How states differ in Vocational Rehabilitation services for Autistic Youth [Video]

How states differ in Vocational Rehabilitation services for Autistic youth:

Much like all the services we’ve encountered so far, we know that states also differ in how they provide VR services. The key factors of interest to researchers were:

🚚 Service Receipt: How often did youth receive services after found eligible?
🏫 Early Reach: How often did youth receive services while in high school?
⏱ Timeliness: How often did youth have a timely development of an individual plan for employment (IPE)?
💼 Employment Rate: How often did youth become employed following VR services.

This Information was pulled from VR data, using Autistic individuals who exited VR services in federal fiscal years (FFY) 2014-2016.

A few interesting notes ahead of the state breakdown:

“Across these years, some states served fewer than 100 youth with autism in VR (New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia). Other states served more than 2000 youth with autism [sic.] (California, New York, and Ohio).”

The upcoming slides share the wide differences between states across each of the 4 key factors.

🚚 Receiving Services
In New Jersey and Tennessee, 51% of youth with autism received VR services after being found eligible, compared to 89% in Pennsylvania. This shows a 38 percentage point difference across states.

🏫 Early Reach
In Montana and New Jersey, 10-11% of youth with autism began their VR services during secondary school, compared to 77% in Oklahoma. This shows a 67 percentage point difference across states.

⏱ Timeliness
The employment plan must be developed before youth can begin VR services. In Iowa, 23% of Autistic youth saw timely development of an individualized plan for employment, compared to 84% in California. This is a 61 percentage point difference across states.

💼 Employment Rate
In the District of Columbia, only 29% of Autistic youth were employed when VR services ended, while 37-39% were employed in Mississippi and New Mexico, compared to 76% in the state of Washington.

Citation: Roux, A. (January 11, 2019). Research update: What have we learned about vocational rehabilitation and autism? Drexel University: Life Course Outcomes Research Program. https://drexel.edu/autismoutcomes/blog/…

🎵: Celebrate (inst) by Erloom from Audiosocket