Reports of 2022 employment rates demonstrate that while 65.4% of adults without disabilities are employed, only 21.3% of adults with disabilities are employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). In 2022, data indicated 30% of adults with disabilities who were employed worked parttime jobs, nearly twice as much as those without disabilities (16%). Yet, research indicates that adults with disabilities can be integral parts of the workforce (Lipscomb et al., 2017; Lombardi et al., 2022; Luecking & Fabian, 2000; Newman et al., 2011). Researchers have reported that employees with disabilities are unable to maintain employment often due to difficulty fitting in socially at the workplace (Brickey et al., 1985; Butterworth & Strauch, 1994; Chadsey, 2007; Greenspan & Shoultz, 1981; Kochany & Keller, 1981; Wehman et al., 1982). Since 2009, social skills performance has been identified as a predictor of postschool success (Mazzotti et al., 2016, 2021; Test et al., 2009) meaning that students with disabilities who exited high school were more likely to participate in postschool employment (Benz et al., 1997; Roessler et al., 1990; Test et al., 2009).
Social skills challenges have been identified as one potential barrier to obtaining and maintaining employment for adults with disabilities (Bury et al., 2020; Kochman et al., 2017; Parker et al., 2018). While there is a strong link between social skills performance and success in the workplace, there are limited data on the interventions to maintain teaching these skills to adults with disabilities. Researchers have used different methods to create different intervention or strategies to help individuals with disabilities improve their social skills including specific curricula such as Conversing with Others and WAGES (Lu et al., 2020; Murray & Doren, 2013), instructional models such as the SDCDM and SDLMI (Dean et al., 2021; Shogren et al., 2018), in-ear coaching (Gilson & Carter, 2016), and video modeling (Bross et al., 2019, 2020; Whittenburg et al., 2022); however, these studies do not focus on social interactions between adults with disabilities and their coworkers to increase behaviors, rather communicating with coworkers or communicating about work tasks.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a video modeling and a visual support intervention package on appropriate coworker social skills in the workplace for young adults with disabilities. I also collected data on participants’, coworkers’, and the employer’s perceptions of this study's goals, procedures, and outcomes Results of this study indicated a functional relation for one of the two participants. In addition, the participants, employer, and coworkers found the intervention to be socially valid across most measures. The dissertation includes a review of the literature, methods, discussion of each research question, study limitations, directions or future research, and implications.