Teaching young adults with visual impairment and intellectual/developmental disability how to determine appropriate job fit

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Job seekers must know how to determine whether the jobs identified during a search are a good fit. Employment decision making requires problem-solving and choice-making skills. There is limited research on employment decision making skills. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to teach three young adults with dually diagnosed visual impairment and intellectual/developmental disability to determine appropriate job fit. The mnemonic “ELSE” was paired with remote audio coaching to teach the participants how to determine if the education level, likes, skills, and earnings of each presented job were an appropriate fit for them. METHODS: This study used a single subject design to determine the effectiveness of the multicomponent intervention. The design was a multiple baseline across participant design. RESULTS: The results demonstrated all three participants were able to reach a pre-determined mastery criterion of the skill. Maintenance and generalization were variable across participants. CONCLUSIONS: All participants who received the intervention increased their ability to determine appropriate job fit. The results from this study are promising and demonstrate the potential and flexibility of the mnemonic ELSE on determining appropriate job fit by young adults with VI and IDD.