Development of an AT Questionnaire for VR Counselors

Initiative Description

MonTECH's Program Director sits on Montana's state vocational rehab's AT Team as its only community member. All other members are managers from sites across the state. This year, the group identified a need for VR counselors to have access to an AT Questionnaire to both increase awareness that AT is a possible solution for client challenges and to give them a concrete tool to use during client interviews to assess AT needs. This collaborative effort took many months and several revisions before it was accepted by senior leadership at VR. It is organized by category of AT (vision, hearing, communication, writing, reading, computer access, organization, ADLs, energy management, transportation, etc.) and then proposes questions that a counselor could ask a client related to that category. The questionnaire will be rolled out during staff meetings and highlighted in an upcoming VR newsletter. No funding was needed to create the questionnaire, but it will benefit all future VR clients across the state. 

Lessons Learned/Replication

Employment has always been an area of AT that MonTECH has struggled to have as much impact in compared to education and community living. This partnership really connects MonTECH services to VR counselors in both populated and more rural counties. The questionnaire directly outlines MonTECH as a statewide resource for additional information. We anticipate an increase in I&A, demonstrations, loans, and evaluations related to employment in the coming year due to this initiative. Our hope is that this resource gets updated and shared on a yearly basis for continued implementation. 

Year of Implementation

2021

Focus Areas

State

Montana

Initiative contact information

Molly Kimmel
molly.kimmel@mso.umt.edu