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Steps to Independence and Employment – the Arla Institute’s Vocational Rehabilitation Model for Multi-disabled Visually Impaired Young Adults
Focus: Transition
Topic: MDVI
Sari Aulilo
Development Officer
The Arla Institute
Puustellinmäki 4-6
02600 Espoo
FINLAND
Tel. +358 9 511 08 237
sari.aulilo@arlainst.fi
The Arla Institute, vocational training and development centre, operates in Espoo, quite close to the centre of Helsinki. We offer vocational rehabilitation and training for visually impaired and deafblind people. The Arla Institute is the only specialist centre in Finland in this field. The Institute is owned by the government.
The services of the Arla Institute are primarily needed by adults, who have encountered problems with their sight in adulthood. The majority of our 190 students are partially sighted and about 20% are blind. Several of our students have some form of additional impairment or long-term illness. One special group is deafblind people. We also have students with no impairments.
The main goal we set for all our students is employment. To reach this main goal we also set other goals in, for example, independent living skills in order to encourage and help the students to take control of their own lives. This requires individually planned and implemented rehabilitation, development of functional skills as well as vocational studies.
The studies can last from a few weeks to 3-4 years depending on the individual goals. They can be realised either within the frames of the Arla Institute or, if necessary, in co-operation with other educational establishments and employers or, for example, completely at another educational institution. The training programmes are partly the Arla Institute's own training programmes and partly National Vocational Qualifications.
We offer the following training programmes:
The education is funded by the government. The allocation is based on the number of students. Apart from free training and accommodation the student can receive a rehabilitation grant or a student grant.
A model for training multidisabled visually impaired (MDVI) young people has been developed at the Arla Institute. The main idea of this model is learning by doing, meaning practical work and practical tasks. The general goals of the training for multidisabled people are to promote and support participation in the society, to gain working life skills and to support personal and vocational growth. The most important practical goal in the training programmes of the Arla Institute is always the student's employment.
The Model is presented in the attached chart. The idea is that a person acquires the knowledge and skills that are needed on the individual level first. For example, the basic skills of visually impaired people (e.g. braille and mobility & orientation skills) will be acquired first and then you proceed towards the more general or specified skills required in the working life and the society (work task skills and social skills at work). Depending on the viewpoint (individual - working life - society), acquiring the skills can happen simultaneously or one after another. The main direction is the growth from the lower corner on the left, growth starting from one's own personality, to the upper corner on the right, the skills required in the working life. In the model there are always the more ticks the better the skill has been adopted. Included in the fields on the upper row there are a lot of separate skills that are not defined here. There are more practical examples of these in the chapter "Toimiva as an example". In the Arla Institute's preparatory and rehabilitative training you concentrate more on the individual basic skills of visually impaired people and studying skills during the first year and after that you can continue in the work-oriented training. During that training there is more emphasis on the working life skills and less on the individual skills, which are still very important, of course.
The ideas behind the training of the multidisabled visually impaired people are, among other things:
For example, the comprehensive and experiential learning mean enhancing the learning process by offering events and experiences. On the other hand, grasping each issue as a whole is part of the comprehensiveness. We try to achieve this by taking up each theme in all the subjects, from the respective subject's point of view. More examples of practical realisation of the above-mentioned ideas can be found below, in the chapter "Toimiva as an Example".
The model of supported employment and the ideology behind the model have also influenced on the training. Especially the ideas of integration, self-development and improving self-esteem are important. The meaning of work is considered in a much broader sense than just a source of income. The work gives you, for instance, social contacts and meaning to life and it also brings about a rhythm to the week and the course of life. In addition, the employment is always considered according to the strengths and interests of the individual.
In the training of the MDVI work-oriented approach has a very important role. The teaching is very practical and it includes a lot of on-the-job learning. As much as possible, the training is carried out through work tasks and practical exercises (learning-by-doing).
The students proceed towards the goals according to individual and personal plans. The main goals are divided into smaller sub-goals and then even smaller subject goals. In every subject the student has an individual goal. He/she goes forward step by step. The process is followed in, for instance, follow-up forms, self-evaluation and learning diaries. (Regarding the self-evaluation the staff of the Arla Institute has also been developing web-based material that works with the idea of a mirror.) At certain intervals the student needs to show his/her skills in different areas in practise. The overall evaluation is in writing and considers the personal strengths and developmental needs and working in a group.
Three areas are emphasised in the training:
The contents of the first two parts of the training are similar in all the training programmes for the multidisabled people. The contents of the work task skills vary according to the line of study.
The Arla Institute has started a work-oriented training for assistive office work for a group of multidisabled visually impaired young people (Toimiva). The training takes two years. In the training process, learning-by-doing is emphasised. There are six 18-23 year-old students in the group and all of them have disabilities or learning difficulties of different degrees and a serious or medium visual impairment. First we have offered knowledge through lectures that are focusing on certain themes. The same theme is brought up in all the lessons and through projects. Towards the end of the semester there is more emphasis put on the work tasks. Even during the lessons we have carried out work activities inside the Arla Institute. This has included, for example, sorting out papers, updating different kinds of lists, delivering mail, filling paper trays etc.
In the teaching we have emphasised the three above-mentioned areas:
1. The community skills and preparedness have included, for example, the following:
2. In the social skills at work we have included the following, among other things:
3. In the training the work task skills have included the following, for example:
In the practical training we have used
The themes have been, for instance, office work tasks, applying for work and me as an employee. We have familiarised us with the job application process and arranged job interview situations. The students themselves have interviewed staff in different units. We have also arranged job interviews for the students.
The project has been, for example, creating a common symbol for the class and arranging an event to introduce it to invited guests. In these events the students have offered pastries baked by themselves and they have taken care of all the practical arrangements from invitations to cleaning the place after the occasion.
Multiple teaching we have carried out so that during the class work each student proceeds according to one's individual goals but the tasks are all related to the same theme. For example, related to the theme applying for work, some students have made extensive Internet searches and reported on them in writing. Some students have done more limited searches and reported on them orally. Another example is the teaching of word processing, where one student has concentrated on mastering the keyboard, another on the layout of documents and the third on typing speed.
One important method of practical teaching is also an "enterprise", founded by the student group, called the Bell Office Services, that offers office work in the school made to order. The students take responsibility for the orders starting from the order until the return of the completed work to the customer. Each student has gone through a job interview and he/she has been selected to be an employee in this enterprise. Each student has his/her own area of responsibility in the "business".
On-the-job learning is an essential part of the work-oriented training. In our example group the on-the-job learning has been carried out in a very individual way and in the open labour market. The periods have been short, 4-12 weeks. The working time has been one or two days a week and the rest of the week has been normal school days. The tasks in the on-the-job learning placements have been, for example, packaging or mailing, simple office work, reading newspapers/magazines through a computer to old people.
After the training the employment of the MDVI is most likely supported in some ways. The new line of thought brought up here is that the work consists of smaller parts. In practise, the employment can mean dividing the work week into assignments made for different companies. The starting point is always each person's strengths and interests and an effort to support them. For example, somebody's strong point can be doing repeated line production work carefully and precisely. In that case the work could consist of, for example, two days of packaging for a certain company, and two days of typing for another. Of course, in this type of employment the matters like combining pension and salary as well as other practical issues need to be carefully sorted out in each case.
Network co-operation with different authorities has an important role already during the training. We create contacts to the home municipalities in order to facilitate and improve employment and housing. The student's parents are also invited to participate in the planning during the training.
The Arla Institute has 110 years of experience in organising vocational training for the visually impaired people. Nevertheless, the forms of training vary according to the students and the situation. The model that was presented here has evolved together with the "Toimiva" group and the model is still being developed further. We gladly welcome all ideas and suggestions for development.
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BASIC SKILLS OF VIP |
PERSONAL GROWTH |
COMMUNITY SKILLS |
WORK TASK SKILLS |
SOCIAL SKILLS AT WORK |
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SOCIETY
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X |
XX |
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WORKING LIFE
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XX |
XX |
XX |
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IMMEDIATE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT |
XX |
XX |
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INDIVIDUAL
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XXX |
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