Winery Serves Up Job Training For Those With Developmental Disabilities

 In addition to growing specialty grapes, blackberries and other fruit, a one-of-a-kind winery is teaching horticultural and wine-making techniques to people with developmental disabilities. Read More >

Virtual Training May Help Young People With Autism Land Jobs

 

Practicing job interview skills using a virtual simulator could significantly increase the odds that young adults with autism find employment, new research suggests. Read More >

Pandemic Job Losses Pile Up For Those With IDD

 As disability service providers work to keep their clients engaged in training and employed, they're balancing the availability of jobs with safety and the comfort levels of families. Read More >

Apprenticeship.gov

The U.S. Department of Labor launched a new digital platform, Apprenticeship.gov. This innovative web portal features an Apprenticeship Finder tool that offers career seekers a platform to search for apprenticeships by city, state and occupation, as well as connects job seekers to high-skilled, high-paying careers. The Apprenticeship Finder, a no-cost tool for employers or career seekers, is addressing a need shared by employers who are looking to promote their apprenticeship opportunities and career seekers searching to access them. The new Apprenticeship Finder tool will not only make it easier for career seekers to find apprenticeship opportunities, it will also help employers promote apprenticeships across new or nontraditional industries where apprenticeships may be less common.

• Learn about Apprenticeship.gov • Visit Apprenticeship.gov

Certificate program offers office skills

A Massachusetts community college has created a certification program for students with learning disabilities to teach them office, computer and business skills. Students in the program spend three days each week in the classroom and two days in internship programs.

Wicked Local/Westford, Mass.

CVS Opening Mock Stores to Train People with Disabilities

CVS is ramping up its efforts to hire people with disabilities with a slew of new mock stores designed to help train this traditionally-underemployed demographic. Read More;

School For Those On The Spectrum Makes Splash In Hollywood

Through deals with HBO, Sony, Fox and other studios, a training program is helping adults with autism learn the skills to land jobs in film and television. Read More >

7 Things That Employers Want Parents to Know About Hiring Candidates

If you’re the parent of someone living with a disability, you know better than anyone the wonderful skills your child can offer the world. But it’s not always easy to communicate those abilities to potential employers, particularly when your son or daughter is taking his or her first steps into the working world. Employers want workers to be job-ready and productive on day one. But everybody has to start somewhere, and with absent work experience, your child will need to convince an employer that he or she is malleable, teachable and worth investing in. http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2016/04/20/7-things-employers-want-parents-to-know-about-hiring-candidates-with-disabilities/?utm_source=Friendship+Circle+Blog&utm_campaign=d3354e97ba-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3ec270b4ae-d3354e97ba-199142745

States Offered $15 Million To Spur Disability Employment

Federal officials want existing job training programs to better serve people with disabilities and they're putting up millions of dollars to make it happen.  http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/04/15/states-spur-employment/20218/

Researchers explore what works in job training for individuals with autism

 

Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University found during a recent study that 87% of high-school students with autism who spent a year in an intensive job-training program that included internship rotations at local hospitals found jobs above minimum wage after graduation. The key to success, researchers said, was matching the student to the job that highlighted his or her strengths. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model) (10/8)http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324094704579069090866313258.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

How to expand job training for students with disabilities

 

Workforce training and job placement are sometimes limited for students with severe autism and intellectual disabilities, writes Susan Senators, a mother of an adult son with severe autism who works with the Community College Consortium on Autism and Intellectual Disabilities. She notes that while public schools may not have the funds to bolster onsite job training, they should consider working with local community colleges, which can help create legitimate career pathways for students with disabilities. Education Week (premium article access compliments of EdWeek.org) (2/20) http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/20/21senator.h32.html?tkn=NYCEvURkdK%2FyQkdt40LKJolXpyOVcys3EbU1&cmp=clp-sb-cec

■Md. hospital launches job training for individuals with disabilities

Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., through the national Project Search program, is offering internships to help individuals with disabilities transition from school to work. Each student spends an hour in the classroom learning job skills and five on the floor learning how to perform a task, such as clerical duties. "It is more meaningful work. It's not the traditional jobs," said Michele Dilegge, a special-education worker in the program. The Baltimore Sun (12/6)  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-ar-aamc-interns-20121206,0,4901417.story