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Voc Rehab


DawnM
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I had a fabulous experience with them. I kept trying to turn them down once they got my name (referred by HS counselor) but they persisted and talked me and my parents into it. I still feel a little guilty for how much help I received but it was a positive experience. The caseworker was responsive and went above and beyond. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have experiences with voc rehab in three states, albeit about 20-30 years ago. At the time I graduated high school, the first gen of PL 94-142 kids were graduating, and there was a pilot program in my state to involve voc rehab in about 10th grade. They got me into a program to provide work experience (Normally designed for underprivileged youth, but given that this was before the ADA, a disability diagnosis could be disqualifying from many summer jobs, and employers were not used to  the idea of accommodations, so this gave me an ally who helped set me up for success), which led to my getting my CDA while in high school. They worked with the SDS office at the school I ended up attending, and with the local school district there, which got a 504 plan in place (this would have been right after the ADA) and actually we're able to continue my IEP until age 22. In grad school, they paid for reevals, so I had what I needed to get SSD supports, accommodations, and they also provided transportation services, and, before I graduated, I had a 504 set up for classroom teaching and accommodations in place for the PRAXIS. I haven't used them since, but for that 10 year period (for me) from late high school through being employed in my chosen profession, they were very, very helpful. 

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  • 3 months later...

I had no idea how long this process would be.  Here we are in March and still no job and the lady who said she would help him with his resume still hasn't called.

My son has said he didn't like that they made him feel like he was disabled.   Honestly, I doubt they did, but his perceptions are always very off.

And if they go too long he will just say "forget it."

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That's frustrating! Would he be willing to send her an email asking when he can have an appointment?

DS16 gets disability funding from our county, and we find that we have to reach out to his case manager ourselves to make anything happen. Emails alone don't seem to spur action, so now we ask to have Zoom meetings to discuss things. And then we have to follow up after the meetings. Sigh. I try to remind myself that she probably has a large case load and is not deliberately ignoring us.

But it's still frustrating.

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On 2/26/2021 at 8:19 PM, Storygirl said:

That's frustrating! Would he be willing to send her an email asking when he can have an appointment?

DS16 gets disability funding from our county, and we find that we have to reach out to his case manager ourselves to make anything happen. Emails alone don't seem to spur action, so now we ask to have Zoom meetings to discuss things. And then we have to follow up after the meetings. Sigh. I try to remind myself that she probably has a large case load and is not deliberately ignoring us.

But it's still frustrating.

Nope, he won't, he doesn't even like them.

16 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Can you hire someone to work with him privately on it?

We paid for people for YEARS.   He feels belittled, he gets upset that we need to pay people to help him function, etc.....

We CAN financially do it, but he won't take the help.   The thousands we have spent....

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  • 4 months later...

I posted in your SSI thread, and now I see this one is even more applicable. How does one begin to get hooked in with VR? So far what I’m seeing from my state looks like my dd would be on a very long wait list because she probably only qualifies as two areas of impairment, and they are currently only open for those with three or more. Are there other options than state programs?

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17 hours ago, PeterPan said:

Well our county board of developmental disabilities requires the 3 areas of impairment, but I thought our state vocational rehab was more general. Is it definitely your VR that is requiring the 3 areas of impairment?

There is a waitlist for those with less than 3. 

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@KSera DRS has been an invaluable help for us. I made all the contacts, went with my ds to his appts,  and made follow-up calls.  FWIW, they completely retested him (they paid for a neuropsych eval) before qualifying him for services (even though we had documentation less than 3 yrs old). They did it to determine exactly what services they would cover.

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3 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

@KSera DRS has been an invaluable help for us. I made all the contacts, went with my ds to his appts,  and made follow-up calls.  FWIW, they completely retested him (they paid for a neuropsych eval) before qualifying him for services (even though we had documentation less than 3 yrs old). They did it to determine exactly what services they would cover.

Wow. Had I known that was a possibility, I would have tried that route before having redone testing just a few months ago to the tune of $4000 we still haven’t gotten any insurance reimbursement for 😳
 

I’ve also just discovered some VR services in concert with the state through a local CC. It looks like if she wouldn’t get help through the state due to the waitlists, the CC route could be good, if she’s willing to do it. Is this a ds who started college and then was unable to continue due to ASD related issues? (There are two posters with sons on the spectrum I sometimes confuse).  Was your ds a willing participant in all this? Like, did he want to be able to work?

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2 hours ago, KSera said:

Wow. Had I known that was a possibility, I would have tried that route before having redone testing just a few months ago to the tune of $4000 we still haven’t gotten any insurance reimbursement for 😳
 

I’ve also just discovered some VR services in concert with the state through a local CC. It looks like if she wouldn’t get help through the state due to the waitlists, the CC route could be good, if she’s willing to do it. Is this a ds who started college and then was unable to continue due to ASD related issues? (There are two posters with sons on the spectrum I sometimes confuse).  Was your ds a willing participant in all this? Like, did he want to be able to work?

Our ds is now 29.  He attended college for a yr, but we made him withdraw bc he refused to take courses required for a degree if he thought the courses were irrelevant.  (Welcome to college, ds.)  We couldn't afford for him to go and not progress toward a degree.  

He didn't do anything for more than a yr.  It took a while for us to find our feet and find a way forward for him bc we had basically played ostrich in regards to how he was going to function in adulthood.  (definitely not a good plan bc things don't change.)  After a yr, he was ready to get a job bc we stopped funding anything that he was interested in.  (XBox at that pt in time.)   Once he started working (at that pt, he worked for Goodwill), he enjoyed having spending $$ and the positive reinforcement at work.  

We have moved 3 times since  then.  He worked at Goodwills in 2 states and when we moved here, he was hired by Lowes.  Lowes loves him and has promoted him multiple times.  I will not be surprised if Lowes is his career company.

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20 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

Our ds is now 29.  He attended college for a yr, but we made him withdraw bc he refused to take courses required for a degree if he thought the courses were irrelevant.  (Welcome to college, ds.)  We couldn't afford for him to go and not progress toward a degree.  

He didn't do anything for more than a yr.  It took a while for us to find our feet and find a way forward for him bc we had basically played ostrich in regards to how he was going to function in adulthood.  (definitely not a good plan bc things don't change.)  After a yr, he was ready to get a job bc we stopped funding anything that he was interested in.  (XBox at that pt in time.)   Once he started working (at that pt, he worked for Goodwill), he enjoyed having spending $$ and the positive reinforcement at work.  

We have moved 3 times since  then.  He worked at Goodwills in 2 states and when we moved here, he was hired by Lowes.  Lowes loves him and has promoted him multiple times.  I will not be surprised if Lowes is his career company.

Your ds is the one I was thinking of, then. That makes me hopeful that this could be the right direction for my dd, because your son seems a lot more functional than she is, so if he still qualified for services, I’m hopeful that she will. Mine hasn’t managed to complete a high school diploma yet, so that’s a big thing. It’s in progress, but extremely slow because she can only handle one class at a time. Like your ds (iirc), she’s highly intelligent, but she has some serious mental health issues in addition to the ASD, and lacks any desire to work or be independent. She doesn’t want to do anything that would require her to interact with other people, but I think would really help her a lot if she did, and that she would end up being glad for it.

 

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2 minutes ago, KSera said:

Your ds is the one I was thinking of, then. That makes me hopeful that this could be the right direction for my dd, because your son seems a lot more functional than she is, so if he still qualified for services, I’m hopeful that she will. Mine hasn’t managed to complete a high school diploma yet, so that’s a big thing. It’s in progress, but extremely slow because she can only handle one class at a time. Like your ds (iirc), she’s highly intelligent, but she has some serious mental health issues in addition to the ASD, and lacks any desire to work or be independent. She doesn’t want to do anything that would require her to interact with other people, but I think would really help her a lot if she did, and that she would end up being glad for it.

 

FWIW, I have never seen any reference to 3 areas of impairment before.  Our ds would easily have qualified for that, though, bch he has comorbidities of severe anxiety, OCD, and depression.  Our experience with DRS is that they are incredibly kind and go out of their way to be encouraging.  Ds shadowed different job opportunities before having to decide what he wanted to do.  He was given a job coach who stayed with him the first few days until his anxiety went down and he could do it on his own.  She came and checked on him weekly for the first couple of months, and then 1x/mo for the rest of his first yr.  The best part for our ds was that bc he was placed, he could make mistakes and someone would patiently train him as to how he should respond as an employee instead, etc.   Goodwill really trained him to be a good employee which is why he is doing so well now.

FWIW, he was offered other services like driving training (which he has continued to refuse, but he did finally get his permit about 6 mos ago).   If he had needed assistance in finding housing or signing up for gov't services, they would have done that as well.  Since we have managed his finances and housing, etc, we never pursued those.

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46 minutes ago, 8filltheheart said:

FWIW, I have never seen any reference to 3 areas of impairment before.  Our ds would easily have qualified for that, though, bch he has comorbidities of severe anxiety, OCD, and depression.  Our experience with DRS is that they are incredibly kind and go out of their way to be encouraging.  Ds shadowed different job opportunities before having to decide what he wanted to do.  He was given a job coach who stayed with him the first few days until his anxiety went down and he could do it on his own.  She came and checked on him weekly for the first couple of months, and then 1x/mo for the rest of his first yr.  The best part for our ds was that bc he was placed, he could make mistakes and someone would patiently train him as to how he should respond as an employee instead, etc.   Goodwill really trained him to be a good employee which is why he is doing so well now.

FWIW, he was offered other services like driving training (which he has continued to refuse, but he did finally get his permit about 6 mos ago).   If he had needed assistance in finding housing or signing up for gov't services, they would have done that as well.  Since we have managed his finances and housing, etc, we never pursued those.

You have really encouraged me. And if each mental health diagnosis counted separately, my dd would qualify that way as well. The idea of someone helping us in this way sounds amazing. I think our biggest barrier is whether dd will balk at the whole idea. Right now, she does not want to work (she used to work in the past) and shuts down if we try to bring up taking steps in that direction. She truly is capable of it though. It’s a mental health and motivation issue, not one of being unable to do any number of jobs. 

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Inspired by this thread, I called about my 16 year old.  I THINK she'll be okay employment wise, but I'm not certain, and it seems like a prudent step to take.  And also they have some services related to driving!  They will contact me later so hopefully it will work out all right.

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32 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Inspired by this thread, I called about my 16 year old.  I THINK she'll be okay employment wise, but I'm not certain, and it seems like a prudent step to take.  And also they have some services related to driving!  They will contact me later so hopefully it will work out all right.

VA used to have a program called VAST that was specifically focused on transitioning from an IEP to voc rehab. I don't know if they still do, but if they do, it reduced a lot of the gatekeeping and wait list stuff. 

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3 hours ago, Terabith said:

Inspired by this thread, I called about my 16 year old.  I THINK she'll be okay employment wise, but I'm not certain, and it seems like a prudent step to take.  And also they have some services related to driving!  They will contact me later so hopefully it will work out all right.

Good for you getting the ball rolling. I’m still confused about who I even call. I think my dd might qualify for transition services more easily than regular VR. She’s still in school, and it seems like that might help. 

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11 hours ago, KSera said:

Good for you getting the ball rolling. I’m still confused about who I even call. I think my dd might qualify for transition services more easily than regular VR. She’s still in school, and it seems like that might help. 

Start by calling your county board of developmental disabilities.

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On 2/26/2021 at 7:25 AM, DawnM said:

I had no idea how long this process would be.  Here we are in March and still no job and the lady who said she would help him with his resume still hasn't called.

My son has said he didn't like that they made him feel like he was disabled.   Honestly, I doubt they did, but his perceptions are always very off.

And if they go too long he will just say "forget it."

It is possible they spoke to him like that. The first counselor my son had with VRS kept making remarks like "kids like him cannot..." and "kids like him do not do well in college" and "kids like him cannot work in jobs where they interact with the public" and "kids like him ...." I had to file a complaint and get him an entirely new worker. I actually had to go to the state level because the supervisor of the worker felt the same way the worker did. 

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23 hours ago, Janeway said:

It is possible they spoke to him like that. The first counselor my son had with VRS kept making remarks like "kids like him cannot..." and "kids like him do not do well in college" and "kids like him cannot work in jobs where they interact with the public" and "kids like him ...." I had to file a complaint and get him an entirely new worker. I actually had to go to the state level because the supervisor of the worker felt the same way the worker did. 

Yet, her ds is disabled.  The OP's ds is currently being described here: 

Quote

We are finally at the point where DS is willing to look into applying to SSI.   He says he cannot work with people, he can't read what they want, and when he is on a deadline it causes so much anxiety, he shuts down.

He has tried therapy, Voc Rehab, schooling,  and medication, nothing helps and he isn't willing to go on meds again.   It has been years and years of this.

Even Voc Rehab was a bust.

Anyway, anyone been down this road and what is the best way to go about it?

Do we need an attorney?   Do we need to go back to the therapist and get more of a diagnosis than Autism/Aspergers?

And please, this is a JAWM post, I am tired of people saying, "Oh, well,. you just need to (insert your parenting advice) and that will be that."   It doesn't work with him.   

He said didn't like DRS bc they made him feel disabled.  DRS can help disabled individuals find a vocation where the can be successful.  They may have not handled his case in a way that affirmed his self-esteem, but equally they have to address the disability.

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My experience has been very positive, but, at the same time, there were times that I needed to go in and know what to ask for, because there is a bias towards getting people into work ASAP. So, in grad school, I did sometimes have to be pretty insistent that, no, I didn't want help getting a teacher's aide position, I was in grad school to be a teacher, and therefore what I needed was updated paperwork to provide needed accommodations for student teaching and my eventual career. So, if you have a kid who is coming in unsure of what they really want or need, I could see where the focus on "what can you do? What can't you do?" might make them feel less able-particularly if you add spectrum-y stuff to the mix. 

 

 

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