Abstract
Although technology exists for supporting people with disabilities in a variety of work situations, demonstrations of the technology's utility generally have not involved individuals with multiple severe disabilities in community jobs. We evaluated a program for reducing job coach assistance provided for three individuals with multiple severe disabilities who worked in a publishing company. Initially, observations were conducted to determine the job steps for which each worker received assistance in terms of a job coach completing aspects of the steps for the worker. Each job step receiving assistance was then reviewed to determine if the assistance could be reduced by teaching the worker additional skills or by modifying the environment to compensate for physical disabilities. Once the instruction and modifications were initiated, reductions occurred in the amount of work completed by the job coaches for each worker. Work activity and quality continued at a high level for each worker, although productivity decreased. The latter results appeared due to reductions in work completed by job coaches and not to changes in each worker's work rate. Results are discussed regarding the possible impact of reducing job coach assistance on work opportunities for this population of potential workers. Suggestions for future research focus on developing additional means of increasing independence of workers with multiple severe disabilities.
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