Freeney RCS
Vocational Rehabilitation 
Services

A contract provider with the Texas Workforce Commission Vocational Rehabilitation Services with the state of Texas. There are several Texas Workforce Commission Vocational Rehabilitation Services offices in the Tarrant and Johnson Counties area. Through their direction, we work with a variety of clients with some form of disability and help them to find the right job fit for their life situation.

• Identifies and develops the best possible job match and provides short-term supports to address the customer's barriers to employment;

• Arranges for paid supports from resources other than VRS and natural supports, such as peers or and co-workers, to meet the customer's long-term needs;

• Ensures the job skills trainer provides adequate and regular support to the customer; and

• Works in coordination with the VR counselor throughout the Supported Employment process to ensure the best possible employment outcome.

The job placement specialist provides initial instruction, assistance to learn skills, monitoring to ensure the consumer is demonstrating the skills, and any resources and tools necessary to assist or train the consumer in the completion of the following:

• Pre-employment Needs:

  • Employment Data Sheet* and/or Résumé*

  • Cover letter and Thank you letter*

  • Professional References*

• Job Searching*

• Job Application Completion*

• Interview Training*

• Worksite Accommodations*

• Pre-Employment Testing*

• Salary Negotiation* and/or Position Negotiation*

• Preparing for the first day on the job*

• use structured intervention techniques implementing the most effective, but least intrusive methods possible to help the consumer learn the essential soft and hard skills of the job and/or the skills necessary to arrange and use transportation to get to and from the worksite;

• work with the consumer, employer, and VRS staff members to establish support services, accommodations, compensatory techniques, and training necessary to remove barriers to ensure successful employment for the consumer;

• observe the consumer to identify and solve potential problems related to the consumer's employment success before the problem becomes an issue for the consumer, employer, or co-workers;

• monitor the consumer's performance to ensure improvement in the consumer's performance; and

• gradually reduce the time spent with the consumer at the job site, as the consumer becomes better adjusted and more independent.

Work Experience services allow a customer to be placed at a business or at agencies within the community to complete short-term (12 weeks or fewer) experience and gain skills that are transferable to future long-term competitive integrated employment. If it is necessary for a customer to participate in Work Experience for longer than 12 weeks to meet the customer's needs, manager approval is required.

Work Experience may assist in:

• determining if a customer is ready for competitive, integrated employment;

• exploring career options for an individual; and/or

• developing skills to include in an individual's résumé for a certain vocation.

Work Experience services provide an opportunity for customers to:

• learn and experience work culture;

• identify career interests;

• explore potential career goals;

• identify on-the-job support needs;

• develop employability skills and good work habits;

• gain an understanding of employer expectations;

• build self-confidence;

• develop soft and hard skills;

• gain work experience and competencies in a vocation; and

• develop an understanding of the workplace and the connection between learning and earning.

• WIOA increases opportunities to practice and improve workplace skills, such as through internships and other work-based learning opportunities; and

• WIOA requires VR agencies to reserve not less than 15 percent of the Federal VR allotment to provide, or arrange for the provision of, pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities transitioning from school to postsecondary education programs and employment in competitive integrated settings, and that these services be coordinated with local educational agencies (LEA).

Definition of “Student with a Disability”

A student with a disability is an individual who:

• Is in an educational program; and

• Meets certain age requirements; and

• Is eligible for and receiving special education or related services under IDEA; or

• Is an individual with a disability for purposes of section 504 of the Act.

• Is in an educational program; and

• Meets certain age requirements; and

• Is eligible for and receiving special education or related services under IDEA; or

• Is an individual with a disability for purposes of section 504 of the Act.

Age range requirements for a student with a disability:

Minimum age: Not younger than the earliest age to receive transition services under IDEA; or

Not younger than the earliest age, if determined by the State as being different, to receive pre-employment transition services.

Maximum age: Not older than 21 years old; or

Not older than the highest age determined by the State to receive services under IDEA, if older than 21 years of age.

Population to Receive Pre-Employment Transition Services

Pre-employment transition services are provided to “students with disabilities” who are:

Pre-Employment Transition Services includes 5 Required Services which can be provided in a group setting or on an individual basis:

1. Job exploration counseling;

2. Work-based learning experiences, which may include in-school, after school, or community-based opportunities;

3. Counseling on opportunities for enrollment in comprehensive transition or postsecondary educational programs at IHEs;

4. Workplace readiness training to develop social skills and independent living; and

5. Instruction in self-advocacy, including peer mentoring.

• provide the base service, as defined in the VR Standards for Providers (VR-SFP) manual;

• remain on-site providing all necessary interventions, as identified on the referral form and/or service authorization;

• identify interventions and compensatory techniques to address and/or remove the barriers directly related to the customer's diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder or social communication disorder; and

Ongoing Support Services

https://choosework.ssa.gov/blog/2021-07-21-employment-supports-for-people-with-invisible-disabilities