Understanding social and professional integration as an adjustment process: contribution to a theory of coadaptation.
Workplace success hinges on steady give-and-take between the employee with ID and the rest of the team.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Carrier (2007) followed adults with intellectual disability who were starting jobs with job-coach help. She watched how they and their coworkers learned to fit together day by day.
Instead of testing a program, she built a theory. She called the back-and-forth adjustments 'coadaptation.'
What they found
Success at work came from both sides changing. The new worker tweaked how they asked for help. Coworkers shifted how they gave instructions.
Job coaches sped the dance by translating needs each way. Integration kept going as long as both sides kept adjusting.
How this fits with other research
Saunders et al. (1988) had already listed five coworker roles, such as running quick practice trials. Suzanne folds those roles into the bigger coadaptation story.
Devlin (2011) extends the idea. She shows workers with ID can drive their own change by setting personal goals. Coadaptation is not just passive.
Lecavalier et al. (2006) seems to clash. They found kids with ID adapt to school alone through social skills. The gap is life stage: children rely on solo skills, adults need mutual fit.
Why it matters
Stop thinking 'train the worker, then done.' Plan for continuous two-way tuning. Ask coworkers what small change would help them help the employee. Add that to the support plan. Note when both sides bend—that is coadaptation working.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This qualitative research was designed to understand how the social integration process in the workplace unfolds with adults who have intellectual disabilities. Participant observation and interviews permitted an in-depth examination of 10 integration situations within a company, with regard for the actions and perceptions of the stakeholders. Analyses revealed various intertwined processes, in which the focus persons and their colleagues together sought an optimal adjustment, or coadaptation, with support from a job coach. The study of these interactive processes led to the emergence of a theory of coadaptation, a process that defines and builds social and professional integration. This theoretical development revisits the interactive process within the socioecological perspective of disability and the concept of support and its assessment.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2007 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556(2007)45[10:USAPIA]2.0.CO;2