Background: Level of electronic assistive technology use by people with intellectual disabilities is lower than for other disability groups.Methods: In this mixed-methods exploratory study during the pandemic, staff (online survey) and executive administration (focus group) from a regional supported employment service provider in the Midwest US were surveyed about use of and barriers to use of electronic assistive technology for their clients with intellectual disabilities.Results: Forty percent of staff reported 'not' using any of the assistive technologies with their clients. Executive administration perceived that they should be providing technology resources to clients and staff. Both groups rated expense, access, and complexity as barriers to assistive technology use at the client's worksite.Conclusions: Identifying the types of assistive technologies that can be most easily accessed and most cost-effective, including lower-cost consumer market devices, as employment supports for people with intellectual disabilities may be a first step in helping to overcome perceived barriers to use. K E Y W O R D S administration, assistive technology, intellectual disabilities, supported employment 1 | BACKGROUND People with intellectual disabilities, developmental disability that includes limitations in intellectual functioning and conceptual, social, and practical skills (AAIDD, 2021), are generally underemployed compared to people without disabilities and people with other disabilities (Almalky, 2020). Competitive employment challenges faced by people with intellectual disabilities generally stem from cognitive difficulties that affect memory , comprehension, communication, and social skills (Almalky, 2020). Employment supports such as accommodations, strategies, and systems to help people with intellectual disabilities find and maintain jobs may be needed. Supports can include skill assessment, job matching, and partnerships between supported employment service providers and employers (AAIDD, 2021). In reviews, supported

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of implementing a tobacco use prevention intervention using social skills education and puppet scripts in an afterschool program. A total of 75 K-2 students attending an afterschool program in a rural Midwest area participated in a 4-lesson youth development tobacco prevention curriculum and completed a pre-post tobacco knowledge quiz. Additionally, 10 program mentors completed a pre-post program strengths and difficulties (SDQ) questionnaire on their assigned students. A series of t-tests were computed to examine differences in the pre and post scores of participants on the SDQ subscales, and total scales and descriptive statistics were computed on the tobacco knowledge quiz. Statistically significant differences were noted on 4 pre–post subscales scores of the SDQ and the total SDQ. Use of youth development curriculum using interactive puppet-based strategies implemented in afterschool settings may be a feasible health education strategy.

It is recommended that violence prevention interventions start early for students and include conflict resolution education and social-emotional skills training components. Although school-based programs have shown some promise, community-based or out-of-school time programs require more study. A social-emotional learning-focused conflict resolution intervention using role-play and puppetry was implemented in a small afterschool program as an exploratory study. Student participants’ conflict resolution knowledge and after-school teacher observation of their pro-social skill behaviors were assessed pre- and post- program. Although many participants scored high in conflict resolution knowledge pre-program, they appeared to gain some additional knowledge, specifically on disagreements between friends and empathy for other’s feelings. After-school teachers, however, observed no significant overall differences in their pro-social behaviors pre- and post- program. All in all, as an exploratory study, the slight positive changes in knowledge provide data to suggest continuing the curriculum with more emphasis on the weakest topics as well as more role-play or puppet play about friendship and sharing behaviors.

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Youth taken from the home and placed in emergency shelter, secure detention, and residential set-tings are exposed to new sources of trauma and danger that may re-activate severe stress symptoms leading to re-traumatization. A juvenile justice center planned a trauma-informed, system-focused in-tervention that included recommended elements: appropriate assessments of trauma symptoms, evi-dence-based programs and treatments to build resilience skills in youth and families, staff training, community collaboration and partnerships, and a safe environment to reduce the risk of re-traumatization. The purpose of this study was to describe the implementation over two years of the trauma-informed, system-focused intervention in the juvenile justice center and associated effects on youth trauma symptoms. Current and past traumatic event exposure, change in youth participants’ emotional regulation, effects of an evidence-based, trauma-informed therapeutic intervention on youth participants’ stress symptoms, and quality of the organizational trauma-informed care plan were assessed. Although efforts to improve participant emotional regulation and post-traumatic stress symptoms did not demonstrate significant differences, efforts to screen for trauma exposure at intake provided important information about participant multiple traumas to assist with the therapeutic pro-cess. Efforts in changing organizational culture and policy did result in minor self-reported facility envi-ronmental improvements. For the practitioner, even when an intervention is well planned, results are not always positive in actual practice.