Annotated Bibliography

Noel, V. A., Oulvey, E., Drake, R. E., & Bond, G. R. (2016). Barriers to Employment for Transition-age Youth with Developmental and Psychiatric Disabilities. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 44(3), 354–358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-016-0773-y

The studied looked at common barriers to employment for transition-aged youth with developmental and psychiatric disabilities.  Researchers gathered information from 280 young adults who were receiving supported employment services, specifically one form of supported employment called Individual Placement and Support (IPS).  The most reported barriers from jobseekers included lack of work experience and lack of transportation.  Feeling disconnected from the IPS process was another reported barrier however, the IPS employment specialists reported they felt jobseekers often lacked the responsibility to remain engaged in the process.  Secondary reported causes for barriers included cognitive and social problems.  

Straus, J. (2014). Music Therapy and Autism: A View from Disability Studies. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v14i3.785

This brief article offers the opinion that music therapists often want music therapy to be viewed and respected as a viable medical treatment option for certain conditions.  Music therapists often work with autistic individuals.  The author suggests that music therapists should take into consideration that failure is something that occurs within the medical model.  For example, curing a person of autism would be an unachievable goal.  However, addressing goals such as improving social skills are more appropriate.  Music is something that many, if not most, people feel a connection to and the author agrees that music therapy is a respectable treatment option for autistic individuals and urges music therapists to not try to cure autism.   

Wehman, P., Taylor, J., Brooke, V., Avellone, L., Whittenburg, H., Ham, W., Brooke, A. M., & Carr, S. (2018). Toward Competitive Employment for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: What Progress Have We Made and Where Do We Need to Go. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 43(3), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1177/1540796918777730

This article offers an overview of supported employment.  The four-phase process is described in detail beginning with the employment specialist (ES) getting to know the jobseeker followed by a process where the ES makes contacts to businesses in the community to help the jobseeker obtain competitive, integrated, and meaningful employment that matches their skills and interests.  After a jobseeker becomes an employee, the ES provides on-site and off-site supports and finally ends the sequence with retention services. 

Despite supported employment being a successful way to help individuals with the highest-level impacts of disabilities find employment, there has been a greater increase in sheltered workshop and day program attendance than the increase of disabled individuals seeking supported employment services.  Wehman suggests that this may be due to lack of education of supported employment services especially from teachers and parents of disabled students.