Workability Guide Part 5

9. Appendix Parts II - VI

Table of Contents

II. GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Adapted Physical Education: An individual program of developmental activities, games, sports, and rhythms suited to the interests, capacities, and limitations of students with disabilities who may not safely or successfully engage in unrestricted participation in the vigorous activities of the general physical education program.

Advocate: Anyone who supports the cause of a person with disabilities or group of people with disabilities, especially in legal or administrative proceedings or public forums.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Diagnostic category of The American Psychiatric Association for a condition in which a child exhibits developmentally inappropriate inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity.

Audiogram: A graph of the faintest level of sound a person can hear in each ear at least 50% of the time at each of several frequencies, including the entire frequency range of normal speech.

Auditory Processing: The ability to understand and use information that is heard, both words as well as other non-verbal sounds.

Autistic: A term applied to children who exhibit the characteristics of autism, a severe disorder, characterized by the inability to communicate through meaningful speech and the inability to develop relationships with other persons due to withdrawal.

Adaptive Behavior: A concept that refers to a person's ability to adjust to the environment, displaying adequate levels of independence, and responsibility in daily life.

Aphasic: A disorder caused by disease or injury to brain centers resulting in the loss or impairment of ability to produce or to comprehend language. It may affect either written or spoken language.

Behavioral Contract: A written agreement between two parties in which one agrees to complete a specified task (e.g., a child agrees to complete a homework assignment by the next morning) and in return the other party agrees to provide a specific reward (e.g., the teachers allows the child to have 10 minutes of free time) upon completion of the task.

Behavior Disorder: A Disability characterized by behavior that differs markedly and chronically from current social or cultural norms and adversely affects educational performance.

Behavioral Modification: The systematic application of procedures derived from the principles of behavior (e.g., reinforcement) in order to achieve desired changes in behavior.

Behavioral Objectives: A precise measurable statement of what the pupil is expected to achieve, including the conditions under which the pupil will achieve and the criteria for measuring the achievement.

California Jobs Tax Credit: State legislations that provides employers with opportunity to claim state income tax credit for eligible individuals they plan to hire.

Case Management: A service that assists student/clients to obtain and coordinate community resources such as income assistance, education, housing, medical care, treatment, vocational preparation, and recreation.

Cerebral Palsy: Motor impairment caused by brain damage, which is usually inflicted during the prenatal period or during the birth process. Can involve a wide variety of symptoms and range from mild to severe. Neither curable nor progressive.

Community-Based Instruction (CBI): A form of instruction in which Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals are met in a "natural", age-appropriate setting. For example, a trip to the grocery store in which math, sequencing, travel, and social skills may all be developed in a community setting.

Communicatively Disabled (CD): Difficulty understanding language or using language to the extent that it interferes with learning in school.

Conduct Disorder: A pattern of behavior characterized by attention seeking, hyperactivity, and verbal and/or physical aggression.

Continuing Education: Learning opportunities offered to youth and adults through special programs schools, centers, institutes, or colleges, emphasizing specific areas of knowledge and skills rather than traditional course sequences. The programs often are provided to individuals who have completed or have withdrawn from full-time educational programs.

Core Curriculum: A specific body of subject content, adopted by the local school board and aligned with the state curriculum framework. The purpose of the core curriculum is to ensure that all students fully develop the skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, calculation, learning, and critical thinking.

Continuum of Services: The range of different placement and instructional options that a school district can use to serve children with disabilities. Typically depicted as a pyramid, ranging from the least restrictive placement (regular classroom) to the most restrictive placement (institution or hospital).

Curriculum Based Assessment: Evaluation of a student's progress in terms of his performance on the skills that comprise the curriculum of the local school.

Department of Rehabilitation: A state agency that purchases services, through the Vocational Rehabilitation and Habilitation Services programs, which address work-related aspects of a person's development.

Designated Instruction and Services (DIS): (Also known as related services.) Specialized instruction and/or support services identified through an assessment and written on an IEP as necessary for child to benefit from special education (e.g., speech/language therapy, vision services, vocational specialist, etc.) Needed to implement goals of the IEP.

Developmentally Delayed (DD): A term used to describe the development of students who are not able to perform the skills other students of the same age are usually able to perform.

Differential Proficiency Standards: The standards for graduation adopted by the school district for Special Education students who cannot attain the regular proficiency standards due to their disability.

Disability: Technically, refers to the reduced function or loss of a particular body part or organ. In practice, disability is often used to describe mental or physical impairment that restricts one's ability to function.

Disabled Access Credit: A tax incentive for small businesses who seek to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Down Syndrome: A chromosomal anomaly that often causes moderate to severe mental retardation, along with certain physical characteristics such as a large tongue, heart problems, poor muscle tone, and a broad flat bridge of the nose.

Due Process: Set of legal steps and proceedings carried out according to established rules and principles; designed to protect an individual's constitutional and legal rights.

Dyslexia: An impairment in reading ability or partial ability to read; often associated with cerebral dysfunction or minimal brain dysfunction. An individual with this condition does not understand clearly what he/she reads. A more generic term for learning problems including dyslexia is learning disability.

Enclaves: A term referring to a group of three or four workers with severe disabilities who are placed as a group in a supportive employment situation with a job coach.

Etiology: The cause(s) of disability, impairment, or disease. Includes genetic, physiological, environmental, or psychological factors.

Fair Labor Standards Act: Commonly known as the Federal Wage and Hour Law; establishes minimum wage, child labor control, overtime, and equal pay standards for employment.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS): A condition sometimes found in the infants of alcoholic mothers; can involve low birth weight, developmental delay, cardiac, limb, and other physical defects.

Foster Home: A living arrangement in which a family shares its home with a person who is not a relative. Long used with children who for some reason cannot live with their families temporarily, foster homes are now being used with disabled adults as well.

Group Home: A residential arrangement for adults with disabilities, most often persons with developmental delays, in which several residents live together in a house with non-disabled supervisors. The residents usually have outside jobs.

Habilitation: The process which individuals are assisted in acquiring and maintaining skills which enable them to cope more effectively with their personal needs and circumstances of their environments, and to strive to reach their full physical, mental, and social potential.

Health and Welfare Agency: The California umbrella state agency which administers eleven state departments including the Department of Developmental Services, Rehabilitation, Mental Health, Social Services, and Health Services.

Hearing Impaired: Describes anyone who has a hearing loss significant enough to require Special Education, training, and/or adaptations; includes both deaf and hard-of-hearing conditions.

Inclusion: Full inclusion refers to the inclusion of a student with special needs in an age appropriate regular classroom at the student's neighborhood school. The student moves with peers to subsequent grades. All related services are provided in the regular classroom through a collaborative approach, except where privacy is an issue. Curriculum may be district core curriculum as for the other students or modified core curriculum to provide physical assistance, adapted content and/or material, multi-level curriculum, curriculum overlapping (same activity, same goals) or substitute curriculum.

Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA): Federal law which mandates the following: free public education for all citizens with disabilities regardless of degree of impairment, services based on individual need as determined by multi-disciplinary assessment and an Individualized Education Program (IEP); placement of persons with disabilities in regular classroom as much as possible; provision of special, "related services" for person needing more than educational services; and family involvement in decision making. Mandated by Public Law 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act now includes a definition of "Transition" and the requirement to address transition services language in the IEP.

Individualized Education Plan (IEP): A written educational prescription developed by a school for each child with a disability. An IEP must contain:

1. the child's present levels of educational performance
2. annual and short-term educational goals
3. the specific education program and related services that will be provided to the child
4. the extent to which the child will participate in regular education program with non-disabled children

Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP): A requirement of PL 99-457, Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986, for the coordination of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities. Similar to the IEP that is required for all school-age children with disabilities.

Individualized Program Plan (IPP): An annually reviewed record of program and service needs provided by Regional Centers (e.g. respite care, behavior management training, etc.)

Individualized Transition Plan (ITP): An articulated, interagency educational plan designed to facilitate a student's move from school to employment and a quality adult life. The IEP/ITP addresses critical aspects of a student's transition, including employment goals, residential placement, guardianship, transportation, independent living, and income support. An ITP must be done in conjunction with an IEP.

Individualized Written Rehabilitation Program (IWRP): A written plan of action and a statement of understanding regarding the rights and responsibilities of the Rehabilitation client and the Department of Rehabilitation.

Integration: Integration refers to the inclusion and interaction of students with special needs in an age appropriate regular education program and/or classroom from which they are able to derive educational benefit in a variety of areas including social skills and interactions, communication and language skills, classroom skills, independent living/vocational skills, and academic skills. Integration is an on-going process related to the individual needs of students.

Interdisciplinary Team: Group of professionals from different disciplines (e.g., education, psychology, speech and language, medicine) who work together to plan and implement a child's individualized education program (IEP).

Job Club: "Job Club" refers to an array of services provided to individuals with disabilities by educational agencies and Department of Rehabilitation which are deigned to assist them with employment.

Job Coach: A professional or paraprofessional person designated as a supervisor for a person with severe disabilities in competitive employment. The job coach serves in an instructional capacity, working and modeling alongside the individual with disabilities.

Job Development: The process of locating competitive jobs in the community that are appropriate for individuals with disabilities. It consists of community job market screening, employer contact, job matching, and job analysis.

Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA): A federal program that assists states in establishing programs to prepare youth and unskilled adults for entry into the labor force.

Learning Disability (LD): A lack of achievement of ability in a specific learning area(s) within the range of achievement of individuals with comparable mental ability. Most definitions emphasize a basic disorder in psychological processes involved in understanding and using spoken or written language.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): A concept expressed by the courts in the 1970's, mandating that each person with a disability should be educated or served in the most "normal" setting and atmosphere. This led to the concept and practice of mainstreaming.

Legally Blind: Visual acuity of 20/20 or less in the better eye after the best possible correction with glasses or contact lenses, or vision restricted to a field of 20 degrees or less. Acuity of 20/200 means the eye can see clearly at 20 feet what the normal eye can see at 200.

Limited English Proficient (LEP): Refers to students whose primary language is one other than English.

Mainstreaming: A term referring to the predefined period of time during which a Special Education student participates in general education activities, either academic or non academic (e.g., math, reading, lunch, recess, and art).

Medicaid/Medi-Cal/Medicare: Government subsidized programs which provide assistance with health care expenses for eligible aged, blind, and persons with disabilities.

Mental Illness: A condition that results in deviant thinking, feeling and behavior to a degree that causes difficulty in adjusting to life.

Mental Retardation: A broadly use term that refers to significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning manifested during the development period and existing concurrently with impairment in adaptive behavior. At present, definitions indicate a person having an IQ of 70 or less and showing impairment in adaptation or social ability, falls under mental retardation.

Occupational Therapist: A professional who programs and/or delivers instructional activities and materials to help children and adults with disabilities learn to participate in daily activities.

On-the-Job Training: A method of teaching students with disabilities specific work skills by assigning them to employment on competitive jobs for part of a day or sometimes a full day.

Orthopedic Impairment: Any disability caused by disorders to the musculoskeletal system.

Physical Therapist: A professional trained to help people with disabilities develop and maintain muscular and orthopedic capability.

Public Law (PL) 94-142: Education for all Disabled Children Act of 1975 which guarantees a free appropriate public education for all children with exceptional needs.

Regional Occupational Center/Program (ROC/P): The concept of ROC/Ps originated with Senate Bill 1379 enacted into law by the California Legislature in 1963. These centers and programs are intended to provide vocational and occupational instruction related to the attainment of skills (or the upgrading of existing skills) so that trainees are prepared for gainful employment.

Regular Education Initiative (REI): A perspective that all students with mild disabilities, as well as some with moderate disabilities, can and should be educated in regular classrooms under the primary responsibility of the general education program.

Rehabilitation: A social service program designed to teach a newly disabled person basic skills needed for independence.

Rehabilitation Act: Federal law which mandates vocational rehabilitation services be provided to eligible individuals with disabilities. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicapping condition and mandates accessibility in all federally assisted programs.

Rehabilitation Counselor: An individual employed by Department of Rehabilitation who determines eligibility for services, counsels with, plans, arranges for, and coordinates the vocational rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

Rehabilitation Department: Department of Rehabilitation is a state agency that purchases services, through the Vocational Rehabilitation and Habilitation Service programs, which address work-related aspects of a person's development.

Resource Specialist Program (RSP): Students receiving Special Education instruction for less than 50% of the school day are enrolled in RSP. These students are usually "pulled out" of the general classroom for special assistance during specific periods of the day or week and are taught by credentialed Special Education resource specialists.

Section 504: Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the last section, which prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment and other fields. A set of regulations (Federal Register, May 4, 1977) was established in an effort to assure their civil rights.

Services Coordination: A service that assists student/clients to obtain and coordinate community resources such as income assistance, education, housing, medical care, treatment, vocational preparation, and recreation.

Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED): Having a behavior problem which prevents learning and/or getting along with other people; the behavior must have continued for a prolonged duration of time and be severe.

Severely/Profoundly Disabled (SPD): Having a very severe delay in the ability to learn and to function independently in the everyday environment; a severe delay is defined as a rate of development and learning that is below 25% of what is expected of a person the same age.

Severe Disabled (SD): A disability category containing the currently-used labels of mentally disabled, severely/profoundly disabled, severely emotionally disturbed, autistic, and multi-disabled.

Service Delivery System: The range of possible types of programs offered in Special Education, involving a gradient from full-time placement in general education classes to the most restrictive environment of a special day school or institutions.

Sheltered Workshop: A structured work environment where persons with disabilities receive employment training and perform work for pay. May provide transitional services for some individuals (i.e., short-term training for competitive employment in the community) and permanent work settings for others.

Social Security Administration: The federal agency which administers both the Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) program and the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.

Social Security Disability Insurance: Benefits paid insured workers under the Social Security program who have become disabled.

Special Day Class (SDC): A self-contained classroom in which only students who require special education instruction for more than 50% of the school day are enrolled.

Special Education: The individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of physical settings, special equipment and materials, teaching procedures, and other interventions designed to help learners with special needs achieve the greatest possible personal self-sufficiency and success in school and community.

Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA): The service area covered by the local plan developed under subdivision (a), (b) or (c) of Section 56170 of the ED Code. It may be comprised of one or more school districts or county offices which may choose to join together in planning and delivering special education services for children within their boundaries.

Specific Learning Disability (SLD): A disability which involves a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and academic achievement due to a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes and is not primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, mental retardation or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Standard Deviation: A unit used to measure the amount by which a particular score varies from the mean of all scores in the norm sample.

Student Study Team (SST): A general education process designed to make preliminary modifications within the general education program of a student not succeeding in class (sometimes referred to as a "Child Study Team").

Supplemental Security Insurance: Federally funded program providing financial assistance to person who are aged, blind, or disabled.

Supported Employment: Job placements which is for person with developmental disabilities that need intensive on going support through the length of their employment. Supported employment may be conducted in an variety of settings and is supported by necessary resources.

Transition (California): Transition is a purposeful, organized, and outcome-oriented process designed to help "at risk" students move from school to employment and a quality adult life. Expected student outcomes include meaningful employment a further education, and participation in the community. Components include: foundation, process, culmination, and follow-up.

Total Communication: An approach to education of deaf students that combines oral speech, sign language, and finger spelling.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Term used in professional practice; applies only to person with acquired brain injuries caused by an external physical force. Does not apply to injuries caused by internal occurrences such as infections, tumors, fever, exposure to toxic substances, or near drowning. Educational performance may meet the criteria of one of the other disability categories, such as "other health impaired," "specific learning disabilities," or "multiple disabilities."

Vocational Education: A formalized program that has as its goal the preparation of individuals to work in a chosen occupation or to upgrade employed workers in their existing work situations.

Vocational Rehabilitation: A program designed to help adults with disabilities obtain and hold employment.

WorkAbility I: Promotes independent living and provides comprehensive pre-employment worksite training, employment and follow-up services for youth in special education who are making the transition from school to work, post-secondary education, or training.

Work Activity Program: A sheltered work and activity program for persons with severe disabilities; teaches concentration and persistence, along with basic life skills, for little or no pay.

Work Experience: A program having as its purpose the supervised part-time or full-time employment of students by assisting them in acquiring desirable job skills, attitudes, and habits.

Work Permit: A permit that allows a minor under 18 years of age to work. Permits to Work and Permits to Employ are issued by the school authorities in the school district in which the minor resides or attends school. The permit includes working parameters.

Table of Contents

III. ACRONYMS

ACLD:
Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities; ACLD, Inc.

APE:
Adapted Physical Education

ADD:
Attention Deficit Disorder

ADHD:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ADA:
Americans with Disabilities Act

ARC:
Association for Retarded Citizens

CAC:
Community Advisory Committee

CBI:
Community Based Instruction

CCS:
California Children's Service

CEC:
Council for Exception Children

CD:
Communicatively Disabled

DD:
Developmental Disabilities or Developmental Delay

DIS:
Designated Instruction and Services

DPSS:
Department of Public Social Services

DR:
Department of Rehabilitation

EDD:
Employment Development Department

FRC:
Family Resource Center

HI:
Hearing Impaired

IDEA:
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

IEP:
Individuals Education Plan

IFSP:
Individualized Family Services Plan

IHSS:
In-Home Support Services

IPP:
Individual Program Plan

IRWE:
Impairment Related Work Expenses

ITP:
Individual Transition Plan

IWCS:
Integrated Work and Community Services

IWRP:
Individualized Written Rehabilitation Program

JTPA:
Job Training Partnership Act

LD:
Learning Disabled or Learning Disabilities (also referred to as SLD Specific Learning Disability)

LEP :
Limited English Proficient

LRE:
Least Restrictive Environment

MDA:
Muscular Dystrophy Association

NPS:
Non-Public School

NTID:
National Technical Institute for the Deaf

OI:
Orthopedically Impaired

OHI:
Other Health Impaired

PASS:
Plan for Achieving Self-Support

PLP:
Present Level of Performance

PTI:Parent Training & Information Centers

ROP:
Regional Occupational Program

RSP:
Resource Specialist Program

SDC:
Special Day Class

SED:
Severely Emotionally Disturbed

SELPA:
Special Education Local Plan Area

SD:
Severely Disabled

SLD:
Specific Learning Disability

SSI:
Supplemental Security Income

SST:
Student Study Team

TBI:
Traumatic Brain Injured

TJTC:
Targeted Jobs Tax Credits

UCP:
United Cerebral Palsy

VI:
Visually Impaired

VR:
Vocational Rehabilitation

WA I:
WorkAbility I

Note: See Glossary for definitions.

Table of Contents

IV. STATE RESOURCE DIRECTORY (omitted)

V. WORKABILITY I FAMILY TRANSITION GUIDE EVALUATION FORM

Now that you have reviewed our WorkAbility I Family Transition Guide and applied the information you needed, we need your input to keep the planner directed to the user.

Please check your answer and list your comments.

You found the planner helpful _____

Somewhat helpful _____

Very helpful _____

Not helpful _____

Additions you would like:

General comments:

Fold sheet, staple or tape, and mail to:

WorkAbility I
1116 Ninth Street, Lower Level 17
Sacramento, CA 95814-3698

Thank you for your help. Name (optional)

Position (Family, Student, Teacher, Agency, etc.)

VI. INSPIRATION

No one has a greater stake in the outcome of transition planning than young adults with disabilities. They should be active, participating members of formal and informal transition activities and efforts.

Martin Gould
Nancy McTaggart
Self Advocacy for Transition

Table of Contents

Page updated: 04/07/2008