Wyoming assessment of rehabilitation needs

Table 23: Potential Applicants for DVR Services, Projected to 2010^.According to 2000 Census, Civilian non-institutionalized individuals ages 16 - 64 Source: 2003 WYARN
Vocational Rehabilitation Planning Groups	Characteristics	2000	2010 Projected (4.1% increase)
Total State Population		493,744	513,928
Planning Group 1	Individuals ages 16-64 with a work disability who were not working, Census 2000	10,563	10,996
Planning Group 2	“Potential applicants” - Planning Group I, less current applicants	8,839	9,201
Planning Group 3	Annual applicants, existing DVR caseload	1,724	1,795
Planning Group 4	Annual applicants determined by DVR to have “significant” disabilities	978	1,018

Projected Employment Outlook and Labor Market:
The strength or weakness of the labor market can impact the success of DVR programs. This is especially true of a tight labor market which can make it more difficult to successfully train and place DVR clients. Fortunately, the Wyoming employment outlook is expected to remain fairly strong through 2010. According to the Wyoming Department of Employment, “...while statewide employment growth is projected to slow during the forecast period, it will remain above the projected average for the rest of the nation. Likewise, while all six major regions are expected to grow during the forecast period, growth appears to be concentrated in two areas, those that can take advantage of higher mineral prices and those with more diversified economies…we estimate that Wyoming employment will grow at an annual rate of 1.5 percent per year to a total of 266,149 by 2010…” (see Employment Outlook, 2010, http://doe.state.wy.us/lmi/EmpOutlook2010.pdf).
As to specific regions of the state, the Wyoming Department of Employment indicates, “The Northeast, Southwest, Casper MSA and Cheyenne MSA are all projected to have growth rates higher than that for the entire state. The Central-Southeast and Northwest Regions will experience lower than average regional growth.” (see Employment Outlook, 2010, http://doe.state.wy.us/lmi/EmpOutlook2010.pdf). Employment related to agriculture and services is expected to remain strong in all regions of the state.
PUBLIC INPUT AND CONCERNS
Focus Groups:
Focus groups were conducted in Casper, Sheridan, Worland, Rock Springs, Lander and Cheyenne. Attendance ranged from one in Casper to seventeen in Rock Springs. In total, 47 people attended. A special effort was made to invite young adults and those knowledgeable about students in transition. The primary purpose of the focus groups was to identify existing problems within the service delivery infrastructure and to seek recommendations accordingly. Problems articulated by the focus groups and potential solutions are summarized below.
Common themes among most focus groups:

• 
  There is a need for improved transition services in many areas of the state. Some areas of the state are better than others. Inconsistency of services is “an issue”.
  
• 
  There is a need for more transportation services.
  

Points emphasized by the Casper focus group (in addition to the common themes above):

• 
  There is a need to develop better working relationships between local DVR offices and community mental health centers throughout the state similar to the one that has been developed in the Casper area.
  

Points emphasized by the Sheridan focus group (in addition to the common themes above):

• 
  There is a need to do more public education regarding the availability and scope of DVR services. Many employers and the general public do not appear to know much about DVR.
  
• 
  There is a need to provide more adaptive equipment, especially the more expensive equipment. While the independent living organizations provide the less expensive equipment, expensive equipment is only available through low-interest loan.
  
• 
  There is a need to expand education assistance to include room and board for someone in training. Currently, most assistance is limited to tuition and books.
  
• 
  It is important that DVR counselors keep an open mind when discussing employment options with a client. A client should not be made to feel that he or she should take an immediate low paying job rather than seek the education necessary for long-term improvement.
  

Points emphasized by the Worland focus group (in addition to the common themes above):

• 
  There is a need to improve the availability of affordable health care for someone with a disability while he/she is waiting to get on SSI or SSDI. Waiting for these programs can take months or years.
  
• 
  Regarding students in transition, there is a need for DVR counselors to work more closely with financial aid experts so that they can help students tap into available funding sources for education.
  
• 
  There is a need for more funding for DVR programs.
  

Points emphasized by the Rock Springs focus group (in addition to the common themes above):

• 
  There is a need to provide better training for new DVR employees. This especially important because there is currently a fairly high turnover among DVR counselors.
  
• 
  There is a need to change the policy that requires a five year wait to reopen a case after it has been closed.
  
• 
  There is a need to provide better access to assistive technology. One individual complained about not being able to get a computer.
  
• 
  DVR should perhaps demand more from clients. Clients have a responsibility to work closely with DVR.
  

Points emphasized by the Lander focus group (in addition to the common themes above):

• 
  There is a need for the Lander DVR office to be more receptive of client’s wants and needs. A more positive atmosphere is needed.
  
• 
  There is a need to improve the initial assessment process in the Lander office.
  
• 
  There is a need for the Lander DVR office to expand activities relating to students in transition.
  
• 
  Because Fremont County has four DVR offices (Lander, Riverton and two on the reservation), there is a need to better define the geographical coverage for each office.
  
• 
  There is a need for more assistive technology assistance.
  

Points emphasized by the Cheyenne focus group (in addition to the common themes above):

• 
  There is a need to improve consistency of services from DVR. Focus group attendees said the effectiveness and enthusiasm of counselors varies too much. Consistency suffers when there is too much counselor turnover or when counselors apply policy differently. Counselor turnover appears to be a big problem. More training is needed to improve consistency.
  
• 
  There is a need for more funding.
  
• 
  It is important that DVR counselors keep an open mind when discussing employment options with a client. Sometimes a client is made to feel that he or she should take an immediate low paying job rather than seek the training necessary for long-term improvement.
  
• 
  There is a need for DVR to get the family more involved. The family can play an important role in encouraging the client.
  
• 
  There is a need to extend the case closure date beyond 90 days after a person gets a job. This will improve follow through.
  
• 
  There is a need for more transportation assistance. Because public transportation is often not available at all or not available at the correct times, DVR should consider purchasing a van or small bus and provide transportation directly (or hire somebody to transport people around).
  
• 
  There is a need for DVR to provide driver’s education to help young adults get their driver’s license.
  

Mail Survey:
Two mail surveys were conducted focusing on transition activities in Wyoming. One survey was sent to 944 students in transition. The other was sent to each of the 48 school district special education coordinators.
The student survey was mailed August 28, 2006. A reminder was sent ten days later. Survey recipients included all clients enrolled with DVR during State Fiscal Year 2006, age 26 and younger. Because the mailing list included people up to age 26, the survey was able to obtain the opinions of DVR clients as they moved from school into adulthood. All recipients were given a choice of returning the paper questionnaire or completing the survey on-line at www.SurveyMonkey.com.
The response rate for the student survey was 25.9 percent. Only 34 individuals chose to complete the survey on-line. The remaining 183 returned paper copies. The demographic characteristics of the respondents are summarized in Table 24.
The largely multiple choice survey asked questions about type of disability, ability to complete personal care activities, age of enrollment in special ed, age of enrollment with DVR, current student/employment situation, name of last high school attended, location of last DVR office enrolled, overall rating of high school transition services, overall rating of DVR transition services, etc. In addition to the multiple choice questions, respondents were encouraged to provide open-ended narrative comments.

Table 24: Demographics of the 217 Student Survey Respondents
Race	# of Responses	Current Level of Educ.	# of Responses
Caucasian	190	10^th grade or less	8
African American	2	11^th grade	9
Asian	2	12^th grade/diploma/GED	87
Pacific Islander	1	Trade school beyond H.S.	12
Hispanic	9	Some college, no degree	70
Native American	4	Associate degree	16
No answer/other	9	Bachelor’s degree or beyond	14
	Gender	# of Responses
	Male	125
	Female	84
	No answer	8
	Age Now	# of Responses
	16	5
	17	4
	18	22
	19	25
	20	31
	21	36
	22	22
	23	21
	24	14
	25	17
	26	10
	27	1
	No answer	9
Type of Impairment.	# of Responses	Personal Care Assistance Needed	# of Responses
Hearing	14	None	170
Visual	6	Small Amount	24
Speech and Language	3	Moderate Amount	9
Learning Disability	69	Quite a Lot	13
Developmental Disability	22	No Answer	1
Mobility	19
Emotional/behavioral	14
More than one of the above	47
Other	22 (several with brain injury)
No answer	1

Most survey respondents entered a special education program in elementary school (Table 25). However, nearly one-fourth had never entered special education. Only 13.3 percent of survey respondents had enrolled with DVR prior to their junior year of high school. One-third had enrolled with DVR in their junior or senior years. Approximately one-half did not enroll with DVR until after leaving high school.

About 35 percent of the respondents are currently unemployed, and about 54 percent of respondents are currently students (Table 25). Many of the unemployed are students. However, 23 percent of those who are not students are unemployed. When asked “Who was more helpful in getting you your current job”, 47.9 percent of those who are employed indicated that DVR was more helpful than the high school. About 21 percent said the high school was more helpful than DVR. When asked about their long-term employment goal, 70.5 percent indicated that they either “definitely know what I want to do” or “think I know what they want to do”. Only 24.9 percent indicated they either “don’t have a good idea what I want to do” or “have no idea what I want to do”. Regarding long-term goal achievement, only 33.6 percent indicated they either “definitely have the long-term job I want”, or “think I have the long-term job I want”. The majority, 63.1 percent, said “I don’t think I have the long-term job I want”, or “I definitely don’t have the long-term job I want.”

Table 25: Transition and Employment History of 217 Student Survey Respondents
Grade of Special Ed. Entry	# of Responses	Grade of DVR Entry	# of Respondents
Kindergarten through 6th	122	Before 9^th	7
7^th, 8^th, or 9^th	26	9^th	5
10^th	4	10^th	17
11^th	4	11^th	30
12^th	4	12^th	43
Never Entered	52	After high school	107
No response	5	No response	8
Current Student/Employment Situation	# of Responses	More helpful in getting current job	# of Responses
Student, not employed	55	DVR	46
Student, employed part-time	52	High school	20
Student, employed full-time	10	DVR and high school equally	19
Not a student, not employed	23	Neither DVR or high school	56
Not a student, employed part-time	41	Not working	72
Not a student, employed full-time	36	No response	4
No response	0
Long-term Employment Goal Development	# of Responses	Proximity to Long-term Employment Goal Achievement	# of Responses
I definitely know what I want to do	73	I definitely have the long-term job I want	30
I think I know what I want to do	80	I think I have the long-term job I want	43
I don’t have good idea of what I want to do	37	I don’t think I have the long-term job I want	73
I have no idea what I want to do	17	I am not employed	64
I do not plan to seek employment	2	No response	7
No response	8

When asked about the helpfulness of DVR and high school transition services in deciding their long-term employment goal, 38.7 percent indicated that the high school was either “extremely helpful” or “moderately helpful” (Table 26). Nearly 56 percent indicated that DVR was either “extremely helpful” or “moderately helpful”.

When asked about the helpfulness of DVR and high school transition services in preparing them for their long-term employment goal, 43.3 percent indicated that the high school was either “extremely helpful” or “moderately helpful” (Table 26). About 61 percent indicated that DVR was either “extremely helpful” or “moderately helpful”.

Respondents were also asked to provide an overall rating of high school and DVR transition services on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being very poor and 10 being very good. About 46 percent of respondents rated high school transition services as a 6 or better (Table 26). About 63 percent of respondents rated DVR transition services as a 6 or better.

Table 26: Quality of DVR and High School Transition Services (according to respondents)
Helpfulness of High School in Deciding Long-term Goal	# of Responses	Helpfulness of DVR in Deciding Long-term Goal	# of Responses
High school was extremely helpful	31	DVR was extremely helpful	53
High school was moderately helpful	53	DVR was moderately helpful	68
High school was a little helpful	67	DVR was a little helpful	43
High school was no help at all	60	DVR was no help at all	41
Did not attend high school	4	No response	12
No response	2
Helpfulness of High School in Preparing you for Long-term Goal	# of Responses	Helpfulness of DVR in Preparing you for Long-term Goal	# of Responses
High school was extremely helpful	31	DVR was extremely helpful	73
High school was moderately helpful	63	DVR was moderately helpful	60
High school was a little helpful	65	DVR was a little helpful	30
High school was no help at all	48	DVR was no help at all	40
Did not attend high school	4	No response	14
No response	6
Overall Rating of High School Transition Services (scale of 1 to 10)	# of Responses	Overall Rating of DVR Transition Services (scale of 1 to 10)	# of Responses
Very poor 1	35	Very poor 1	22
2	22	2	12
3	16 113	3	8 77
4	17	4	13
5	23	5	22
6	21	6	16
7	25	7	26
8	24 95	8	34 132
9	10	9	29
Very good 10	15	Very good 10	27
No response	9	No response	8

Survey respondents also provided insightful open ended comments generally falling into four categories: counselor turnover and workload; job coaching; transition issues; and miscellaneous issues (Table 27). Relating to counselor turnover and workload, the comment that summarized this problem best was: “I have gone through so many different counselors and it makes the process of everything more complicated”. Relating to the quality and longevity of job coaching, the comment that summed up this problem best was: “They need to take more interest in job coaches, their qualifications and personality. They need to make the coaches available and make known the options of having a coach available as long as necessary so the jobs are not lost as soon as the coaching is done.” Relating to transition services, the comment that captured this problem best was: More communication is needed. I need a better understanding of the program. I need a better understanding of the different responsibilities of the school and DVR. For miscellaneous comments, please see Table 27.

The special education coordinator survey was mailed to the 48 school districts on August 28^th. A follow-up reminder was sent ten days later. In addition, the Transition Coordinator from the Wyoming Department of Education sent an group e-mail reminder on September 11^th. Thirty-two responses were received, for a 67 percent response rate (Table 28).
The largely multiple choice survey asked questions about the name of the district, the location of the nearest DVR office, the number of 11^th and 12^th grade special ed. students in the district, the percent of 11^th and 12^th grade special ed. students currently enrolled with DVR, the percent of 11^th and 12^th grade student who should be enrolled with DVR, types of internal transition activities, overall rating of DVR transition services, overall rating of internal transition services, etc. In addition to the multiple choice questions, respondents were encouraged to provide open-ended narrative comments.

Table 27: Open-ended Comments from the Student Survey (Note: Some of the comments have been edited for brevity and confidentiality.)

Relating to Counselor Turnover and Workload:

The only problem I ever had was that I have gone through so many different counselors and it makes the process of everything more complicated

DVR could be improved by getting me another counselor, because it's hard to get an appointment. You have to sometimes wait a few weeks.

I had two counselors come and go. So maybe holding onto a counselor will help.

I was enrolled with DVR for two years before I received help. It seems they change workers a lot.

My ranking of 9 for DVR applies to my last counselor. Before that I would have ranked DVR a 1.

DVR should pay higher salaries so their counselors would be able to stay so that clients wouldn't have to get new ones every time they come to a new appointment.

In other areas, I have heard concerns about the turnover rate of counselors. Would better pay keep the turnover of counselors down?

Relating to Job Coaching:

They need to take more interest in job coaches, their qualifications and personality. They need to make the coaches available and make known the options of having a coach available as long as necessary so the jobs are not lost as soon as the coaching is done.

We appreciate the interaction with DVR but were disappointed with the unpredictability of the job coaching

They had trouble getting job coaches. I would like more help to reach my career goal.

DVR needs more trained job coaches.

Relating to Transition:

More communication is needed. I need a better understanding of the program. I need a better understanding of the different responsibilities of the school and DVR.

DVR should listen to the advocates and especially the parents. Transition isn't an age, it is a process. People with challenges are not always age appropriate. It takes longer to transition them. Give them more time to learn and process.

DVR needs to get more involved in high school planning.

I didn't know of these services until March of my senior year.

I should have got involved with DVR when I was still in high school, not wait until I'm 21.

I wish I had known about DVR right out of high school. I didn't find out about them until my 4th year of college.

When we asked DVR to help with employment training, we were told by DVR that they cannot help because our son is still in high school.

They need to focus more on student's ambitions and talents.

DVR merely asked "What we needed from them". Not very helpful. Then my case was closed until I am no longer in school.

Miscellaneous Comments:

DVR doesn’t need to be improved. They are fine the way they are (16 similar comments).

DVR has been helping me attend college, and I wouldn't be able to do it without them (8 similar comments).

I think DVR could be more helpful in providing clients with information on various careers and giving guidance.

They should assist clients more in initiating career search and finding where they would fit in.

They should give us more phone calls to see how we are doing

DVR could improve by helping people when they say they will

DVR needs to do follow-up on clients (not expect client to follow-up). They need to take more interest in job coaches, their qualifications and personality. They need to make the coaches available and make known the options of having a coach available as long as necessary so the jobs are not lost as soon as the coaching is done. Also, they need to make clients aware that any job will alter Social Security Benefits (not fair, but true).

DVR should extend funding for graduate school since the goal is to obtain steady employment to support a family.

DVR should be more open to other forms of educational opportunities.

DVR needs to schedule more appointments, personalize the meetings, and follow through.

DVR needs to get a DVR counselor that truly believes in the dignity of people with developmental disabilities and believes they are worthy and capable of employment. The current DVR counselor offers only lip service and has hurt rather than helped the DD population and employment in our community.

Table 28: Demographics of Respondents to Special Education Coordinator Survey
School District	Nearest DVR Office	Approx. Number 11^th & 12^th Grade Spec. Ed. Students	Approx. Percent 11^th & 12^th Grade Spec. Ed. Students Enrolled with DVR
Albany Co.	Laramie	75	10%
Big Horn #1	Powell	14	20%
Big Horn #2	Powell	14	0%
Big Horn #4	Powell	6	10%
Campbell	Gillette	55	10%
Carbon #1	Rawlins	25	10%
Converse #1	Douglas	N.A.	10%
Converse Co. #2	Douglas	12	0%
Fremont #1	Lander	27	10%
Fremont #2	Lander	7	20%
Fremont #14	Lander	6	10%
Fremont #21	Lander	1	0%
Fremont #24, Shoshoni	Riverton	15	90%
Fremont #25	Riverton	50	0%
Goshen #1	Torrington	50	N.A.
Hot Springs #1	Worland	15	10%
Johnson Co. #1	Sheridan	22	30%
Lincoln Co. #2	Kemmerer	40	50%
Meeteetse Schools	Cody	3	60%
Natrona #1	Casper	200	10%
Niobrara #1	Torrington/Douglas	15	10%
Park #1	Cody	25	10%
Park #6	Cody	37	0%
Platte #2	Torrington	6	30%
Platte County School Dist. #1	Torrington	15	10%
Sheridan #2	Sheridan	35	10%
Sheridan #3	Sheridan	1	10%
Sublette #1	Rock Springs	10	30%
Sweetwater #1	Rock Springs	40	10%
Uinta #1	Evanston	18	50%
Washakie #1	Worland	35	10%
Weston #7	Gillette	4	20%
		Total = 878	Approx. 117 students