[CT-NFB] FW: Agenda for Advisory Board and State Rehabilitation Council June meetings to discuss VR Policy on Personal Adjustment Programs and NFB of CT resolution

Fri May 29 15:26:05 UTC 2020

Dear Federation Family and Chapter Presidents,

Please see the correspondence from Brian Sigman. Our resolution is on the
agenda now for the Advisory Board and State Rehabilitation Council meeting
on June 18th. Information on how to access the call is within  the body of
the email.

Best Regards,

Maryanne Melley

President

National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut

860-212-5549

"Live the Life You Want"

Subject: Agenda for Advisory Board and State Rehabilitation Council June
meetings to discuss VR Policy on Personal Adjustment Programs and NFB of CT
resolution

Good afternoon President Melley,

The Advisory Board for Persons who are Blind or Visually Impaired and the
State Rehabilitation Council to BESB shall each be taking up the topic of
the VR Policy on Personal Adjustment Programs as well as the NFB of CT
resolution pertaining to that policy that was passed on April 7, 2020. The
Advisory Board meeting is on June 18th from 10:00 a.m. to noon and the State
Rehabilitation Council meeting is on June 24th from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Each
meeting is open to the public and there is a public comment opportunity on
the agenda of each meeting. The agendas are attached to this email. In
advance of their respective meetings, Chairman Sylvestre of the Advisory
Board and Chairman Bartley of the State Rehabilitation Council have each
forwarded to their membership the relevant VR policy, the NFB of CT
resolution and a link to the article that is referenced in the resolution.
That information is pasted in below. Anyone who wishes to attend either or
both of these tele-meetings can access the meeting by calling 1-877-926-0531
and entering passcode 4506731#. 

Sincerely,

Brian

Link to article:  On the Duration of Sleepshade Training in the Adjustment
to Blindness
<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nfb.o
rg%2Fimages%2Fnfb%2Fpublications%2Fjbir%2Fjbir17%2Fjbir070202.html&data=01%7
C01%7CBrian.Sigman%40ct.gov%7C472c188847394cfe619c08d7fe5a4515%7C118b7cfaa3d
d48b9b02631ff69bb738b%7C0&sdata=x5TbdXSJajffphQOADYRK5c5NzcR08Jse%2FtX3rzUNI
w%3D&reserved=0> 

VR Policy: Personal Adjustment Training 

Personal Adjustment Training refers to any training given for one, or a
combination, of the following reasons: (A) To assist an individual to
acquire personal habits, attitudes, and skills which will enable the
individual to function effectively with a disability; (B) To develop or
increase work tolerance prior to engaging in pre-employment or vocational
training or in employment; (C) To develop work habits and to orient the
individual to employment; or (D) To develop skills or techniques for the
specific purpose of enabling the individual to compensate for the loss of a
member of the body or the loss of a sensory function.

Prior to making a determination that out of state residential personal
adjustment training programs are necessary for achievement of the employment
outcome as identified in the Individualized Plan for Employment or
subsequent amendment, the client will participate in an independent living
evaluation with a Rehabilitation Teacher and a mobility evaluation with an
Orientation and Mobility Instructor employed by the Bureau. Services
available through an in-state option as documented in the rehabilitation
teaching evaluation or mobility evaluation shall be provided by staff of the
Bureau. In situations where no feasible in-state option exists to address
the client's employment outcome, the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and
client shall review the options available for residential personal
adjustment programs in order for the client to make an informed decision. 

For training at community rehabilitation programs, the Bureau may use the
approved fee schedules from other agencies, including rates established by
the public Vocational Rehabilitation Programs of the applicable state. In
addition, the Commissioner of the Department of Rehabilitation Services may
negotiate and establish rates.  

Progress reports are required at periodic intervals agreed to between the
provider and the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and continued
authorizations for training should be based on the demonstration of
reasonable progress and the documented need for additional training.  

The Vocational Rehabilitation Program shall not fund more than 12 weeks of
attendance at a residential independent living program, including the
assessment period, unless the State Director has preapproved an extension
beyond that timeframe. In requesting an extension of funding from the State
Director, the vendor must include the following information:  

(A) The list of skills that were not mastered during the first 10 weeks of
attendance;

(B) The reason(s) the skills cannot be mastered in the remaining portion of
the 12 week period;

(C) The basis for concluding that the skills could be mastered with
additional training beyond 12 weeks; 

(D) The anticipated length of time required for the client to master these
additional skills; and  

(E) The measure that will be used as the benchmark to demonstrate the skills
were mastered.

Resolution 2020-01: Urging the Department of Rehabilitation Services (DORS),
Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB), Vocational
Rehabilitation Program (VR) to Extend its Default Duration of Residential
Training

WHEREAS, adjustment to blindness training in a residential setting exists to
help blind people develop a set of nonvisual skills and techniques, as well
as achieve an emotional adjustment to blindness; and

WHEREAS, without the emotional adjustment to blindness, a set of nonvisual
skills and techniques are unlikely to be used to their optimal benefit in
the consumer's broader life and vocational rehabilitation process, which is
why the emotional adjustment is often called the "keystone" or the "glue" of
the blindness rehabilitation process; and

WHEREAS, as explained in Salisbury's 2017 peer-reviewed research manuscript
in the Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research, "On the Duration of
Sleepshade Training in the Adjustment to Blindness," the emotional
adjustment to blindness is specifically what makes personal adjustment
training require six to nine months on a full-time basis at a residential
center; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 3, Section 10, Subsection d) (3) of the Department of
Rehabilitation Services (DORS), Bureau of Education and Services for the
Blind (BESB), Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR) Policy Manual begins by
stating that "Personal Adjustment Training refers to any training given for
one, or a combination, of the following reasons: (A) To assist an individual
to acquire personal habits, attitudes, and skills which will enable the
individual to function effectively with a disability," thus acknowledging
the emphasis on acquiring personal habits, attitudes and skills; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 3, Section 10, Subsection d) (3) of the DORS BESB VR Policy
Manual later states that "The Vocational Rehabilitation Program shall not
fund more than 12 weeks of attendance at a residential independent living
program, including the assessment period, unless the State Director has
preapproved an extension beyond that timeframe," and then discusses only the
acquisition of skills as a justification for the extension, thus
disregarding the acquisition of personal habits and attitudes which will
enable the individual to function effectively with their blindness; and

WHEREAS, this policy creates a systematic bias against attending residential
programs for the six- to nine-month time period required to assist an
individual to acquire personal habits, attitudes, and skills which will
enable the individual to function effectively; now, therefore, be it 

RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut, in a
meeting of its Board of Directors on this seventh day of April, 2020, via
teleconference, that this organization urges the Department of
Rehabilitation Services (DORS), Bureau of Education and Services for the
Blind (BESB), Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR) to change its threshold
in Chapter 3, Section 10, Subsection d) (3) of its Policy Manual requiring
State Director preapproval for an extension from 12 weeks to 9 months to
conform its policy on the default duration of training to match the time
required to fulfill the needs of the stated purpose of personal adjustment
training. 

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