A Critical Review About Job Coaching in Supported Work Programs

This article, “Job Coaching in Supported Work Programs ", which is written by Diane C. Fadely , a professor of University of Wisconsin-Stout, argues supported employment program's value and job coach role's significant for supported employment program's success. Author insists that supported employment program is more effective than any other vocational rehabilitation program and job coach's role is the most important for supported employment's success. Author tries to introduce a lot of information about supported employment program and describe detail job description for the job coach. However, Author fails to delivery readers her own major points effectively because this article has problems both the constructive side and the content side.

This article's most critical purpose is to emphasize significance of job coach's role in the supported employment program. First, author introduces radical change in rehabilitation and related philosophy with introducing supported work and transitional employment and criticizing the remedial approach for the disabled. Second, author describes transitional employment which somewhat differ to supported employment because of time-limited program or unlimited program. Like supported employment transitional employment also emphasizes job coach's role and performs fundamental 6 processes such as job development, job analysis, client-to-job matching, on-the-job training, and worker evaluation. Third, author introduces problems of other vocational rehabilitation models such as train-place worksites model, cooperative or apprenticeship program, and sheltered employment program to exhibit supported employment program's advantages. Especially, author criticizes sheltered workshop program's problems such as separation with the mainstream population and poor wage and benefit packages. Fourth, author introduces supported employment program's benefits and job coach' role significance with describing job description for the job coach. Fifth, author introduces service oriented jobs which are mainly engaged by the disabled people. Finally, author explains requirements and qualities for job coach and argues supported employment program's basic philosophy and premise.

Although author provides much information related to supported employment program and introduces job coach's role explicitly, author fails to argue her own main point effectively and locally. First, author explains and emphasizes significance of job coach's role through describing detail job description effectively. However, this article's construction is not logical and clear because article's logical arrangement is not appropriate. Finally, author fails to exhibit supported employment program's advantages effectively because author dose not compare traditional vocational rehabilitation paradigm with supported employment paradigm clearly.

First, author tries to stress job coach's role in the vocational rehabilitation processes for supported employment program's success. First of all, author explains job coach's detail roles and duties through introducing supported employment program's basic 5 processes. Such concrete explanation can give a lot of helps for vocational rehabilitation specialists managing supported employment program in the vocational rehabilitation field. Also, author provide readers concrete information about requirements and qualities for becoming professional job coach. It will provide great advices not only vocational rehabilitation specialists but also prospective professionals.

Second, even though author tries to explain supported employment program’s advantages and significance of job coach’ role, author does not delivery such two concepts to readers effectively. First of all, author failed to make an appropriate article flame or outline to develop author’s argument. Author does not explain necessity of supported employment program fully in the article’s introduction. Author suggests significance and necessity of supported employment program in the philosophical side and human rights side not in the beginning but in the ending. Next, author leads to much confusion in argument processes because author use too much concepts related supported employment program such as transitional employment, train-place worksites model, cooperative or apprenticeship program, and sheltered employment program. Especially, using ‘transitional employment’ concept which is very similar to supported employment concept deepens confusion understanding supported employment’s concept and benefit. Lastly, author inserts types of jobs for the supported employment participants regardless of article’s logical evolvement.

Finally, author fails to argue necessity advantages of supported employment program convincingly. First of all, in the beginning dividing 3 types of traditional vocational rehabilitation models is a big mistake because author’s argument becomes ambiguous with explaining each program’s concept and problem. If author want to explain necessity and benefit of supported employment program more effectively, author should try to explain either selecting one program of three programs or integrating three programs. Next, to stress advantages of supported employment program author should describe problems of traditional vocational rehabilitation strategies more concretely. Never does author suggest concrete and detail example about problems of traditional vocational rehabilitation strategies.

In conclusion, author tries to introduce profits of supported employment program and importance of job coach in this article. In other words, author fails to express author own intention fully. Concretely, author fails to make a suitable logical construction for her own argument and to compare problems of traditional vocational rehabilitation strategies to benefits of supported employment program.
To become more logical and effective article several reformations are required. First, author should modify whole logic outline. Author should consider each paragraph ordering of the article. It should be restructured more logically. Namely, in the beginning necessity of supported employment program should be stressed and body paragraph’s arrangement should be reorganized. Next, in the first part of the article author should remove contents related transitional employment, on the other hand, author should integrate three types of traditional vocational rehabilitation models. Then author should try to compare supported employment model and traditional vocational rehabilitation model simply and definitely. Finally, to define differences between supported employment model and traditional vocational rehabilitation model author may refer to a concept of individual model and social model about the disability.

References
Fadely, D. C. (1987) Job Coaching in Supported Work Programs, Menomonie, Wisconsin 54751, Materials Development Center Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute School of Education and Human Services University of Wisconsin-Stout.