Perceptions of rehabilitation professionals regarding career development services for transition youth with disabilities

Career outcomes for youth with disabilities continue to remain below their peers without disabilities (Newman, Wagner, Cameto, & Knokey, 2009), and such poor post-secondary outcomes may be due to lack of effective career development services. Rehabilitation professionals are increasingly involved with youth as adult service providers who help youth make transition to post school environments and employment. The purpose of the current study was to gather data potentially useful for developing a better understanding of career development services provided for transition youth with disabilities from the perspective of rehabilitation professionals in the state of Michigan. Specifically, the study examined rehabilitation professionals' perceptions of importance, availability, and quality of career development services offered to transition youth with disabilities. In addition, the study explored rehabilitation professionals' perspectives on the barriers to providing career development services for transition youth and professionals' training needs. An on-line survey was utilized to gather data from professionals who worked in the state of Michigan in the following settings: (a) Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS); (b) Community Rehabilitation Organizations (CROs), (c) Centers for Independent Living (CILs), and (d) public school districts that provide transition services to students with disabilities through the Michigan Transition Outcomes Project (MI-TOP).;A sample of 107 rehabilitation professionals responded to the survey. The findings of the study indicated that job-related services (i.e., On The Job Training, Job Coaching, Job Placement, Job readiness Training) and Family Support services were the perceived most important career development for transition youth with disabilities. The results of the study also revealed that career development services considered extremely important by professionals were not necessarily available within their agencies. In addition, the study showed that some of the highly rated services in terms of importance were not addressed adequately by agencies with regard to quality. The findings of the study identified many barriers to providing career development services for transition youth with disabilities including barriers related to (a) Transition Youth, (b) Family, (c) Rehabilitation Professionals, (d) Transportation, (e) Funding, (f) Schools, (g) Interagency Collaboration, and (h) Employers. Moreover, the results of the study revealed several training needs of rehabilitation professionals including: (a) Available services /resources, (b) Assessment, (c) Interagency Collaboration, (d) Job/employment-related services, (e) Legislation, (f) Specific disability-related services, and (g) Other training.;Data generated from this study can be used to inform and enhance career development services provided to transition youth with disabilities, and to address the barriers that negatively affect providing services for transition youth. Specific implications for practice, training, policy and future research are provided.