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BACKGROUND: Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) is a U.S. Department of Education federal demonstration grant in collaboration with Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Social Security Administration. Wisconsin PROMISE is one of six model demonstration sites. OBJECTIVE: Through state inter-agency collaboration, the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation implemented Wisconsin PROMISE coordinated services and supports to youth with disabilities receiving supplemental security income (SSI) benefits and their families to improve education and career and financial self-sufficiency outcomes. METHODS: Wisconsin PROMISE enrolled 2,024 youth with disabilities receiving SSI benefits and their families who were randomly assigned to usual services or PROMISE services. RESULTS: Early data indicates positive results regarding engagement, employment, and earnings outcomes. Wisconsin PROMISE youth employment rates went from 1% in 2013 to 67% in 2018, 10-percentage points higher than observed with the control group. CONCLUSION: An overview of early findings from the Wisconsin PROMISE project site related to VR engagement, employment, and earnings outcomes of youth and family participants provides lessons learned that can be applied to VR practice.

Analysis and interpretation of behavior-environment relations are increasingly being conducted with data that have been derived descriptively. This paper provides an overview of the logic that underlies a sequential analytic approach to the analysis of descriptive data. Several methods for quantifying sequential relations are reviewed along with their strengths and weaknesses. Data from descriptive analyses are used to illustrate key points. Issues germane to contingency analysis in natural environments are discussed briefly. It is concluded that the conceptual distinctions among contiguity, contingency, and dependency are critical if the logic of sequential analysis is to be extended successfully to a behavior-analytic account of reinforcement in natural environments.

The effects of at least 23-hr deprivation, 5-min presession exposure, and individual preference on the acquisition of mands were investigated in these studies. Two boys who were 2.5 years old and diagnosed with autism participated in the studies. Preference assessments were conducted to identify preference levels of various toys. Toys of various preferences were then assigned to either a 23-hr deprivation or 5-min presession exposure condition for mand training. Both deprivation and preference level affected acquisition of mands. Implications for teaching children to mand are discussed.

BACKGROUND: Beginning in spring 2012, Wisconsin's Let's Get to Work (LGTW) project spent four years working with pilot school sites and state agency personnel to implement practice and policy changes designed to elevate expectations along with employment outcomes for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). This need was underscored by data demonstrating inconsistent transition practices across the state in conjunction with policy obstacles hindering employment for individuals with I/DD. Analysis of Wisconsin's 2010 post-school outcomes survey of high school students who exited in the 2008-09 school year indicated that only 14% with I/DD were employed at integrated competitive jobs. Similarly, individuals with I/DD enrolled in the adult long-term care system achieved community-based employment rates of less than 15%. To foster improved employment outcomes, LGTW employed a multi-level approach including: 1) direct work with high school pilot sites to increase utilization of evidence-based transition practices and identify policy needs; 2) coaching for school staff to implement effective transition strategies, develop resources, and generate policy ideas; 3) quarterly consortium meetings comprised of key state-level stakeholders; and, 4) policy work to formalize and take action on school and consortium recommendations. OBJECTIVE: This article discusses the characteristics and impact of Wisconsin's Let's Get to Work (LGTW) project. CONCLUSION: Over the course of the project, 73% of students who received interventions through school coaching had one or more paid work experience, a strong predictor of employment in adulthood. Numerous local and statewide policy changes were made, including expanded application of project strategies and resources. Analysis of the 2016 post-school outcomes survey data placed the rate of competitive integrated employment for 2014-15 high school exiters with I/DD at 24% in Wisconsin, up 10 percentage points statewide over the six-year period between 2010 and 2016.