September 11, 2006 |
2006-R-0522 | |
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TRAINING WORKERS WHO ASSIST | ||
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By: Saul Spigel, Chief Analyst | ||
You asked for a summary of recommendations made at a 2005 hearing on ways to train workers who help people with disabilities.
The recommendations made at the Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee informational hearing on February 10, 2005 fall into three broad categories: supply, competence, and funding. The experts and parents who testified called most frequently for:
1. recruiting a broader range of people into this workforce;
2. assuring an adequate supply of professionals, particularly speech and language pathologists, and the faculty needed to teach them;
3. making sure people are trained specifically to work with people with disabilities, notably in the nature and effect of disabling conditions and strategies to use with specific disabilities; and
4. providing financial incentives to encourage people to enter this workforce and sufficient funding to enable the providers who employ them to keep them.
Many of those making recommendations spoke specifically to the needs of people with autism spectrum disorders, but their recommendations apply to people working with a wider population. Table 1 provides a detailed description of the recommendations.
Table 1: Workforce Recommendations from 2/10/05 Hearing
ASSURE ADEQUATE WORKFORCE SUPPLY | |
SOURCE |
RECOMMENDATION |
Terry Edelstein, CT Community Providers Assoc. |
Decrease staff turnover by increasing private provider rates and, consequently, workers' pay |
Dena Cosgrove, Easter Seals Goodwill |
Recruit people who are bi-lingual and bi-cultural |
Melinda Rising, UConn Tri-Campus |
Offer career advancement opportunities for current staff and incentives to encourage employees to take courses |
Stan Soby, Oak Hill School |
Enable private service providers to forge partnerships with state colleges (like Manchester CTC, which awards a disability specialist certificate) to provide college credit for the education and training providers give their employees. |
Thomas Kirk, DMHAS |
• Recruit and train minority group members as direct care providers • Recruit peers as providers; examine laws and licensing requirements that may prevent this (e. g. prohibiting licenses for convicted felons) |
ASSURE COMPETENT WORKFORCE | |
SOURCE |
RECOMMENDATION |
Ami Klin, Yale Child Study Center |
Develop pool of support professionals (for adults with autism) whose mission is to accompany these adults and their families daily, on an ongoing basis, in their homes, workplaces, and the community. These professionals need to be • aware of the nature of the condition, particularly the magnitude of these individuals' social, communicative, learning, adaptive, and organizational disabilities • competent at dealing effectively with these individuals, which requires training in problem-solving on troublesome situations and organizational strategies |
Deborah Resnick, DMR Birth to 3 |
• Train physical and occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, and early childhood special educators in instruction in family-centered care, writing Individualized Family Service Plans, providing services in natural environments, and service coordination. • Train paraprofessionals in family systems, natural environments, and typical versus atypical development • Train more speech/language pathologists, certified applied behavior analysts, and doctoral level faculty in special education and communications disorders by developing plans to support and expand articulated educational paths between associate, undergraduate, and graduate programs |
Thomas Kirk, DMHAS |
• Develop healthcare management and leadership skills among staff from minority groups • Provide on-the-job training opportunities for all staff levels |
Larry Wood, Benhaven |
• Offer college programs designed to prepare people to work with individuals with autism |
Diana J. LaRocco, Litchfield County Autism Spectrum Association |
• Develop seamless program of personnel preparation from high school through graduate school for people interested in working with people with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities • Develop programs leading to national ABA certification |
Deidre Fitzgerald, UConn, ECSU |
Increase the number of higher education programs leading to ABA certification, particularly for upper level professional staff |
Lesley Schlosser, parent |
Increase number of licensed speech-language pathologists |
Christine Pratt, parent |
Provide training in autism to direct care staff |
Shannon & Mark Knall, parents |
Ensure that staff are trained to work with children with autism |
Table 1: Continued
ASSURE COMPETENT WORKFORCE | ||
SOURCE |
RECOMMENDATION | |
Elizabeth Lambert, parent & CT Families for Effective Autism Treatment |
• Require all personnel (Birth-to-3 and school paraprofessionals and professionals) who work with children with autism to be trained in ABA • Require ABA certification for State Department of Education-certified personnel who work with children with autism • Include coursework on effective treatment of children with autism in college curricula | |
Karen Neag, parent |
Provide education and training in autism for professionals who work with children with autism | |
Tricia Neely, parent |
Make sure Birth-to-3 personnel are trained to work with children with autism | |
Susan Pawloski-Burke, parent |
• Increase number of physicians who can diagnose autism in children • Hire staff assistants in town recreation programs who are trained to work with children with disabilities | |
Melody Fox, parent |
• Train teachers and paraprofessionals in techniques necessary to intervene with behavioral or educational issues • Need more supports outside of school for parents of children with disabilities that are affordable, including transportation to access services | |
Susan Bonos, parent |
• Provide workshops in ABA for all special educators and staff • Provide workshops for parents and caregivers so they can reinforce at home what is learned in school | |
ASSURE ADEQUATE FUNDING FOR WORKFERS & EMPLOYERS | ||
SOURCE |
RECOMMENDATION | |
Laura DiGalbo, DSS Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS) |
Increase funding for BRS' Employment Opportunities Program, which provides workplace supports for people with disabilities | |
Larry Wood, Benhaven |
Fund employers sufficiently to permit them to provide adequate pre-service training | |
Deborah Resnick, DMR Birth to 3 |
Create funding incentives (scholarships & loan forgiveness) for students in shortage areas (e. g. speech-language pathology, certified applied behavior analysts, and doctoral level faculty in special education and communications disorders) | |
Melinda Rising, UConn Tri-Campus |
Provide scholarships and grants to potential students in autism- and behavioral-related fields | |
Diana J. LaRocco, Litchfield County Autism Spectrum Association |
Fund coordination and expansion of state and local personnel training, education, recruitment, and retention efforts | |
Christine Pratt, parent |
Provide sufficient funding for self-directed adults to hire trained staff (current budgets limit paying support staff much more than minimum wage) | |
Shannon & Mark Knall, parents |
Adequately fund Birth-to-3 to assure that children receive the programming they need | |
Melody Fox, parent |
Provide grants to day care centers to hire individuals trained to work with children with disabilities or provide subsidies to enable parents to hire an aide privately | |
These recommendations parallel those made by the Advisory Commission on Developmental Disabilities for People Without Mental Retardation in 2002. That body recommended the development of a “competent and adequate workforce to provide supports and services for
persons with developmental disabilities through coordination and expansion of state and local training, recruitment, and retention efforts. ” Specifically, it recommended that the focus of workforce development include at a minimum:
• Coordinating staff education and training programs across state agencies and in cooperation with local schools and colleges
• Including individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in designing, implementing, and evaluating training programs
• Establishing a capacity for on-site technical assistance and short-term consultation for schools and support providers
• Developing learning networks for peer-to-peer support and communication
• Using innovative recruitment approaches for personnel at all levels, including tax incentives and stipends and targeted outreach to diverse communities
• Implementing employment screening procedures
• Recognizing the importance of direct service staff
• Analyzing salary and benefit structures and opportunities for career advancement
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