The effects of consumer characteristics and type of employment model on individual outcomes in supported employment.
Individual job placement beats group work for all disability types, but most agencies still run group crews.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers tracked the adults with disabilities across different job models.
They compared two ways to get work: individual placement versus group crews.
Each person was matched by age, disability, and past work history.
What they found
People in individual jobs earned a large share more money.
They worked a large share more hours each week.
They spent a large share of their day with non-disabled coworkers.
These gains held true for autism, intellectual disability, and mental health groups.
How this fits with other research
Wehman et al. (2014) shows the same pattern holds for teens leaving high school.
Fedoroff et al. (2016) proves a large share of adults with autism get competitive jobs using this model.
But Domin et al. (2013) reveals a problem: only a large share of people with disabilities actually get these good jobs today.
This gap shows the knows what works, but systems still push group placements.
Why it matters
Your adult clients deserve real jobs, not day programs. Use this data to push for individual placements at every IEP or ISP meeting. Show funders the a large share wage boost. Start with one client this month.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Although recent federal legislation has led to a proliferation of supported employment programs throughout the country, little information is available that documents the success of these programs. In the present study, we examined the effect of different consumer characteristics and alternative supported employment service delivery models on key employment outcomes including hourly wage, hours worked per week, increase in earnings after supported employment participation, and level of integration on the job. The employment outcomes of a sample of 1,550 individuals receiving supported employment services through 96 local programs in eight states were analyzed to determine the effects of the key independent variables of primary disability and type of employment model. Results indicate that all groups of individuals, regardless of their primary disability, benefited significantly from supported employment participation. Further, data indicate that the individual placement model generated employment outcomes superior to those resulting from group employment options, particularly work crews. Implications of the results for future program development activities are discussed.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1989 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1989.22-407