Background: The benefits of being in employment are well documented; however, underemployment is a critical issue for people with intellectual disability (ID). Some individuals perceive themselves as being in employment when in fact they are attending a non-work site such as a day service. The impact that this perception of employment has on other…

Background: The quality of support provided to people with disability who show challenging behaviour could be influenced by the quality of the behaviour support plans (BSPs) on which staff rely for direction. This study investigated the content validity of the Behaviour Support Plan Quality Evaluation tool (BSP-QEII), originally developed to guide…

Demand for quality service provision in the human services industry requires that private nonprofit organizations have the administrative and management capacities to ensure successful implementation and sustain staff development programs. Unfamiliarity with implementation challenges, and limited awareness of implementation strategies, can trigger…

Background: Having an objective means of evaluating the quality of behaviour support plans (BSPs) could assist service providers and statutory authorities to monitor and improve the quality of support provided to people with intellectual disability (ID) who exhibit challenging behaviour. The Behaviour Support Plan Quality Evaluation Guide II…

Almost everyone enjoys a walk through a garden, bending to sniff a flower, enjoying a fresh air breeze, listening to water bubbling from a fountain, and watching sunlight dapple through trees and plants. At Allegheny Valley School (AVS), the emphasis on multisensory environments (MSE) for individuals with intellectual and developmental…

This report describes the post-high school educational and occupational activities for 66 young adults with autism spectrum disorders who had recently exited the secondary school system. Analyses indicated low rates of employment in the community, with the majority of young adults (56%) spending time in sheltered workshops or day activity centers.…

Introduction: Since the development of inclusion and integration, parents have increasingly become the major, and sometimes the only, carers of their children with disabilities. Many families speak of stress and frustration with service and community support, and some have turned to residential and specialised day care services to overcome…

Many studies have been conducted evaluating the use of feedback in staff training in organizational settings. Central to this literature has been the use of a variety of forms of feedback, including videotaped feedback. A distinction is outlined between video modeling and a variety of possible video feedback procedures. Previous studies have…

Background: Policy objectives for people with intellectual disabilities include day service modernization and the promotion of paid employment and quality of life. Quality of life is under represented as an outcome measure in vocational research. This research compares subjective and objective quality of life, and quality of work environment for…

Background: Community service providers strive to reduce the use of restrictive behavioural procedures, but little is known about their use in community services. Therefore, this study analysed the distribution among service users and antecedents to the use of restrictive procedures. Materials: The authors analysed records of the use of…

Staff training is a critical performance improvement objective within behavioral health care organizations. This study evaluated a systematic training program for teaching applied behavior analysis knowledge competencies to newly hired direct-care employees at a day and residential habilitation services agency for adults with intellectual and…

The aim was to identify factors associated with physical activity participation among active (i.e. more than or equal to 10 000 steps per day) individuals with intellectual disability. Staff at day program and supported employment organizations were asked to identify individuals they believed were physically active. To verify participants were…

Background: Individuals with severe disability exiting school are likely to be enrolled in day activity and sheltered workshops at least as often as in supported employment. Such facilities are often staffed by paraprofessionals who may not have the skills to engage clients in meaningful activities. This article describes a 3-phase staff training…

Self-reported satisfaction and sense of well-being were assessed in a sample of 1,885 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and Intermediate Care Facility (ICF/MR) services in 6 states. Questions dealt with such topics as loneliness, feeling afraid at home and in one's…

Studies have shown that there is an association between exposure to people with intellectual disability who are aggressive and burnout in the staff who support them. Little is known, however, about the experience of summer camp staff who work with this population. This study examined the relationship between aggression and burnout in 169 staff…