Protective Factors to the Premises and helps explain how the Premises lay the foundation for professionals to understand how to incorporate the Protective Factors into the work you are doing.

Factors that impact Social Connections

Additional Supported Employment Services fee was established for the provision of services required which are more intense than typical, following the final outcome payment. These may be provided between days 90 – 180 on the job or as Post-Employment Services, following OVR case closure. They are intended to be used as a short-term service when needed to maintain or obtain employment.

Step Down Support is a process that is designed to reflect the independence, skills, and natural supports obtained by the individual while employed, by providing long-term support in a manner that is specific to the needs of the individual. It is optional and not intended to be used by everyone.

If an individual is approved Step Down Supports experiences issues and needs assistance, you must provide the service immediately and then return to the two times per month follow-up. Once they are stable on the job for 6 months, you may reapply for Step Down Support status.

Resource

Additional Supported Employment Services fee was established for the provision of services required which are more intense than typical, following the final outcome payment. These may be provided between day 90 – 180 on the job or as Post-Employment Services, following OVR case closure.

• Unlike other Supported Employment services, this one is billed by the hour at $50/hour 

• Contact the VR Counselor to request these hours.  You will need to let the OVR Counselor know how many hours of Additional Supported Employment Services you expect to need.  

The nature of the Additional Supported Fee is to provide support that is short-term in nature.  

If someone needs extensive supports, following case closure, they can reapply for OVR services.

Now that your consumer has a job, let’s talk about long term supports, which is what makes Supported Employment unique. You will need to know the point of these supports and who provides them for the quiz. Click on the first topic below to get started. 

In this lesson, we will look at job development, and how to use the Career Profile to guide your job search with that person. You will need to remember some points about employer engagement for the final quiz. Click on the first topic below to get started. 

In this lesson, we are going to introduce the Career Profile process. This is only an introduction; we will discuss it in depth during the first live Zoom Day of training.  However, you will need a basic understanding of this process to pass the final quiz. 

Phases of IPS Supported Employment

In this lesson, we will cover all the phases of IPS supported employment, authorized and paid for by the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. There are many steps, and although you won’t have to recite each step, you will need to have a general sense of the phases for the final quiz.

STEP 1:

Career Profile

STEP 2:

Job Development

STEP 3:

Job Acquisition

(First 180 Days on the Job)

STEP 4:

Long-Term Support

Select the first topic below to continue

Select the first topic below to get started.  

In this lesson, we will look at the services provided through the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. Click on the first topic below to get started.