NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The State of Connecticut, Department of Aging and Disability Services, Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB) will be conducting a public hearing on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. by teleconference. The purpose of the hearing is to offer the public, consumers, advocates, agencies and organizations the opportunity to provide comments pertaining to proposed changes to the Vocational Rehabilitation Program policies that govern the provision of Personal Adjustment Training. The proposed policy changes are available for review immediately below. To request an accommodation in order to participate in the teleconference public hearing, please email lisa.tanguay@ct.gov by no later than November 6, 2020.
Comments may be submitted orally at the public hearing teleconference, or may be submitted at any time during this public comment period via email to: brian.sigman@ct.gov; mailed to Brian Sigman, Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind, 184 Windsor Avenue, Windsor, CT, 06095, or recorded onto voice mail at (860) 602-4008. To participate in the public hearing through teleconference, please call (877) 926-0531 and enter passcode 4506731# at any time between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on November 18, 2020. All comments received prior to the close of business on Friday, November 20, 2020 will be fully considered.
BESB Vocational Rehabilitation Program Policy: Personal Adjustment Training
KEY: Proposed changes are found in the wording in between asterisks ( * ). Proposed additions to existing policy are underlined and proposed deletions to existing policy are in between brackets.
POLICY
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] in an accessible format at two month intervals for the duration of the training program curriculum. [, and continued] Continued* authorizations for training should be based on the demonstration of reasonable progress *toward mastering the personal habits, attitudes, and skills identified in the training provider’s curriculum,* 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.]*