dennis.cleary@cchmc.org

all messages by user

8/6/2021 Topic: VocFit Research Study Dennis Cleary	We are looking for participants in a VocFit research study to make it even better. We are looking for individuals within the United States who are between the ages of 18-22 who are receiving at last ten hours of week in 'employment instruction' and a trusted reporter (could be a Project SEARCH instructor or skills trainer, family member, etc.). They can be a Project SEARCH intern, or be in special education or Vocational Rehabilitation outside of Project SEARCH. Each pair will participate in an interview via zoom four times over a two year period and will be compensated each time. For additional information please reach out to research@colostate-tetlab.com
11/23/2021 Topic: Voc Fit Conversations with Families Dennis Cleary	Hi Meaghan, Thank you for starting this important discussion. You are using VocFit.com correctly. We are working on a unit for parents/family members -- it should be ready for January. You might start by helping families and other teachers understand the rating scale. I use the language 1. "High Ability" -- Alone in a room. Meets the standard of a host business 2. "Some Ability" -- Emerging skill. Might not be as 100% accurate or at the pace required by the host business. This can get tricky with some of the General skills (hygiene, etc.) 3. "Low Ability" Needs Extensive Support. Accuracy is not up to the standard of a host business even with a support person providing extensive support. Sometimes I think it is the language -- we don't want to say people have low ability, or a teacher who does not have community based experiences with students might not have a good understanding of their abilities. In the US, I think the paraprofessional who is with the student more often in their pre-Project SEARCH experience might be the best person to fill this out. There are going to be some natural differences in ability based on environment and the activities that an individual is asked to perform. Home routines are going to be more familiar so when you look at skills in those areas, they can be much higher than when you ask people to perform a new task in a novel environment. This is a valid and reliable assessment, but it is not standardized, so we are not comparing an intern to another group of similar-aged peers or something like that. We are actually comparing the intern to themselves over time (Measurable Change report) or to the requirements of a job (Job Matching report) or the perceived abilities at a given time (Rater Agreement Report). The Rater Agreement Report isn't necessarily to say who is right or who is wrong, but it is a communication tool to help us understand each other's perceptions. I hope that helps, but would love to hear from other Project SEARCH VocFit users. Dennis Cleary (VocFit guy)
6/7/2022 Topic: VR/VocFit Dennis Cleary	Hi Tina -- In the US, it varies by state and even VR counselor. A few state VR agencies have added VocFit to their formulary so the CRP can get paid for using VocFit and I imagine those VR counselors are very familiar with it. You can add the VR counselor and have them create an account so they can follow the interns they serve or you can just email them links to the reports -- it's up to you and the counselor. The VocFit ideal is to assess the job that is the intern's job goal, run a job matching report to identify their strengths and needs to perform that job, and then purposefully place them in internships to develop the skills identified in VocFit to reach their job goal. Then, to have the CRP have access to the data and to use VocFit as part of job development and use VocFit to create the job coaching plan once they have graduated. I'm always happy to talk with sites and VR partners about how they can incorporate VocFit into your program. For example, if you'd like to do a training for your team and include the VR counselor I would be happy to do that. Hope that helps from my view but it would be great to hear from others. Dennis Cleary (VocFit co-creator)
8/26/2022 Topic: Getting Started with VocFit! Dennis Cleary	Hello everyone. I hope your new year is off to a great start! We have created a new Get started with VocFit guide for you which is attached. The guide walks you step by step to: 1. Register your email, 2. Create a new organization, 3. Enter data about your interns and internships, and 4. Run Reports. Please reach out if you have any questions! Here is a short video (12 minutes) that also can walk you through that process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqaMCmxSUjI Please reach out if you need help! edited by dennis.cleary@cchmc.org on 8/26/2022 edited by dennis.cleary@cchmc.org on 9/23/2022
8/31/2022 Topic: Getting Started with VocFit! Dennis Cleary	Thanks Bonnie. I'm always happy to do trainings for states as well.
9/15/2022 Topic: Getting Started with VocFit! Dennis Cleary	Hi Maling -- I passed your question on to Carly Detlefsen who helps in New Jersey -- she will be in touch soon.
10/13/2022 Topic: Getting Started with VocFit! Dennis Cleary	Hi -- sorry for the delay in responding! There is not a just right report yet -- you would need to compare the assessment of the intern with their aspirational job to identify skills the intern needs to work on over the course of their three internships. That slide shows what VocFit does, so they are not specific apps. I was trying to make the slide interesting so I'm sorry it confused you. but the measurable skills change over time report would help with progress monitoring. We recommend that you assess the interns four times during the course of the year: Once before each internship (the first one might not be great if you don't know them well -- typically this is filled out at the end of the orientation weeks) and once before job development. This allows you to make thoughtful decisions about intern placement, and provides good information for the intern and their job developer to look at job options and helps to set up a job coaching plan after they have obtained their job. Please feel free to reach out if you have other questions. Dennis Dennis.Cleary@cchmc.org beth.knuth@rusd.org wrote: My VOCFIT questions: 1. How do I find "Just Right" report? 2. I have a PowerPoint presentation and under the slide, How to Use VocFit.com for TeleHealth/Ed, there are 9 apps. I am looking for: Student self-Assessment and Progress Monitoring for IEP-Skills Gain report, where do I find these? 3. How often should interns be assessed? Every rotation? Before/after each rotation?
10/28/2022 Topic: VocFit during Skills Assessment Days Dennis Cleary	You need to know your intern fairly well to fill out the VocFit items. Some sites have begun to use VocFit as part of the application process (asking referring special education instructors, care providers, or family members), and others have begun to add some VocFit items to Skills Assessment Days. Spencer Shaffer was an occupational therapy doctoral student who created resources to help add VocFit items to Skills Assessment Days, either with existing stations or if you would add a station to identify some of the VocFit skills.
1/4/2023 Topic: Hospitality Internship/Task Ideas Dennis Cleary	Hello. Here is a list of internship possibilities in the hospitality sector. I really like these examples and we have them for various industry sectors. Good luck!
7/10/2023 Topic: Adaptations and Accommodations Dennis Cleary	Hello. If you have questions about Adaptations and Accommodations, or an adaptation or accommodation (high tech or low tech) that you are proud of, please post them here. I am also attaching a guide to general adaptations and accommodations an occupational therapy student created who was with us last year. Here is the link to that guide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9h05h6i1pk7brcf/Shaffer_Canva_Adaptations_and_Accommodations_Guide_Final%5B47%5D%20copy.pdf?dl=0
9/7/2023 Topic: VocFit is Lit! Dennis Cleary	I stole the title from Frank and Stephen's presentation from Milwaukee (they are at CristanaCare in Delaware). We are rolling out some improvements at VocFit.com. There is a new step-by-step Get Started Guide that is attached. Remember there is a monthly VocFit training that you can sign up for on the Calendar Page, or just reach out to me at Dennis.Cleary@cchmc.org
11/13/2023 Topic: VocFit is Lit! Dennis Cleary	Hello Gloria -- The Terms of Service is an error message that has been repaired. We are still having issues with the JMR that should be fixed this week -- we thought they were fixed Friday, but there were not. I'm sorry again for the trouble it is causing everyone.
11/13/2023 Topic: VocFit update Dennis Cleary	I'm sorry for the Terms of Service Updates you have received. We had a change in the person who writes our code for our vendor and the replacement person is coming up to speed. The site is working except for the Job Matching Report -- It should be fixed soon. Again, I am sorry for the problems with VocFit. edited by dennis.cleary@cchmc.org on 11/16/2023
11/16/2023 Topic: VocFit update Dennis Cleary	Thanks Gary -- everything else is now working, except the PDF downloads. They are working on it. That JMR is probably not correct -- it wasn't modeling the orange and red items... but that part is working now, just not the PDF downloads. At this point, you can do screen shots, but obviously that's not great! Thanks for your patience. Gary Stanley wrote: Hey Dennis, we are able to run JMR Reports but are seeing that we cannot download the PDF of it, and that the Needs and Cons data is not populating. I have attached a screenshot. Not sure if that is an issue or that we do not have enough data in the set yet.
11/24/2023 Topic: VocFit update Dennis Cleary	VocFit.com is up and running again. You might need to clear the cache on your web browser or open it in a new web browser if there are any issues. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience. Please report any issues you might have with VocFit.com to admin@vocfit.com.
1/5/2024 Topic: VocFit update Dennis Cleary	Heather Baxter wrote: I am getting this same error code. Jourdan -- please reach out to me directly at dennis.cleary@cchmc.org Jourdan Spencer wrote: Dennis- We are still getting a 500 Server Error code when we try to run the JMR.
1/24/2024 Topic: Help make VocFit better Dennis Cleary	Hello. We won a grant to make VocFit easier to use and to add some new features. If you have ideas on how to make VocFit better, please leave that here, or email me at Dennis.Cleary@cchmc.org Thanks!
1/25/2024 Topic: Adaptations and Accommodations Dennis Cleary	Thanks Lisa and Arden -- We are trying to encourage more programs to utilize occupational therapists and also to think creatively about adapting tasks. Our training as OT's is a bit different related to task analysis -- If a person is really struggling, we try to figure out what they need to accomplish a task -- through task adaption, modification, or supports. I just had an email from an employment specialists who supports a Project SEARCH grad to help figure out how to clean out a sink after they had washed pans -- he was having difficulty with the bits of food they needed to get out before it was sterilized. So my idea was to use a small squeegee and a thin cutting board to squeegee the food onto to throw away. I'm always happy to help.
2/21/2024 Topic: Voc-fit Dennis Cleary	Doki Arach wrote: I am having trouble with Voc-fit. Each time I complete an assessment, it comes back as incomplete. I cannot find some some results either. I don't know whether it's me not doing it correctly. Hi Doki -- I'm sorry about that. Can you reach out to me directly? Dennis.Cleary@cchmc.org Thanks Dennis
2/26/2024 Topic: VR/VocFit Dennis Cleary	Lisa Millard wrote: Hi! Does each student create their own VOCFIT account. As an instructor do I as well? Thank you. Lisa Hi Lisa, You would create the account for yourself. You can invite students to assess themselves remotely, but should not have them create an account on VocFit.com because then they would see other intern's data. I'm happy to talk with you if you'd like -- my email is dennis.cleary@cchmc.org. Ohio is paying for some big improvements that will be unveiled at conference this year, but we are still a few years away from a VocFit self-assessment.