Frequency of Job Skills Appearing on Individualized Plans of Students with Moderate Retardation

Abstract

The successful employment of moderately retarded students is dependent upon an educational program which is focused upon employment as an expected outcome. The purpose of this study was to examine the relative frequency that work-related skills deemed critical by employers appear on the exiting IEPs of moderately retarded students (e.g. those labeled trainable mentally impaired students (TMI) in the state of Michigan). An extensive literature review was conducted and found 49 job skills and / or work behaviors that employers view as critical for job success. An expert group sorted these critical job skills into three work-related behavior categories. The sort process was validated by a second expert group. There were 331 exit IEPs submitted by twenty-three intermediate school districts in the state of Michigan. Each IEP was coded, according to the job skill(s) which were found being addressed. An advanced doctoral student in special education validated the coding process. Frequencies and percentages were found for each of the 40 employer designated job skills. The ten most frequently addressed job skills were found primarily in Category 2–Work-Related Abilities, whereas the ten least frequently addressed job skills were found primarily in Category 3–Interpersonal Skills. However, the job skills in Category 1–Personality Characteristics were evenly distributed throughout the frequency rankings. Comparisons were made between the ISDs and the 49 job skills, resulting in seven job skills which were addressed frequently in the review of literature as well as by the participating ISDs. Recommendations and implications included: for the ISDs, a list of eight critical job skills which should be incorporated into the IEPs of moderately retarded students; for the field of special education and special educators, a rationale for the use of employment specialists.