The Vocational Success of Adults who had been Formerly Labeled as having Behavioral/Emotional Disabilities in High School
Open AccessThe focus of this study was the level of vocational success of students who had formerly been labeled as Emotionally Disturbed (ED) during their academic careers. The negative educational experiences of ED students have been shown to have a major effect on their motivation. Thus it is useful to study the interrelated experiences of individuals that had formerly been identified as a student with ED during their school experience and the effect those experiences may have had on their vocational success. The conceptual framework addressed three areas: resiliency and protective factors research; self-determination and post-secondary transition, and twenty-first century employability skillsThe intent of this study is to determine the level of success and which factors contribute to the vocational success of adults who had been formerly labeled as EBD. The method of achieving this was through interviews with individuals who had been identified as students with EBD during their high school careers and their former teachers. The first interviews, with four former students, followed the protocols established by Reiff et al., (1997) in their study of the adult vocational success of individuals with Learning Disabilities. The first interview transcripts were then analyzed using the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) process (Hill et al., 1997) to find agreed upon themes. The agreed upon themes were then used as a basis for the second set of interview questions. One former student and three former teachers were interviewed using the second set of interview questions. All the interview transcripts were entered into the NVivo software program for analysis.Results of this study yielded data that can be applied to the three areas of the conceptual framework for the study. The support of a caring adult and/or mentor is the cornerstone for enabling youth with ED to build the foundation of a positive and fulfilling adult life. It is important to have a seamless and effective educational and workforce training system to enable individuals compete in the 21st century workplace. This is especially true for individuals with a disability and youth who have been diagnosed with ED.
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Paolotto_gwu_0075A_10902.pdf | 2018-01-17 | Open Access |
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