Progress 05/01/23 to 04/30/24
Outputs
Target Audience: Undergraduate students with interest in becoming a professionally registered horticultural therapist and are also interested in vocational rehabilitation from Rutgers and other academic institutions. Targeted individuals with disabilities in the autism spectrum disorder, intellectual/developmental disability; and, Current and aspiring practitioners of horticultural therapy, vocational rehabilitation, and disability services and other related professionals. Efforts: The Summer 2024 vocational horticultural therapy internship/workshop was announced on 2/26/24, and we received 4 applicants through our online application system to fill a total of 4 internship positions. We did not receive any applicants from other universities for this upcoming learning experience. We have, however been in contact with the horticultural therapy certificate program at the University of Oregon to develop and offer a Mini symposium to their student body as well as local horticultural therapy practitioners specifically addressing issues pertaining to providing green industry vocational skills training to individuals with disabilities. University of Oregon expressed interest in hosting the mini symposium, however, the content, schedule, and dates and yet to be determined as of 4/11/24. Changes/Problems:The major challenge experienced in implementing this vocational rehabilitation program is the availability of clients (individuals on the autism spectrum) for the program. Since the inception of the program, we have been targeting school-to-work transition aged youth in this program and have partnered with special services schools in the New Brunswick, NJ area. Over the past 3 years, however, we have observed a progression of hesitancy of the special services schools to make referrals to our program, aside from complications resulting from the COVID pandemic. The hesitancy to refer clients to our program is due to a conflict of interest with their own programs. (Special services schools are funded by the New Brunswick School District to provide in-house training services to students. The conflict-of-interest issue stems from referring active students at their school to the Rutgers Horticultural Therapy Vocational Rehabilitation Program to conduct vocational training that special services schools already receive payment to perform). We attempted to address this issue with the school system by requesting the school to make referrals of their recent graduates to our program. We anticipated that it would be a better fit because the individuals with ASD who have completed their education would be looking for work at this point. When speaking with the ASD student group and the school staff, sufficient interest in our Rutgers program continues to exist, but lack of referrals still remains even after clients left the school system, likely due to the perceived conflict of interest. The inability to attract appropriate clientele to the program reduces the number of Horticultural Therapy (HT) undergraduate students that can participate in the program. As an example, a 1 client/2 HT students ratio creates a comfortable learning environment by preventing overloading and overstimulation of the client. For this reason, we originally budgeted for 6 students to participate in year 4, but we only accepted 4 (3 matriculating and 1 grant ineligible non-matriculating) to avoid ratio imbalance. To address the issues experienced thus far, we are adjusting and reorganizing the program to meet the needs of Horticultural Therapy students, and to complete the goals of this grant. As part of our adjustment to address issues associated with the New Brunswick school system, we intend to redirect the program not to include students with disabilities as clients unless we can reach an agreement with the Special Services schools within the New Brunswick school district. We are currently developing a new 2-week green industry vocational skills training program for our undergraduate HT students. The course will reflect upon and respond to the issues we have learned thus far with the Vocational Rehabilitation process. In addition to this new program, we will participate in a symposium on vocational skills training education/programming hosted by the Oregon State University Horticultural Therapy Program. Travel to conferences has also been a challenge and is a direct result of the Covid pandemic, in which annual meetings of the American Horticultural Therapy Association were held virtually. For the final year of the grant we plan tocover the cost of 4 horticultural therapy participating in the new 2-week green industry vocational skills training program to attend a mini symposium at Oregon State University (OSU) through their Horticultural Therapy Program. The mini-symposium will provide a forum for relevant discussion on progression, challenges and advancements in the vocational rehabilitation field. Undergraduates from OSU and Rutgers students will be able to present case studies, work collaboratively to develop new idea and also attend field tips to clinical sites that support Horticultural Therapy. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As mentioned above in the Efforts section of the report, we have begun making efforts to educate other horticultural therapist practitioners in the vocational skills training model that we have created as a result of this project by partnering with Oregon State University to hold a mini symposium on the subject. Aside from presentations given at the American Horticultural Therapy Association annual conferences, this is our first attempt at providing education to practitioners who are working in the field and are interested in providing vocational skills training services to their clients served. Additionally, Co-PI Gary Altman will assess whether or not this green industry vocational skills training program model is an adequate platform to develop the work-related soft skills needed to obtain and maintain green industry employment by utilizing the infrastructure that was created as a result of this grant project to complete his dissertation study on the effectiveness of a vocational horticultural therapy program on the development of work-related soft skills and complete his Ph.D. in Psychiatric Rehabilitation - Counselor Education and Supervision degree How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A presentation describing our program, its goals, and assessment tools and procedures was submitted and accepted by the American Horticultural Therapy Association for the Association's annual online conference held on October 20-21, 2023. The Presentation was titled, "Vocational Assessment in Horticultural Therapy": The conference presentation was given by Gary Altman. Students did not participate in this presentation as the conference was held online, there were technological issues with students logging in to present, and also there was a miscommunication from the AHTA about the presentation time due to differing time zones. The conference presentation content included a description of vocational HT programming and the need and role of assessment to be included as part of vocational HT services. The assessment helps to identify and clarify strengths and abilities of the client to make a better client/green industry job match. Some assessments utilized in our program require specific training and education, while some assessments do not. The presentation described assessments that can be administered by undergraduate students with some training, while others require an advanced degree and/or specific training. The presentation also provided information on how to design an assessment battery (list of multiple assessments to address specific questions such as, "Can this client work?" and "What kind of green industry work can the client do?"). The presentation reviewed information on validity and reliability considerations when selecting assessment instruments. Assessment validity is a statistical concept that refers to how well the assessment instrument measures what it is intended to measure. Reliability in assessment refers to whether an assessment instrument gives the same results each time it is used. In vocational HT, we aim to only use assessment instruments that are high in validity and high in reliability to achieve the best outcomes of the client (i.e. the best client/green industry job match). Last, the AHTA presentation reviewed ethical and cultural considerations in using assessment instruments with clients. Ethical and cultural considerations are important in assessment as often assessments are not created with individuals with disabilities or cognitive impairments in mind and this can skew the results of the assessments. Therefore, some assessment results must be interpreted accordingly. In terms of cultural considerations, it is important to consider the various cultural considerations such as ethnicity, style of communication, language, educational level, values, and customs as all of these factors have a significant impact on the results of an assessment instrument. By the end of the AHTA conference presentation, the attendees were able to describe the significance of assessment in vocational HT programming, the attendees were able to describe how to obtain and use labor market data for the purpose of vocational HT programming and describe various approaches to using assessments in vocational HT programming. In addition, to the above conference, we have given a presentation to the American Horticultural Therapy Association monthly webinar panel discussion celebrating National Horticultural Therapy Week on March 19, 2024. After the presentation was given, we have been approached by a practitioner and horticultural therapy educator who is affiliated with the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association. A meeting is scheduled for 4/15/24 to review the outcomes of the green industry vocational skills training program and explore the possibility/feasibility of replicating the model in vocational programs provided by Canadian horticultural therapy practitioners. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project has enabled the Rutgers SEBS Horticultural Therapy Program to develop best practices to engaging individuals with disabilities in realistic work opportunity, however, it has become clear that there is a bigger need for advocacy of individuals to be included in vocations/vocational preparation than was initially expected due to several reasons such as agencies being unwilling to refer clients to our program because clients would then be absent from the referring program and the referring program will not be able to bill for services. Within the next reporting period, we plan to address the issues we have experienced in implementing this program by incorporating significant adjustments to the internship course into our programming. These changes include updating the course content to include more advocacy work to involve clients in green industry vocational work. These changes have been described in the previously submitted No-Cost Extension. In summary, we plan to re-organize the internship experience to develop a 2-week workshop focused on Horticultural Therapy students to address issues associated with the many facets of developing, implementing and sustaining a vocational rehabilitation program in Green Industry Skills. All the challenges associated with the past year's program will be included in the workshop to address these as a learning component. We hope this new workshop will provide a better road map for the vocational rehabilitation program establishment.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Since the end of the first training session in 2021, we have observed several students graduate from their baccalaureate degree programs and pursue employment in a vocational skills training related field. Two students obtained employment at a special services school providing basic horticultural education and skills training in a prevocational program. One student obtained employment in a public high school within their high school horticulture education program and is currently seeking a certificate in special education. Another student completed the internship and immediately enrolled in a Master of Science in rehabilitation counseling program (rehabilitation counselors are also known as vocational counselors). In addition to students entering into vocational skills training related professions and/or pursing advanced education and training in vocational rehabilitation or special education, we are beginning to see a noticeable change in the green industry vocational skills training labor market in New Jersey, where there was not much of an interest in green industry vocational skills training prior to the start of this grant project. The collaborations between Rutgers SEBS and community rehabilitation programs, urban farms, the creation of a vocational horticultural therapist job description for the state of New Jersey, as well as, collaboration efforts amongst horticultural therapy practitioners in Canada (See "how have the results been disseminated to communities" section below) indicate that this vocational horticultural therapy skills training model fills a gap where training was not being offered before, is needed by clients and programs that serve clients and is in high demand.
Publications
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Progress 05/01/22 to 04/30/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audiences: Undergraduate students with interest in becoming a professionally registered horticultural therapists specific to green industry skills training Individuals with disabilities in the autism spectrum disorder, intellectual/developmental disability; and, Current and aspiring practitioners of horticultural therapy with interest in developing vocational rehabilitation programs Efforts: Formal classroom instruction for horticultural therapy students. Students learn about vocational needs of individuals with disabilities seeking employment in the green industry. They also learn to conduct labor market surveys, and job analysis evaluation methods for assessing clientele acquisition of vocational skills training. Student experiential learning for horticultural therapy students. Students participate (20 hr/wk) in supervised, direct training contact of clients contact consisting of individuals with disabilities who seek training Changes/Problems:An unexpected outcome for our program is that it has been more challenging than expected to attract clients and recruit students to participate in this project. For the 2021 and 2022 sessions, it was difficult to identify clients who met and would adhere to the Rutgers COVID Protocols for being on campus, and this excluded many potential clients from receiving services. In addition, there were less students than expected who applied for this internship. Many students (at Rutgers and at other university HT educational programs) are non-traditional (non-matriculating) students and are excluded from receiving the grand award and there is a decreased incentive to participate in this experience. Lastly, the clients that we have been working with in this program are transition aged youth (ages 16-22) and we have observed that these students are significantly behind in their developmental/learning goals and have been in a less than ideal position to start in this program (i.e. have significant behavioral issues that preclude one's ability to work independently in the community, poverty of vocational knowledge and/or experience, lack of realistic understanding of skills and abilities). It is our best guess that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to these delays. We would like to explore working with a slightly older age group (22-30) as it may be that these individuals are more prepared to enter the world of work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided the opportunity for the Co-PI Gary Altman to become a certified vocational evaluator specialist in 2021, a requirement necessary to provide many essential? services through the state/federal vocational rehabilitation system. This evaluation certification makes the program unique in the sense that many current vocational programs that provide services to individuals with ASD do not/cannot provide vocational assessment to make the best match between the job seeker and the employers. Horticultural therapy students were able to present their work to members of a professional organization through participating in a conference presentation and/or poster presentation. The internship experience has been able to be utilized by students to meet the requirement for the professionally registered Horticultural Therapist credentials (HTR) which graduates of the program have been able to achieve. This project has created a new avenue of potential work in the profession of horticultural therapy as evidenced by various school systems and community-based agencies reaching out in effort to replicate the program at their sites. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the first- and second-year programs were shared at the 2022 American Horticultural Therapy Association Annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri on September 9, 2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Within the next 2023 reporting period, we will continue to identify in-demand green industry jobs through the process of labor market surveys as the labor market changes from year to year. Through this process, Rutgers will begin to develop relationships with employers in the community and will then serve as the liaison between the job seeker (individual with ASD) and the employer. For the Summer 2023 sessions, we will have established a connection with the NJ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (NJ DVR) as a source of client referrals. The NJ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation is the agency that provided continued funding for these types of programs, and we intend to become an approved vender of VR services so that this programming becomes financially sustainable after the grant period concludes.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: The internship course was developed and implemented for the first time during the 2021 summer session. Six undergraduate students enrolled in the course received the grant stipend; however, the program added two additional interns who did not receive funding due to having an interest in engaging individuals with ASD in vocational training. There was a lack of student applicants from other colleges and universities in 2021 year possibly due to COVID-19 reasons as students started to come out of the remote phases. For 2022 instructors at horticultural therapy education programs at colleges or universities received a personalized email encouraging students to apply to the internship. For summer 2022, 3 students from the Rutgers HT program applied for and received grant funding, and one Rutgers student completed the internship but could not receive the funding due to her non-matriculating student status. We also believe that student interest was low because many students (traditional and non-traditional) are required to work full time during the summer to support themselves during the academic year, and the internship in the summer makes it difficult. Objective 2: The vocational rehabilitation green industry skills training program has been a successful experiential learning opportunity for horticultural therapy students, with a total of 9 students receiving stipends through the grant funds since 2021. The internship experience is desirable among Horticultural Therapy students who do not meet grant requirements (i.e., non-matriculating students), as evidenced by the involvement of non-matriculating students in the program each year who do not qualify to receive the grant funds. The students in this program have gained hands on learning experience to train clients on the Autism spectrum with various green industry skills.
Publications
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Progress 05/01/21 to 04/30/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audiences: Undergraduate students with interest in becoming a professionally registered horticultural therapist and are also interested in vocational rehabilitation from Rutgers and other academic institutions Targeted individuals with disabilities in the autism spectrum disorder, intellectual/developmental disability; and, Current and aspiring practitioners of horticultural therapy Efforts: The purpose and scope of the Green Industry Skills Training Program was advertised to the Rutgers University horticultural therapy student body. We created an online application form for ease of applicants, especially for attracting candidates outside of Rutgers. We also developed an interview process to screen for candidates with the appropriate skill set to complete the internship training. We created a new webpage specific to the Rutgers Green Industry Skills Training Program (https://plantbiology.rutgers.edu/hort-therapy/internship-program/). This webpage links to the Rutgers horticultural therapy program main webpage (https://plantbiology.rutgers.edu/hort-therapy/). We formed relationships with agencies serving individuals with ASD, including three local special services schools and one traditional high school, as sources for client referrals to our program. A formal program announcement was sent to the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) for approval to distribute to AHTA members. The announcement was also emailed directly to every educator who teaches at an AHTA-accredited horticultural therapy certificate program. The announcement contains information about the project, eligibility information for horticultural therapy students, and links to the Rutgers Horticultural Therapy website and online application. We have received additional Rutgers Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to conduct qualitative research on the specific needs of individuals with ASD who are seeking employment in the general public workforce. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided the opportunity for the co-PI (Mr. Gary Altman) to become a certified vocational evaluator specialist, which is a requirement to provide many services through the state/federal vocational rehabilitation system. This evaluation certification makes the program unique in the sense that many current vocational programs that provide services to individuals with ASD are unable to provide vocational assessment to make the best match between the job seeker and the employers. As another benefit, horticultural therapy student interns gained experience engaging ASD clients in direct skills training techniques. The students learned to modify tasks to match with client abilities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have not yet been disseminated. The results of the first-year program will be shared at the 2022 American Horticultural Therapy Association Annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, qualitative research is currently underway and will be ready for publication within the next year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Within the next reporting period, we will continue to identify in-demand green industry jobs through the process of reviewing labor market surveys. Through this process, Rutgers will begin developing relationships with local community employers, with the intention of serving as the liaison between the job seeker (individual with ASD) and the employer. We will also continue to make connections within the vocational rehabilitation service system through establishing a rapport with the NJ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities so that we may begin working towards becoming an approved vender of VR services. Through this process we will address barriers to employment such as stigma and misinformation about individuals with disabilities and their ability to work.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: The fully developed internship course was implemented for the first time for the 2021 summer session. Six matriculating undergraduate students were awarded paid internships as part of the grant funding. In addition, two additional unpaid interns (who did not qualify for receiving grant-provided stipends) were accepted to the program as a result of their interest in engaging individuals with ASD in vocational training. Despite advertising and an online application process, there was a lack of applicants of students from other colleges and universities in the 2021 year, possibly due to reasons associated with the pandemic. For 2022, the announcement to apply to the internship was made much earlier, and each instructor at horticultural therapy education program at a college or university received a personalized email encouraging students to apply to the internship. Objective 2: The vocational rehabilitation skills training program was a successful experiential learning opportunity in year 1. This internship experience can be used to fulfill part of the internship requirement for professional registration for horticultural therapists (HTR) add AHTA HTR website.
Publications
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Progress 05/01/20 to 04/30/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Year 1 - 2020 Target Audience and Efforts: We could not reach the specified target audience (undergraduate students interested in Horticultural Therapy and clients with disabilities in the autism spectrum disorder) and the efforts associated with year 1 of the project description due to COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. In March 2020, Rutgers University initiated a complete lockdown of non-essential personnel. This prevented faculty, staff, students, and all non-Rutgers personnel from entering or conducting work involving face-to-face interactions, directly affected our ability to initiate our internship program during the summer of 2020 (year 1). Changes/Problems:There was significant impact on the initiation of the project in year 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are applying for a no cost extension and budget modification which will allow the use of funds appropriately. With restriction on travel due to COVID, the PI and Co-PI did not require the travel funds to attend the NIFA investigator meeting in year 1. A budget modification to allot this money towards student stipends in year 1 and supply material was submitted and waiting approval. We anticipate in year 2 (2021) that the internship components involving students, faculty and clients will be approved for a campus-based program by Rutgers University in relation to COVID-19. We are currently assessing the feasibility of participation of individuals with ASD participation in the vocational training program considering campus COVID-19 policies and procedures. All clients must agree and adhere to the established COVID-19 precautions (masks, social distancing, etc.). The Co-PI (Altman) is in the process of adapting the vocational horticultural therapy assessments and interventions to telehealth technology which can be used to minimize direct contact. The use of telehealth will enable clients to complete vocational assessments remotely. This will enable horticultural therapy students to provide individual and group horticultural technical skills education remotely using online applications and video conferencing systems. This approach will help to address issues with the University permitting clients be present on campus, minimizing uncomfortable feelings the client and his/her/their family members may hold about being around others, and still allow for the client to be working towards obtaining their green industry vocational goal by remaining engaged in our evaluation and training program. The skills training site during year 1 will be conducted mostly in an enclosed, outdoor setting with plenty of space to assure social distancing. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have requested a one-year No Cost Extension due to the COVID-19 restrictions which did not allow us to complete original goals of year 1. Within the next reporting period, we will have made announcements through all of the identified avenues and will begin to accept applications of HT students into the internship course. We plan to have multiple sources of ASD client referrals and will begin interviewing clients for inclusion in our program. Co-PI, G. Altman, will be in the process of obtaining the Certified Vocational Evaluator credential through the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC). We expect this program to be operational and open to receiving clients, provided Rutgers University approves non-Rutgers personnel for campus-based programming. Faculty, staff, and students are currently returning to in-person presence on campus in a reduced capacity, with the expectation the Rutgers will be a near full capacity by Fall 2021. With this in mind, we expect our program to proceed during the Summer 2021 instructional sessions.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: The internship classroom course content and syllabus has been developed. The course will be available for student registration during summer sessions. Objective 2: Nothing to report at this time due to COVID-19.
Publications
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