Zooming into Focus: A VCU-RRTC-IDD Podcast

Season 2 of VCU-RRTC-IDD’s Zooming into Focus Podcast launches two brand new episodes featuring the Project’s Principal Investigator Dr. Paul Wehman! In this episode 14 (Part 2), Dr. Wehman gives us insight into the future of disability employment!

Season 2 of VCU-RRTC-IDD’s Zooming into Focus Podcast launches two brand new episodes featuring the Project’s Principal Investigator Dr. Paul Wehman! In episode 13, Dr. Wehman discusses the big picture of the project include the history and present of the Employment of Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

On this episode we are joined by Employment Specialist Grace Ward. she tells us about her experiences in the field and gives us some insight into what an employment specialist does and how they assist individuals with IDD in gaining and maintaining employment.  

Brandon Jenkins stops by to discuss their experiences in employment as well as quality of life since being employed. Brandon is a member of the Study 2 Advisory Committee, assisting project team members in creating meaningful products and providing insight into quality of life factors for individuals with IDD in employment.

Dr. Lecorn-Huckaby and Dr. Temple join us to continue the discussion from Episode 9 about Research Study 3's Tech Prep intervention, as they also recently launched the first cohort of the online Tech-Prep course for students with IDD in Virginia.

Dr. Josh Taylor and Dr. Holly Whittenburg join us from Washington State University. They are working on Research Study 3’s Tech Prep intervention and they, along with their colleagues, recently launched the first cohort of the online Tech-Prep course for students with IDD.

In a special early released    episode of Zooming into Focus, Whitney and Crystal have a conversation about training and technical assistance and how the general public can utilize the resources that are produced by the project team. They also discuss what Technical Assistance is and how people can gain information from the team about anything IDD and disability employment related.

Troy Carter, a research and communications assistant on the project, tells us about his journey to his current career and the ups and downs along the way. He also gives us his views on the five studies of the project and his experiences with each topic.

We are joined by Dr. Carol Schall, the principal investigator of Research Study Five. She breaks down the research that she and her team are conducting to increase the quality of supported employment services provided to people with IDD by establishing a valid and reliable scale for implementation.

We sit down with Jaclyn Camden, the principal investigator of Research Study Four, and discuss the research of her and her team as they create a technical assistance and training model for college professionals to improve employment opportunities for college students with IDD.