Essentials of Transition Planning (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781681253695)

Dr. Wehman is Professor of Physical Medicine with joint appointments in the Departments of Rehabilitation Counseling and also Special Education and Disability Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. He serves as Chairman of the Division of Rehabilitation Research in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Wehman has his Ph.D. in Behavioral Disabilities from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

As one of the original founders of supported employment, he has worked closely with business and industry since 1980 and has published over 200 articles and authored or edited more than 40 books primarily in transition, severe disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injury and employment for persons with disabilities. He has been the Principal Investigator on 41 million dollars in grants during his career.

As the father of two young adults with disabilities, he brings a strong parental as well as business perspective to his work. He is highly active in speaking to professionals, parents, advocates and businesses on transition and employment for people with autism, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and other developmental disabilities. On a daily basis he works with individuals with disabilities, communicates regularly with professionals in the world of business related to disability and diversity, and is active in teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and doctoral students in rehabilitation medicine, special education, rehabilitation and psychology. A major focus of Dr. Wehman's work is on expanding the partnerships with businesses of all sizes so that more persons with disabilities can gain entrance into the workplace and retain employment successfully.

He is a recipient of the Kennedy Foundation Award in Mental Retardation in 1990 and President's Committee on Employment for Persons with Disabilities in 1992. Dr. Wehman was recognized as one of the 50 most influential special educators of the millennium by the Remedial and Special Education journal in December, 2000. He is also Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Catherine A. Anderson, Ph.D., CRC, received her doctorate in rehabilitation psychology and serves as a researcher and project director in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Anderson has been actively working in the field of rehabilitation counseling as a practitioner, policy maker, administrator, and researcher for more than 20 years. Her research efforts emphasize the identification, implementation, and study of evidence-based employment practices with transition-age youth and their families.

Judy Averill, M.Ed., serves as a transition training associate at the Virginia Commonwealth University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, Center on Transition Innovations. Since 1989, she has taught students in K-12 school settings from all disability categories and in various service delivery models. Ms. Averill was a transition specialist for a large school district in Virginia. She provided support, training, and consultation to all middle and high school special education staff on transition compliance, effective transition practices, and self-determination and developed various school-to-work programs for students with significant disabilities. She has served on several state- and district-level committees, which included two terms on the Virginia State Special Education Advisory Committee. Her areas of interest include best practices in transition planning, transition from school to work, service delivery issues, and systems change.

Valerie Brooke, M.Ed., has been a faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and has worked in the field of employment for people with significant disabilities for more than 35 years. Ms. Brooke is Project Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employer Practices, Director of Wehman Training for the VCU's Autism Center of Excellence, and Director for Employment Services, a Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities-accredited program serving individuals from the state vocational rehabilitation program. Ms. Brooke completed an 18-month appointment to the Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities by the U.S. Secretary of Labor as a provision of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and she has served on the editorial board for the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation since 2000.

DiAnne B. Davidsen, Ph.D., began teaching students with disabilities in 1970, and during her career, she has been a classroom teacher, a transition specialist, Director of Special Education, and an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her areas of interest are in preparing individuals with disabilities for success at the postsecondary college and careers level and in working with individuals from diverse populations.

Elizabeth Evans Getzel, Ph.D., is Director of Postsecondary Education Initiatives with the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has extensive experience conducting research, evaluation, and training in the areas of transition planning for secondary students with disabilities, postsecondary education for students with disabilities, and career planning/employment for individuals with disabilities. She currently directs approximately $3 million of grant-funded projects focusing on supported education in postsecondary education, career development for college students with disabilities, faculty professional development focusing on universal design principles, and secondary education transition services. Her research interests include secondary education transition planning, self-determination skills of college students with disabilites, and effective services and supports for college students with disabilities. Ms. Getzel serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disabilityand is on the editorial boards for the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation and The Journal for Vocational Special Needs Education She has authored or co-authored journal articles and book chapters on transition, career development, postsecondary education, and employment. In addition, Ms. Getzel has presented extensively at state, national, and international conferences and at meetings on her projects and research areas.

Ellie C. Hartman, Ph.D., BCBA-D, received her doctorate in educational psychologyâ "special education from the University of Minnesota and currently serves as Senior Scientist at the University of Wisconsin Stout-Vocational Rehabilitation Institute. Through a contract with Wisconsin's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation at the Department of Workforce Development, Dr. Hartman currently serves as Project Manager for Wisconsin PROMISE (https: //promisewi.com), a federal research demonstration grant aimed at improving the education, employment, and financial self- sufficiency of teenagers receiving Supplemental Security Income and their families. Dr. Hartman has been actively working in the fields of special education and employment for people with disabilities as a behavior analyst, evaluator, and administrator for more than 15 years. Her research efforts emphasize the importance of inclusion, empowerment, employment, translating research into practice, improving practice through formative evaluation, and improving policy based on evidence.

Jennifer Todd McDonough, M.S., CRC, has more than 22 years of experience in the field of vocational rehabilitation. She serves as Associate Director of Training at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)'s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, where she creates unique personnel training programs and provides technical assistance for employment issues for individuals with disabilities across a variety of target audiences. Ms. McDonough is also Project Director of National School 2 Work Autism Research Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project, a randomized control trial study and serves as the Virginia Project SEARCH Statewide Coordinator. In her career with VCU, Ms. McDonough has been an active researcher and practitioner as well as a frequent contributor to the literature, and she is known for her ability to assist people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in securing competitive integrated employment.