Contracted Services
NOTE: This service is provided to eligible customers with qualifying disabilities that make reading print difficult. If you are blind, deafblind, low vision, or if you have another disability that makes it hard for you to read print, please continue. If you live in Minnesota and have a print related disability, give us a call to find out more about the services we offer. Call 1-800-722-0550. This application form also provides information on all the services we offer.
The skills a person who is blind or low vision uses to move safely, navigate, and purposefully through the environment. This includes knowing where you are and where you want to go, safely walking or transportation, understanding special awareness of surroundings, knowledge of directional language, and recognizing landmarks using tactile and auditory feedback.
SSB intends to ensure a specified level of quality in services purchased for customers in the area of travel training. SSB will require that any community partner offering O & M training meet one of the two levels of expertise.
The educational process that prepares a consumer to perform daily living tasks safely and independently in any environment.
It is the intent of SSB to ensure a specific level of quality for services provided to our customers in the area of rehabilitation teaching. There are three levels of expertise we recognize.
A skill taught to people who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind to help them read and write independently. It is an educational process that prepares a consumer to perform daily living tasks safely and independently in any environment.
Comprehensive ATB is conducted at centers often with a residential component specialized to provide training in one location.
These centers offer comprehensive training programs with a core set of classes offered that may include:
Typically, the training center offers a full-day program training program five days a week, though there are some flexibilities for those who require part-time or adjusted schedules. Customers may commute to a training center or live in apartment run by the training center.
The ATB centers contracted through SSB may have different learning philosophies aligned with various consumer groups that impact the teaching methodologies they use. Your SSB counselor can help you find the right ATB Training center to best match your individual learning style.
Short-term work experience opportunities to help the individual consumer and team members evaluate the suitability of the work environment and the job tasks.
Preparation for specified work by performing that work in community-based settings under the instruction and supervision of qualified persons. Situational assessment is an individualized service which assists people in discovering their talents, skills, work habits, and areas of interest. It allows people with limited work experience the opportunity to try real jobs in the community and develop a skill-based resume that they can take to future job interviews. It assists people in making informed career choices. Each individual may be assessed in a variety of community employment sites to evaluate the level of interest, physical tolerance, work attitude, communication needs, organizational skills and the ability to prioritize and multi-task.
Training and support in natural community work setting or in-house to teach individuals valuable skills necessary to successfully enter the job market with confidence and experience. It allows people with limited work experience the opportunity to try real jobs in the community and develop a skill-based resume that they can take to future job interviews.
Training on an individual or group basis regarding the techniques for obtaining and maintaining employment. It assists eligible individuals in preparing resumes and job applications and in developing interviewing skills. Topics can include managing a job search, workplace realities, work attitude, problem solving, and job stress. Training also focuses on developing interpersonal relationship skills to positively address and interact with potential employers and co-workers.
Contractor contacts employers to develop opportunities for consumers to observe different jobs and asks employers questions about the skills, knowledge, and abilities needed to perform the tasks involved in the job.
Once a referral is received, a meeting is scheduled to complete all admission requirements, gather information for determining outcomes, and establish reasonable timelines for meeting the individual's needs.
Gather information that describes a consumer's work interests, assets, barriers to employment, work skills, work habits, and physical tolerances while performing a job to help in developing a rehabilitation plan.
Testing and assessment selected from a battery of standardized assessment packages and work samples to assist in identifying good job matches. Customized assessments in a variety of areas.
Services provided to a consumer who has been placed in employment in order to stabilize the placement and enhance job stabilization. Such services include job support services (beyond the 10 hours as expected in the PBA) for consumers who do not have a supported employment goal.
On-going support services and other appropriate services needed to support and maintain a consumer with a most significant disability in supported employment for a period of time generally not to exceed 24 months. On-the-job support services with a supported employment goal are funded using Title VI, Part B and Title I funds.
Cost may include hourly minimum wage for consumers for each hour they work, job coaching from an employment specialist as they learn the job, and visits from a job developer as needed who will observe the work and ultimately secure the job.
Provide bus training for participants who need assistance with learning a transit system.
Communication and job support services specifically for customers who use American Sign Language (ASL) or another foreign language and who may experience communication and related comprehension barriers on the job. An OCS must have skills in ASL or be proficient in an identified foreign language. An OCS differs from an interpreter; their role is to assist customers to understand and comprehend information and involves the OCS in the planning, development, oversight, and delivery of the customer's support services.
The plan is developed in a face-to-face meeting involving the consumer, the contractor and the SSB Counselor. The plan identifies the job goal, defines the roles and responsibilities of each of the three parties, and creates a consensus about the desired outcome. The plan must be signed by all three parties and is in effect through job search, job placement and job stabilization as outlined within the PBA.
Activities that support and assist a consumer in searching for an appropriate job. Activities performed by the contractor in job search assistance may include resume preparation, identifying job opportunities as outlined in the PBA Placement Plan, developing interview skills, and making contacts with employers on behalf of the consumer. Job search services include one or more of the following:
Assistance is a referral to a specific job resulting in an interview, whether or not the individual obtained the job.
SSB staff authorize a few hours for job placement for the interview that a person gets plus needed travel time. Mileage that is authorized remains separate and can be used for either job search or job placement.
Services include job site training, which varies according to the needs of the consumer and the complexity of the job. Training can include assisting the consumer to perform new job tasks and to understand the job culture, industry practices and work behaviors expected by the employer. It might also include training the employer and coworkers to understand the training methods and accommodations needed by the consumer. Retention services include one or more of the following:
Work in the competitive labor market that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis in an integrated setting (including self-employment); and for which an individual is compensated at or above the minimum wage, but not less than the customary wage and level of benefits paid by the employer for the same work performed by individuals who are not disabled.
The term 'supported employment' means competitive integrated employment, including customized employment, or employment in an integrated work setting in which individuals are working on a short-term basis toward competitive integrated employment, that is individualized and customized consistent with the strengths, abilities, interests, and informed choice of the individuals involved, for individuals with the most significant disabilities
Customized employment is a flexible process designed to personalize the employment relationship between a job candidate and an employer in a way that meets the needs of both. It is based on an individualized match between the strengths, conditions, and interests of a job candidate and the identified business needs of an employer. Customized Employment utilizes an individualized approach to employment planning and job development - one person at a time…one employer at a time.
Customized employment will often take the form of: