Supported employment as an intervention package: a preliminary analysis of functional variables.

Wehman et al. (1989) looked at which parts of a ten-piece supported-employment package help adults with intellectual disability stay hired.

They tracked who kept a community job for at least six months and then asked which parts of the package those keepers had received.

Only three pieces predicted staying employed: having a client advocate, learning extra workplace behaviors like how to greet coworkers, and leaving the program with a written follow-up plan.

The other seven pieces, such as job-site training, did not separate the stayers from the leavers.

Iwanaga et al. (2025) and Wehman et al. (2014) extend the same package to transition-age youth and still see higher employment rates, showing the idea holds across age groups.

Hansen et al. (1989), published the same year, compared individual versus group placements and found individual spots paid more; Wehman et al. (1989) narrows the lens, telling us which pieces inside an individual package matter most.

Together the papers say: give each person their own job, then be sure to add an advocate, teach the social bits, and schedule check-ins after hire.

If you run adult services, tighten your intake checklist to these three items. Pair the new hire with a coworker advocate, run short lessons on break-room rules, and set a calendar reminder to call at thirty and ninety days. These low-cost steps may do more for long-term employment than extra hours of job coaching.