Empowering Persons with Intellectual Disabilities Through Work/School Alternation: a Positive Case study

There are many authors who, thinking of people with disabilities, underline the importance of the life project, that is the need to think about the student as a person who can grow up and become an adult. The project is the place of possibility, imagination and creativity, it is a way through which the mind approaches reality to transform it concretely, leaving the door to the fantastic ajar. Each one needs a series of projects to realize one's own life, that is, a series of intentionally programmed actions capable of transforming the imagination into a completed work. Also the project is a way to anticipate the future but, unlike the dream, in the project we start by separating what is extraordinary from what is impossible. Within the project it is therefore possible to meet one's own potential but also one's own limits ^{4, 5}.

The main objective of the project is to allow the person with disability, according to his possibilities, to be able to venture independently in the world; every help should make the person with disabilities experience the autonomy, the effectiveness and the determination, finding the thrust to overcome the inevitable obstacles to reach a goal achieved autonomously ⁶.

The theme of the life project is indissolubly intertwined with that of orientation that is proposed as a path of individualized support and support of the person in the long, slow and extended process of construction of personal knowledge ⁷ necessary to "move "In the global and local labor market. In this sense, orienting means helping people to progressively define their own life project ⁸. This is a very complex activity, which must propose and enhance different methods and subjective processes of learning within a conscious intentional formality of the actors involved ⁹.

The problem of professional orientation aimed at people with disabilities in Italy emerges, more significantly, since the early 80s. Already in 1989 De Anna referred to a contribution proposed by Mr Fadda in which he presented a plan for employment together with some vocational training projects for people with disabilities. It is not a question of adopting pressures that may fuel harmful expectations, but to recover and reinforce the sense of reality, without closures, limitations, conditioning, cultural, social, personal, through openness to real prospects, free from false meanings or possibilities not achievable. One of the main tools available to students with disabilities is the alternation path between school and work provided for by law 107/15. This is a mixed educational path that provides for the alternation of school / work within the educational program. During the school hours, pupils can attend a private and public institution to carry out training and work-related activities. This provision follows the Guidelines for the integration of students with disabilities issued by the Ministry of Education with the Note of August 4, 2009, which suggested the implementation of actions and projects able to favor the steps of these students from one order of school to another and suggest the adoption of initiatives for their accompaniment to adult life and work through experiences of school-work alternation, internships and collaboration with local companies ¹⁰.

The school/work alternation is an experience aimed at gaining an awareness of what the world of work demands and offers in terms of skills, responsibility and social role and intends to promote scholastic inclusion, autonomy in daily life and entry into the world of work ¹¹.

Despite the importance of this opportunity from the point of view of the legislation, there seem to be some critical elements that can affect the outcome of the paths. The data collected by Dainese (2015) ¹² testify that the school/work alternation, as well as internships and traineeships, is not widely practiced with pupils with disabilities. Moreover, in this same survey aimed at collecting the opinion of the teachers, 54% of those who answered the questionnaire are convinced that the future of their students with disabilities is released and far from their personal desires and expectations. Finally, these same teachers believe that most of the decisions are taken by the support teacher and the specialists, with little involvement by the curriculum teachers.

Pavoncello and colleagues (2018) ¹³ point out the good practices implemented in some Italian schools and a wide variety of proposals and initiatives have emerged that confirm the great sensitivity towards the issue of work-related inclusion but also a series of process fragilities. of consolidation of practices, with great difficulty, try to give continuity over time and concreteness to the procedures and support actions tested. From these practices there are excellent synergies between schools, communities and the territory and this contextual element seems to be a decisive factor and transversal to many projects, enhancing the ability of schools to use the resources already available within the institute and interacting in effective way with the resources of the territory (for example the companies). The schools try to plan and implement courses of welcome, orientation and tutoring to promote the learning of skills and the enhancement of student subjectivity in order to discover the productive and professional contexts where the person can represent his / her future and embark on a concrete path of professional and social inclusion ¹⁴.

From the analysis of the experiences the complexity of the projects emerges that requires the presence of professional skills and very broad sensitivities to effectively manage all actions, from reception to insertion. These actions lead to define an individual plan that takes into account the characteristics of the person with disabilities, the business environment, the tasks that the subject can perform and the best contractual forms to achieve this type of work relationship. What unites the projects is the idea of ​​bringing together all the resources that are normally spent and invested by different institutions, in the context of different activities of assistance and support to a single disabled person, within a single project managed by schools and local authorities involved, giving meaning to the various interventions and thus increasing the chances of success ¹⁵. Furthermore, emphasis is given to accompanying actions, ie to all those activities implemented to facilitate and support the transition of children from educational to work contexts. They are a set of actions aimed at building the best conditions for starting work experience and providing adequate assistance in every phase of approaching the world of work, up to entry. The methods of accompaniment can take very different forms: from contact activities with companies to mentoring, from support to families to interviews with health and social workers. These actions promote a process of change and awareness in the student subject acquires a new professional identity, that of a worker, who is asked to perform a job independently ¹⁶. A third aspect highlighted is the importance of the networks both at the beginning, when it is necessary to establish contacts with families and local authorities and at the time of entry into the production context. At first the network is activated in the school at a micro level and foresees a greater participation of the actors directly involved in the student's life project (parents, teachers, specialists). This internal dimension is the starting point for effectively managing openness to the outside, when the school comes into contact with external organizations (how can companies be) ^{17, 18}.

The literature clearly describes the importance of the life project for people with disabilities but much less emphasis is given to the strategies put in place to design and implement this project. The present study aims to describe and analyze a school / work alternation experience that has led a student with intellectual disability from the world of the school to the world of work. The activities implemented during this process testify to the possibility of building shared practices that can be replicated even within different contexts.

I realised 21 semi-structured interviews and 8 focus groups with all the actors involved in the project (boy with intellectual disability, his parents, the educator who accompanies him at school, the social worker) and direct observation. As Noor (2008) ²² noted: the choice of semi-structured interview allowed to better understand the perspective of the interviewees and offered sufficient flexibility to approach different respondents differently while still covering the same areas of data collection. The interviews were tape - recorded to secure an accurate account of the conversations and avoid loosing data since not everything can be written down during interviews. The main questions of the interviews include: elements of strength and criticality encountered during the activity, strategies implemented to overcome the difficulties, benefits for the subject and for the organization, importance of the role of each actor in the construction of the experience and type of supports offered to people with disability.

Focus group discussion is a way to elicit multiple perspective on a given topic and is used to capture data on the attitudes of the different actors involved in the research. This method drives research through openness, which is about receiving multiple perspectives about the meaning of truth in situations where the observer cannot be separated from the phenomenon. The focus groups allowed to share the different opinions. In particular, we discussed: the decision-making procedures, the elements of strength and criticality of the project, the main elements emerged from the analysis of the interviews and from the observations and the elements that define the success of the experience ²³

Participant observation is where the researcher observed phenomena of interest in the environment studied to draw information which was not obtainable from other methods. What had been observed by the researcher was related to the strategies and accommodations used during the activities. Observation generated insight and better understanding on the phenomenon under studied.

The decision to combine the direct observation of activities with collecting the points of view of all the actors enables the triangulation of the data and denotes the will to give voice to all of the subjects involved and to bring out the different points of view.

Data analysis is “the process of making sense out of the data which involves consolidating, reducing, and interpreting what people have said and what the researcher has seen and read – it is the process of making meaning”. The collected data were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) aimed at exploring in detail the participants’ views on their experiences. IPA can be used to analyze data in order to develop thick descriptions (i.e. not just behavior, but context as well) that may help to shed light on human experience. An IPA researcher must approach their data with two topics. The first aim is to try to understand the participants’ world and opinion. The second aim is to develop a more overtly interpretative analysis, which positions the initial ‘‘description’’ in relation to a wider cultural, social, and theoretical context. This second-order account aims to provide a conceptual and critical commentary upon the participants’ personal ‘‘sense-making’’ activities.

The first step involved a repeated reading of each transcript, then identifying, and finally writing down all the interesting and significant elements that emerge from the data. The second step was to identify patterns of recurring content (abstraction process) and organization of the patterns in emerging themes (from the comments to the issues).

Two independent raters conducted analysis. The two raters coded the data independently and then met to compare analyses. Any discrepancies were resolved through discussion. The themes were not selected on the basis of their frequency, but their meaning and their relevance and similarities and differences were highlighted between groups of participants. Then data were organized into thematic categories in order to capture the meaning of the experience. Finally, the last step was the identification of the relationship between the issues identified. Some themes are grouped, other categories become superordinate ²⁴.

The project was realized with Andrea (all names are invented), a student with intellectual disabilities during the last year of a Secondary Secondary School in the 2017/2018 school year, when he completed his studies at a technical institute in a school in northern Italy. The choice of a student with intellectual disability is motivated by the desire to take into account disability, which according to the literature can hardly to find and maintain a job (see for example ²⁵.

Andrea lives in a small town in Northern Italy with his mum Antonella (55 years old), his dad Giorgio (59 years old) and his brother Filippo (28 years old). Antonella is a wifehouse while Vincenzo is pensioner, he was a bricklayer like Filippo.

Andrea is a boy with Down Syndrome with a severe level of intellectual disability (IQ 42). He takes care of his personal hygiene and dresses himself. He does move independently by foot and she does not uses public transport autonomously. He knows how to use money but he has problems with the rest he does not know the value of money.

At school he follows a individualised school planning with simplifications and reductions of the program. At the end of his scholastic path he will not receive a diploma but only a certificate of attendance because he will not support the state exam. He has attention problems and she needs a break between one activity and another.

Andrea has limitate cognitive and comprehension skills and he need that the language is simple and concrete. He has a good short- and long-term memory. She has a good motion skills but his execution times are long. He writes only in printed uppercase, he uses a very simple language and often tends to use dialect instead of Italian. Also in the mathematical sphere there are more critical issues, above all linked to the sphere of logic.

Andrea is very sociable, is open to relationships with other people. When it comes into confidence, however, it tends to put in place incorrect attitudes to attract attention and to be nice.

Initially there are a series of meetings with: parents, the social worker, the support teacher and the educator following Andrea at school. At these meetings only the mother participates, the father declares to feel uncomfortable because of his shy character and not inclined to talk to people. Andrea's mother is a lady in her fifties, brown hair and chubby face. Physically he remembers a lot Andrea, the same expression of the mouth and the same eyes. The social worker explains to the mother the reason for the first meeting: "We are here to think of a professional path for Andrea, a new starting point after school, because now it's getting bigger, so we think he has the chance to do it."

"I do not think I need a job, because my husband's pension is enough for everyone, but I think it's important for Andrea to do something, and then I trust you, if you say it's okay, go ahead." Although not particularly convinced, she decides to trust and proceed with the experience. At this point the question is: "Which context may be suitable for him?”

The next step is to evaluate Andrea's strengths and difficulties. Among the most positive elements emerge: his ability to read the emotions of his interlocutors, the availability to the relationship, the attention that shows towards those in difficulty. Among the critical issues, however, stand out: the need to have a reference point able to contain it and the presence of incorrect attitudes to attract attention or to appear more sympathetic in the eyes of its interlocutors. Given his propensity to be in contact with people he could work in a canteen or in a supermarket. Andrea is also involved in this reflection, it was already happened in the past to talk about his work and had shown to have the ideas a bit 'confused. In fact, he had gone to the dentist (to remove all his teeth) from the carpenter (profession of his father and brother) to the mechanic (to adjust all the machines). When asked if he would like to work in a canteen or in a supermarket he responds positively, and with a lot of enthusiasm:

"Nice the cafeteria, and even the supermarket, if we both do? First canteen and then supermarket, I'm fine, I take my pay at home and I'm fine"

The first organization that they decide to contact is a school canteen because it can be pleasant for Andrea to be in contact with children during meal time, which he adores by the way. The personnel manager, however, offers his availability only for an internship, without any possibility of recruitment. Then they opt for a supermarket; on the phone the contact person declares to be interested and, after having viewed a presentation form for the boy, fixes an appointment in which support teacher and educator take part. The outcome of the meeting is positive, in the local area of ​​the boy there is a branch and the referent has made himself available to welcome Andrea for an internship that could then lead to recruitment. However, they ask for constant support for the whole period.

type of organization: small neighborhood supermarket

clientele: regular customers, especially residents in the country

work organization: 2 mornings a week, part time, from October to June

tasks: shelving, arrangement of products

supervision methods: presence of the educator and a tutor identified in the organization

The outcome of the meeting is communicated to Andrea, who is looking forward to starting the social worker and the family. The outcome of the meeting is communicated to both Andrea, who is looking forward to starting the social worker and family

Andrea is able to break any package, paying due attention when needed;

He is able to open the quantity of boxes expected for the day;

The shelves are ordered and there are no positioning errors.

When Andrea carries out this task at a pace that Roberto and Ilaria judge fit for the standard they have planned, they add a new task, the arrangement of the shelves.

Let's O rder : the R ule of the "Two Files" and of Pulling Forward

After opening the boxes, Andrea must place them on their shelves. The task is explained to him by two rules:

the two files: each product must be placed on two rows in an orderly manner; in this way the shelf is full and there are no leftovers of goods;

pull forward: before placing a new package, you must be careful and place those already on the shelf forward, so that they are the first to be purchased.

Andrea begins to arrange the shelves but seems to be afraid of making mistakes, Ilaria notices and reassures him. Roberto, to help him, prepares the first product in the row, so that Andrea can follow his example and fill the entire lane. A second help are the boxes placed at the products. In this way Andrea can visually understand where it begins and where the row of products that has to settle ends. Ilaria also decides to try to work alongside him, in the same lane, but each with his own task. In this way he can control Andrea without interrupting his work. Once Andrea understands the operation of the two files and of pulling Avanti, Roberto decides to start letting him work independently.

After the first weeks of work, Ilaria and Roberto decide to entrust Andrea with the first tasks independently. Andrea assigns the task of positioning the products on an entire lane and verifying that everything is in order. Once the task is completed, he must communicate to Ilaria when he ends. Andrea knows that in case of need he can contact Ilaria who initially controls him from afar: I: "Did you manage to open it?" (The voice resounds in the distance) A: "Yes, done" I: "Good, now you can go to the next box " A: "Ok, it's the croissant" I: "Those then with the other croissant" A: "Of course, I calmly do it" I: "I'm coming to show you?"A: "I know, stay there. Wait, can I also put it down? ". I: "Yes, yes, it's fine even lying down" A: "Done" I: "But you know you're really good" A: "Thank you."

Ilaria and Roberto Seem Stupid (as well as Satisfied) of Andrea's Progress:

he complete the requested activity;

he is able to correctly answer the questions posed by colleagues and customers;

he can explain clearly the problems and difficulties encountered in carrying out the task;

he communicate clearly when he has completed the task;

he recognize the verbal indications given by colleagues.

Again, the results are positive. Ilaria and Roberto manage to check Andrea's work through verbal exchange and, in the meantime, they can easily continue their work.

The learning of the job is certainly one of the main elements that guarantee the success of a work experience. Andrea, day by day, is always faster and safer. Every so often, however, there is a hitch that slows down his work:

an action that fails to complete: especially in the beginning, some operations (such as breaking cellophane) can be difficult;

the difficulty in positioning products: there may be goods that he does not find or he does not know their location;

problems related to shelf space: it can happen that the boxes are too many compared to the portion of pallet that he has available;

failure to comply with some rules: sometimes Andrea may break some of the agreements envisaged (for example sometimes it is distracting, it raises the tone of the voice);

unforeseen actions that surprise colleagues: some initiative, especially in the relationship with customers, can make Ilaria and Roberto feel uncomfortable.

Whenever one of these circumstances occurs, the indication of Ilaria and Roberto is to inform them and ask them for help, then waiting for one of them to reach it. The goal is to help Andrea to manage the unexpected and possible errors, managing to communicate their difficulties and building, with their help, new procedures to deal with the critical issues.

A particularly significant element is the management of contingencies both in the performance of the work activity and in the management of relationships with colleagues and customers.

When he fails to perform an action, Andrea's first reaction is to try to solve the question by himself. In some cases it succeeds in solving the problem while in others, as agreed, he requires the intervention of colleagues who usually reach him and discuss with him to find the best solution to the problem or difficulty. The focus is always to understand the solutions that Andrea offers and discuss with him if they can be correct or not and why.

Other times, however, the unexpected can be caused by a difficulty in understanding, sometimes due to some inaccuracy in the language of Andrea. Compared to this, the agreement with Ilaria and Roberto is to ask Andrea for more information, looking for his help to understand. The assistant reassures them that he is not offended, but rather is happy to explain:

A: "Let's put the tea by hand?" R: "What's the tea by hand?" A: "It's the one in the envelope, is not I always buy the tea by hand, what you do by hand, you put the powder and mix it" R: "Ah here, it is mixture to be added to the water and mixed and ready, his name is so-lu-bi-le” A: "Oh well, soluble, by hand, do not you do it by hand?" (They both laugh)

A: "Where do I put expired things?" R: "EU, there are no expired things here, eh" A: "But yes, the ones I have to keep going because we have to sell them before" R: "Ah, then those are older, not expired, guy" A: "Ah ok, the old ones" R: "Well done"

Errors management is also included in the sphere of unexpected events, the management methods are always agreed upon. This is an important moment because the emotions of both Andrea and his colleagues come into play. Andrea faced with an error tends to stop and close and needs reassurance.

On the other hand, however, even for his colleagues it is sometimes difficult to maintain a calm and calm attitude. And it is not always easy for them to find the right words to manage and reflect on the error along with Andrea.

Starting from the awareness that mistakes can happen it is important to analyze the causes, to understand what has not worked and to define strategies together to avoid that mistakes can be repeated in the future.

The error is also an opportunity to experiment with the use of some tools, such as the cutter and the stool. Initially, especially Ilaria is a bit 'hesitant because he is afraid that we can do harm.

Compared to the use of the stool Andrea decides to try a different technique, using only the first step, thus avoiding the risk of falling: one foot on the stool, the other on the ground, then descends, bends, recovers only one product from the box and, with a jump, puts it on the shelf. At a certain point, however, he realizes that he can also grasp two packs at the same time, and times are reduced. The use of the stool stops being a problem insofar as the correct use is explained and, at least initially, it is monitored. Andrea also knows he has to pay attention and proves very focused.

The last series of elements concerning the management of errors has to do with those actions that surprise colleagues and that do not seem to have a logical explanation. The typical situation occurs when, after completing a task or waiting for colleagues, he wanders around the store, entertaining customers and putting in place excessive and incorrect attitudes to be nice. It happens that you start talking in dialect, that goes around screaming for the store and puts in the shopping cart of the customers of the items that they have not bought. When he is pointed out to him, the wrong attitude sometimes irritates, raises his voice and does not seem to want to recognize the error. It is necessary in these cases to help him calm down and resume the event with him, inviting him to reflect on the inability of these attitudes.

At the end of the period of alternation the balance is positive. Andrea knows the tasks he has to perform and is adored by customers, who turn to him to recover the products they can not find. He is happy, Ilaria and Roberto as well. After school, Andrea will be hired for a fixed term, but before he can sign the contract, his colleagues explain to him what his future goals are:

always be more precise when it has to explain;

be able to comply more with the rules.

After describing the steps that characterize Andrea's experience it is useful to identify the elements that contribute to a positive outcome of the experience. These elements are born from the triangulation of data between the observation and the interviews and the focus groups with the various actors.

The first form of support consists in explaining all that is happening and will happen in the future, with the attention of verifying that he has understood:

Another important element is positive and verbal reinforcement (for example "You are good" or with a gesture (for example a pat on the shoulder).

I "Andrea, have you seen how you have become good and fast"? A: "I learned" I: "Yes, you're really good" A: "Thanks, now I'm going forward"

One of Andrea's main difficulties is respect for the rules. It often tends to be distracted especially in the presence of customers. In these cases, reminding him of the rules helps, as in the following example: R: "Where are you?" A: "Where there is milk" R: "And what are you doing there that you had to wait here?" A: "I'm talking to the lady" R: "Do you remember that you have to wait here" A: "Yes, but I was talking" R: "You do not have to talk, you have to wait here, get it"? A: "Yes, okey"

Another element of criticality is the management of emotions. Andrea struggles to give a name to the emotions that he tries to show them through body language and with not always adequate attitudes. This attitude also makes his interlocutor uncomfortable:

A last significant element for the construction of a positive experience is the shared evaluation of the results, ie the establishment of verification moments in which to evaluate with him the achievement or otherwise of the pre-set objectives and the identification of the following objectives:

The research has two limitations: the description of an individual case and the choice to stop the analysis at the end of the school/work alternation. This choice comes from the desire to make explicit the path, the resources put in place and the voices of the actors involved. In this way it is possible to remember the different phases of the activities, to reflect on different voices around the experience and to make sure that others, with adaptations linked to the specificity of the contexts, can be inspired to create new experiences.

It would be interesting to investigate Andrea's working situation after some time and gather his opinion and that of his colleagues