Effect of a Vocational Rehabilitation Summer Program on Student Transition-planning Behaviours and Mentor Attitudes Towards People with Disabilities

Prior research has indicated that students with disabilities are less likely than students in the general population to secure part-time employment during high school, receive post-secondary education, live independently, or secure competitive full-time employment after graduation. Federal law in the United States has been passed to create an environment to change this outcome. This exploratory study reviews the outcomes of a two-month long vocational support program. Using the Transition Behavior Scale, the researchers reviewed 27 (14 female/13 male) high school-aged/young adult students’ (between the ages of 15-19) self-reported attitudes of their program experience. Using the Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disabilities Questionnaire, self-reported attitudes toward students with intellectual disabilities of their eight career experience mentors (all females/young adults between the ages of 18-22) in the program were assessed. While results showed some small improvements in scores from pre-test to post-test, they did not show a significant difference in any specific subscale for either the mentor or student groups. Increasing the amount of time students are in the program, extending the segment of the experience that focuses on classroom time/skill development, and analysis by workplace are recommended for future consideration.