Below are two job postings for the Iowa Department for the Blind.  Please forward to anyone you know who may be interested in applying.

STATE OF IOWA

Senior Services Specialist for the Blind 1

Rehabilitation Teacher

Provides those services necessary to help individuals who are blind or visually impaired develop the confidence and skills needed to independently and competently participate in their families, communities, and occupations of choice.  Works primarily with older individuals and with individuals who have significant co-disabilities. Provides services on an outreach basis.  Assesses needs to help determine services that will best serve the individual and works with the individual to develop and implement a plan to meet identified needs. Provides instruction in the alternative techniques of blindness (including Braille, travel with the long white cane, use of assistive technology, home management, and leisure activities).  Provides guidance and counseling about vision loss to promote a positive adjustment to blindness.  Assists individuals access various community resources by providing information and referral services, and advocacy.

Follows prescribed case management practices and provides narrative reports inclusive of needs assessments, plans to meet identified needs, rationale for service decisions, description of services provided, and results achieved. Coordinates and facilitates agency services such as library services and training in the Adult Orientation and Adjustment Center.  Works in tandem with the vocational rehabilitation counselor to support clients in the pursuit of their vocational goals.

Provides consultation and in-service training to other agencies so they can better serve their clients who are blind. Delivers presentations to civic, social, and professional organizations to increase awareness about department services and promote a positive philosophy of blindness.  Assists with other department outreach activities.

Must possess knowledge of or be able to learn effective alternative techniques of blindness, particularly in the areas of communications, travel with a long white cane, and home and personal management. Must possess highly developed teaching and counseling skills, good public speaking and writing skills, excellent organizational skills, and excellent judgment. Must possess the abilities to handle sensitive situations, solve problems, and work as a member of a team.  Intensive training in appropriate skills and attitudes of blindness will be provided. Extensive statewide travel. Some evenings, overnights, and weekends.

Minimum qualifications are:

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a degree in human service-oriented sciences, education, marketing, or business and experience equal to three years of full time professional work, or;

the equivalent of three years of full-time experience as a rehabilitation counselor or teacher shall be considered as qualifying provided the employee has successfully completed training to meet the certification criteria established by the agency, or;

an equivalent combination of education and experience, substituting the equivalent of one year of full-time professional work experience for each year of the required education to a maximum substitution of four years.

Salary range: $42,369.60—$64,521.60 annually, plus comprehensive benefit package, Pay Grade 28, Pay Plan 000

Hours:              8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday

Locations:                   Iowa Department for the Blind, 524 Fourth Street, Des Moines, IA 50309-2364

For further information contact Becky Criswell, Supervisor, (515) 281-1299 or (800) 362-2587. Persons who wish to be considered for this position must submit a resume and letter of application to Karen A. Keninger, Director, Iowa Department for the Blind, 524 Fourth Street, Des Moines, IA 50309 or karen.keninger@blind.state.ia.us no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 5, 2009.

EEO/AA

State of Iowa
Senior Services Specialist for the Blind 1

(Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor)

two full time, merit exempt, at-will positions

Candidates must be willing to live and work in eastern or western Iowa/extensive travel with overnight stays away from domicile.

Senior Services Specialist for the Blind 1, field operations division.  Make initial contacts using a variety of referral sources which may require obtaining data from remote sources; describe agency and non-agency programs which may be available to a prospective client.  Provide comprehensive, intensive counseling services to new referrals to encourage and motivate these individuals to avail themselves of agency services.  Stress the agency’s positive philosophy and attitude toward blindness, encouraging individuals to do self assessments based on abilities rather than disabilities.  Assist the client with an application for services.  Gather relevant medical, vocational, psychological, educational, and family information.  Maintain knowledge of medical terminology and medical treatments especially related to the eye and visual functioning so that a determination as to the severity of the impairment can be made.  Determine eligibility for agency programs, given a thorough knowledge of agency programs, making referrals to other programs as necessary.  Counsel extensively regarding provision of SSDI benefits and Supplemental Security Income, with special emphasis on specific work incentives built into each of these programs. 

         Assist clients in determining strengths and weaknesses regarding a variety of career and social goals.  Use counseling and persuasion techniques to provide advice and guidance in highly emotionally charged and near crisis situations.  Counsel clients in order to obtain and maintain positive attitudes toward their blindness and secondary disabilities as they relate to all aspects of social and career environments.  Make delicate judgments regarding a client’s self-esteem and abilities over the course of an extended period of time; producing clear documentation which outlines the intended nature of planning and the desired outcome in all areas of counseling situations.

         Collaborate with client in determining and realizing career goals.  Evaluate and assess capabilities, attitudes, skills, and work potential of blind persons and make recommendations which will remediate accordingly.  Develop IPEs, in cooperation with the client, outlining specific means of achieving a vocational objective in a specified time.  Coordinate and direct services which might include guidance and counseling, college or vocational training, orientation center training, learning alternative techniques of blindness, adaptive occupational or training tools, assistive technology devices, adaptive skills training, job training, placement services, job retention, and follow-up services.  Assume responsibility for fiscally prudent, sound judgment in completing authorizations for expenditure of agency funds according to state and federal guidelines.  Maintain contact with clients in training and employment to monitor progress, solve current problems or potential problems.  Provide transition services to students, working cooperatively with local area education agencies and school systems.  Teach clients necessary attitude and skills including job seeking/job keeping attitudes and skills, Braille, orientation and mobility with use of long white cane, typing, public transportation schedules and accessibility, and job specific alternative techniques of blindness.  Work alongside with client in new job to teach specific techniques and skills.  Review training progress on a regular basis and consult with client and service providers to facilitate the process.  Coordinate intra-agency services including:  rehabilitation teaching, job development, assistive technology services, business enterprises program, library services, orientation center training, deaf-blind specialist services, and volunteer services. 

         Independently prioritize workload to maximize effective use of time, resources, and agency assets.  Submit necessary reports, case recordings, authorizations, and correspondence in a timely, accurate manner.  Maintain client case files and other records in an organized, timely, specified format.  Make full use of similar benefits where appropriate, including: scholarships or grants, private or public disability insurance benefits, workers compensation benefits, welfare entitlement programs, job training programs, client or family resources or earnings or other sources.

         Develop and maintain cooperative relationships with employers and organized labor in a variety of industries to enable successful employment for clients.  Develop employer mentoring and partnerships.  Maintain working knowledge of small business development.  Use job coaches for supported employment services where appropriate.  Consult with employers and blind employees in an effort to assist in the area of job retention or job modification.  This function requires a working knowledge of current technologies and techniques being used to assist persons in successfully retaining or advancing employment.  Provide comprehensive job development, job placement and follow-up services to employers and blind persons, matching job-ready clients to specific, appropriate jobs and employers.  Analyze specific jobs and seek remediation through job remodification, restructuring, development of new technologies, techniques or adaptive devices.  Anticipate any potential problems, attitudinal or technical, with specific jobs, employers or clients and investigate means of correcting these problems through education, counseling, job modification, adaptive techniques or devices or other means.  Assist employers in making necessary changes to enable them to retain, in employment, those employees who might develop significant vision problems.  Encourage employer to make early referral of such cases for vocational rehabilitation services from our agency.  Also encourage referrals from labor unions.  Draft job development/job placement materials and disseminate to employers, organized labor, and professional organizations.

Advocate, consult, advise, educate, mediate, and intercede with service   providers, employers, and the general public.  Design and complete presentations for educational, professional, social organizations, and consumer groups regarding the function and purpose of the agency.  Maintain a working knowledge of all aspects of the agency and services provided.  Encourage and promote support groups of the blind.

Minimum qualifications are:

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a degree in human service-oriented sciences, education, marketing, or business and experience equal to three years of full time professional work, or;

the equivalent of three years of full-time experience as a rehabilitation counselor or teacher shall be considered as qualifying provided the employee has successfully completed training to meet the certification criteria established by the agency, or;

an equivalent combination of education and experience, substituting the equivalent of one year of full-time professional work experience for each year of the required education to a maximum substitution of four years.

Salary range: $ 42,369.60 - $ 64,521.60 annually, plus comprehensive benefit package, pay grade 28, pay plan 000

Hours:  8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday

For further information contact Karen A. Keninger, Director, at 515-281-1334 or 800-362-2587.  Persons who wish to be considered for this position must submit a resume and letter of application to Karen A. Keninger, Iowa Department for the Blind, 524 Fourth Street, Des Moines, IA 50309 no later than 4:30 p.m. on Friday, June 5, 2009.

EEO/AA