Post-Secondary Community Placement of Handicapped Students: A Five-Year Follow-Up

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Abstract
This article presents the results of an evaluation of the employment and living status of 108 moderately to severely handicapped individuals who had graduated during a five-year period (1979–1983) from rural schools employing a community-based job exploration and training model. Nineteen predictor variables including student characteristics, school variables, and county characteristics were statistically related to nine employment-related outcome variables. The results showed that (a) 61% of the graduates were working competitively; (b) 22% were living independently; (c) the specific-learning disabled student was more likely to be employed, live independently and be self-sufficient than the educable mentally handicapped or the student with mental retardation; (d) students whose families were moderately to highly involved with the students' programs were more successful on the employment-related outcome variables; and (e) significant predictors included both student characteristics and environmental variables. Implications are discussed relative to the current emphasis on post-graduation job placement, program accountability, training in the natural environment and support systems.