SPECIAL DELIVERY: Helpful Hints for Students with Special Needs, Parents/Guardians, Teachers and Employers
Students with special needs are students with developmental, learning and physical disabilities who require extra help to be successful in school and in the workplace. Their needs range from simple to complex. School personnel, in collaboration with parents, guardians and support staff, will determine the supports required to address these needs.
Passport to Prosperity is an employer-led campaign to increase awareness of and participation in school-work programs designed to meet the growing demand of secondary school students, including students with special needs, for work-related experiences. The Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities sponsor Passport to Prosperity in Ontario. The Learning Partnership manages the initiative in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Learning Partnership is a not-for-profit organization bringing together business, education, labour, policy makers and community to develop partnerships that strengthen publicly funded education in Canada. More than three million students and teachers have participated in one or more TLP programs since its inception in 1993. As champions of public education in Canada, we strengthen our programs through research on best practices and policy discussions.
Students
Students with special needs must be encouraged to take part in positive work-related experiences at the school level where support makes the experience the best it can be.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Have you had any work experience?
2. Have you asked about participating in work experience or cooperative education with the Cooperative Education teacher at your school?
3. What have you heard about work experience and cooperative education from your friends, family members or teachers?
4. Do you have a Transition Plan that fits your skills and strengths?
5. Do you speak up for your needs and wants and can you tell people what you need to complete a task?
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Parents and Guardians
Parents and guardians of students with special needs should be aware that their son or daughter might qualify to have a short- or long-term workplace experience. You can inquire about work experience and cooperative education at the Guidance department at your son or daughter’s school.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Have you spoken to your son or daughter about the workplace and his or her plans after secondary school?
2. Have you talked to your son or daughter’s teacher about the necessary supports, should your son or daughter want a workplace experience while still in a supportive environment?
3. Have you received any information about workplace experience from the school?
4. Are you knowledgeable about your son or daughter’s Transition Plan and Individual Education Plan and if the plan includes work experience?
5. Do you feel that your son or daughter is independent enough to participate in a workplace experience? For example, does he or she book Wheel Trans on his or her own or access the community independently?
6.Could he or she participate in a workplace experience if the necessary accommodations at the work site were available?
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Teachers
More than half of Ontario students will not likely go on to college or university. A significant number of these students are students with special needs.
As noted earlier, these young people need more practice with work-related skills both in the classroom and in the community. In many cases, their futures will depend on this experience and on making good community connections before they leave secondary school. We should do our best to provide these opportunities!
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Are all students offered an opportunity to take part in cooperative education, short or long-term work experiences when they are ready?
2. Are all students introduced to career awareness in ways that meet their needs, skills, strengths and abilities?
3. Is there pre-workplace curriculum support for your students with special needs?
4. Do your Cooperative Education, Guidance and Special Education departments work together to provide a work and employability program for these students?
5. If you have a student with special needs in your program, do you have access to the help available to enhance this experience?
Helpful Hint
Consider contacting those individuals who know the student best (parents and guardians, special education teachers and educational assistants), the central Work and Employability Skills Resources Team office (Toronto) or other resources offices that provide assistance, for example, in speech therapy or in psychology.
6. Does the student have a means of communicating with others and is he or she mobile and able to access the community?
What kind of gross and fine motor skills does the student have and what kind of psychosocial skills (initiative, responsibility, task completion), or social/life skills (personal interaction, impulse control) does he/she have?
7. Does the student need assistance with personal care?
8. Will the workplace that you are contemplating be able to provide a safe workstation and consider flexible work hours, if necessary?
9. Will there be an opportunity to educate coworkers about the needs of the student?
10. Have you looked at the student’s high interest and skill levels, both academic and leisure when deciding on a good match for the student and the workplace?
Helpful Hint
The student will likely be more highly motivated if these categories are considered, as well as accessibility and other needs. Example: If a student with special needs wants to be a lawyer and has the academic requirements, wouldn’t a placement in law make good sense?
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Employers
Excited and dedicated employers/supervisors are key to successful workplace experiences for all students, including students with special needs.
Work and Employability Education:
- Enables students with special needs to experience a variety of opportunities (cooperative education, short- and long-term work experiences, job shadowing and twinning, career talks and mentoring) and to learn more about themselves and the world of work.
- Helps students to develop specific job skills and/or earn course credits in the community.
- Provides students with the opportunity to learn independence, develop strengths and extend classroom learning.
- Helps students to develop social, problem solving, and time management skills.
- Prepares students for transitions from school to work, community living and post secondary education.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Have you ever hired a student with a special need?
2. Would you consider helping a student with a special need by providing a workplace opportunity?
3. What kinds of supports would you need to hire a student with special needs?
4. Would you be willing to make the adaptations necessary to accommodate the student?
5. Are you aware that funding is available to you if you hire a student with special needs? (For summer employment Human Resources Development Canada gives 100% wage subsidy and money for accommodation).
What is a job accommodation? It is any modification in a workplace that enables a person to do their job - a job they have the skill and aptitude to do.
Consult the IEP to check for accommodations that have been previously identified.
Typical workplace modifications may include:
- Sign language interpretation
- Alternatives to print formats such as Braille or tape
- TTY telephones (conversation is typed instead of spoken)
- Barrier free building both inside and out
- Modifications to tools
- Specially designed computer software/hardware
- Flexible working hours
- Visual devices on emergency alarms
- A meeting note-taker
- Amplification devices
- Emergency plan in place - medical, evacuation
- Time off for medical appointments
- Use of job coach
- Break large assignments into smaller increments
- Provide daily to-do list and checklists for tasks and other cues to assist memory
- Use pictures, charts or graphic symbols to convey information that is usually printed
- Provide a mentor or peer tutor
- Recognize periods of fatigue and give breaks as necessary
- Give directions in a logical and time ordered sequence - use words that make sequence clear - first, next, finally
- Provide written instructions for tasks
- Reduce background noise/visual stimulation
- Appropriate desk and chair height
- Assistive devices or equipment to facilitate students performance of the job/task
- Personal attendant
- Provide private work area
- Extended time for completing tasks/job responsibilities
- WheelTrans or assisted/escorted travel to and from placement
- Emphasis key words when speaking or writing
- Use gestures that will clarify information
- Vary loudness to increase attention
- Check comprehension by asking questions or asking for a brief summary
- Paraphrase rather than repeating
- Encourage questions for further clarification
- Speak slowly and clearly
- Alert student before changing from one activity to another, allow for transition time
- Gain attention before giving instructions
Helpful Hint
Remember that a secondary school cooperative education student does not require remuneration from you and that the Ministry of Education covers Workers’ Compensation liability.
More Helpful Hints
School personnel will do their best to match students’ strengths and abilities to the job with the help of the employer and the individual learning plan.
If necessary and if available, school personnel will provide supports for the student’s success at the workplace. The monitoring teacher and the employer will need to have a good understanding of the student’s expectations.
Ideally, the employer will have good knowledge of the student’s special need and will communicate quickly, should challenges occur at work. At times, students with special needs will require extra and repeated instructions, more time to do a “job” and a supportive and friendly atmosphere.
In return, many employers who have worked with students with special needs have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, as have their staff members. They have recognized the serious need to help these students and have helped immensely to improve the quality of the life and learning experiences for “their student.”
Our Passport to Prosperity team is ready and willing to work with employers who want to provide special needs students with workplace experiences. Give us a call, 416-481-0799, or email passport2prosperity@thelearningpartnership.ca.
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