Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
Spring Newsletter
Volume 16, Issue 2
Spring 2014
Inside This Issue
A Note from the
1
John Lui, Ph.D., MBA, CRC, PVE
Executive Director
SourceAmerica
2-3
and AbilityOne:
AT Challenge
WI-PROMISE En-
4
rollment Open
BOND Project:
5
SVRI’s EWIC
WI-PROMISE So-
6
cial Media/Staff
Presentation
State of the Sci-
7
ence Conference
SVRI Open House 8
Recap
SVRI Exhibit at
9
Career Venture
Wheelchair Clin-
A Note from the Executive Director
10
ics/Professional
Development/
Upcoming Events
Finding Answers,
Creating Solutions,
Ensuring Futures.
Spring of 2014 has arrived;
though with the March and
April snow falls here in
Menomonie, it hasn’t quite
felt like it yet! Here at
SVRI, we are hoping for
sunshine and warmer
weather soon, as I’m sure
you are too.
to highlight the BOND
project’s Enhanced Work
Incentives Counselor
(EWIC) at SVRI, Sara Dekan. You can learn what an
EWIC is and does with
BOND inside this issue.
Wisconsin-PROMISE has
more exciting news; the
grant is now on social meI would like to turn your
dia sites! Be sure to check
attention to an Assistive
Technology (AT) Challenge out how to “like” and
“follow” Wisconsinthat Paul Schwartz, AT
PROMISE.
Manager and Rehabilitation Engineer at SVRI, at- Our staff has also been
tended. Paul was selected very busy with presentato be a judge at this comtions. Cayte Anderson and
petition and has some cool Priscilla Matthews preinformation to share about sented at the National
the AT presented.
Council on Rehabilitation
to do the closing presentation at their State of the
Science Conference. Meghan Donahue presented
at SVRI’s Open House on
April 24. Meghan, along
with Erika Peterson, also
represented SVRI with an
interactive showcase exhibit at Career Ventures in
Eau Claire. Read the deEducation (NCRE) ConferSpringtime also means
tails from all of our presenence in March. I, along
that the Wisconsintations inside.
with my colleagues from
PROMISE grant enrollFeel free to contact me
MSU and UW-Madison,
ment is now open! We
with any questions or compresented at the RRTChave included a message
ments you may have.
EBP VR State of the Scifrom JoAnna Richard,
DVR Deputy Administra- ence Conference in April. I Hopefully our next newswas also invited by the Na- letter will bring more suntor, in regards to enrolltional Research and Train- shine and warmer weather
ment in this newsletter.
with it!
In this issue, we would like ing Center (NRTC) on
Blindness and Low Vision -John Lui
Page 2
Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
SourceAmerica and AbilityOne:
An Assistive Technology Challenge
SourceAmerica
five final teams travel to the fi(www.sourceamerica.org),
nalists’ event, and winners reheadquartered in Vienna, Virceive a trophy and cash prizes.
ginia, is a national nonprofit
agency that provides employment opportunities for individuals with significant disabilities.
SourceAmerica is one of two
national nonprofits designated
by the U.S. AbilityOne Commission, an independent federal
agency, (www.abilityone.gov) to
support other nonprofit agencies participating in the AbilThe AbilityOne DeityOne Program
sign Challenge trophy.
(www.abilityone.org).
Photo credit: Cade
The AbilityOne Program holds
an annual engineering competition (“The AbilityOne Design
Challenge”;
www.a1designchallenge.org)
that requires students to design
and build a prototype of a device that increases productivity
for people with disabilities in
the workplace or opens a job to
an employee who could not previously perform the tasks associated with the job. The high
school students observe and
work with persons with disabilities in the workplace to research
and develop their devices.
Out of 88 teams from high
schools across the country, the
Martin Photography
This year’s high school finalist
event was held in Arlington,
Virginia. Paul Schwartz, Assistive Technology (AT) Manager
and Rehabilitation Engineer
here at SVRI, was selected to be
one of seven members on the
expert panel of
judges. At the
finalists’ event,
the judges interacted with
the students
during the display/showcase
phase, listened
as the teams
delivered their
presentations, and asked them
questions and shared some
comments following the presentations.
In regards to being a judge, Paul
stated, “It was great to see the
creativity and passion exhibited
by these young students. A key
component of the competition
is working directly with the consumers with disabilities. Of
course, this helps in the design
process, but it also helps these
future designers and engineers
gain perspective on working
with people with disabilities.
Hopefully, they will incorporate
this knowledge and universal
design principles in their work
as professionals.”
SVRI staff Paul Schwartz at the
judge’s table.
Photo credit: Cade Martin Photography
Page 3
Volume 16, Issue 2
SourceAmerica and AbilityOne:
An Assistive Technology Challenge (Continued)
There were a variety of AT devices submitted in the competition. In some cases, the team
developed AT equipment for
one individual in particular. In
other cases, the AT was developed with multiple employees
in mind. In all cases, the students worked closely with at
least one individual with disabilities as they designed and
refined the devices, often visiting the nonprofit agency multiple times throughout the development process to try out and
improve their prototypes, as
vide him with a greater variety
well as test the effectiveness and of tasks to perform in the workplace.
impact of the AT.
The Wethersfield High School
Team took first place for their
prototype called “The Path.”
The Path is a piece of AT that is
designed to help employees
with lower levels of dexterity
complete the job task of packaging military ID chains into
small envelopes. The team
worked closely with CW Resources employee Tyron
“Mooch” Hill in order to pro-
You can see the Wethersfield
High School Team’s entry in
action by following this video
link: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?
v=HD67dI5wfLQ.
Information for this article was
provided by SourceAmerica
and was used with permission.
The Wethersfield High School Team
and Tyron “Mooch” Hill, CW Resources
employee (front), holding their 1st place
trophy.
Photo credit: Cade Martin Photography.
“The Path” prototype (major components labeled).
Photo credit: The Wethersfield High
School Team’s paper submission.
Page 4
Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
Wisconsin-PROMISE Grant: Enrollment is Open!
This article is contributed by JoAnna Richard, DVR Deputy Administrator (re-printed with permission).
It is with great pleasure that I share with you
that we have begun recruitment and enrollment
for the Promise Grant participants. We are very
excited to start spreading the word and experiencing the enrollment for Vocational Rehabilitation and wrap-around family services. Letters
are currently being mailed to eligible youth, inviting them to participate, and outline the process for enrollment.
participants can only receive services if they have
gone through the random assignment process. Please refer all interested youth and families to:

The website at : www.promisewi.com,

The 1-855-480-5618 number, or

Email at promise-grant@cesa12.org
We would like your help in serving as ambassa- We also want you to learn with us as we embark
dors for the program. Thank you for remember- on this journey. Please feel free to bookmark the
website and peruse it when you have free time to
ing these important points:
check out the activities and information pieces.
 Only SSI Youth between the ages of 14-16 are Updated news and information about the proeligible to participate
gram can be found at www.promisewi.com.

Eligible youth must fill out the online consent form and the intake form; both forms
can be found at www.promisewi.com. They
can then mail the forms to our partners at
UW-Stout at:
On behalf of the Steering Committee and the
DVR Leadership Team, we thank you for your
collaboration and cooperation. We look forward
to a PROMISING future!
Wisconsin PROMISE Research Team
Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
221 10th Ave., VR115
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Menomonie, WI 54751
Or, they can contact Erin Johnson, PROMISE
Intake Attendant, by email at promisegrant@cesa12.org or by toll-free phone
at 855.480.5618. Erin will connect them to
someone in their area who will explain the study
and help fill out the forms.
It is important to remember that Promise Grant
JoAnna Richard
Page 5
Volume 16, Issue 2
BOND Project: Highlight on SVRI’s EWIC
In our Fall 2013 newsletter, you
may recall having read about
the Benefit Offset National
Demonstration (BOND) project
that is being implemented by
the Social Security Administration in ten different sites around
the country. The BOND project
evaluates whether Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
beneficiaries obtain better employment outcomes when offered a $1 or $2 benefit offset in
conjunction with work incentives counseling. Within the
project, there are two types of
counseling services provided:
Work Incentives Counseling
(WIC) and Enhanced Work Incentives Counseling (EWIC).
Individuals participating in the
BOND project are randomly assigned to a WIC, an EWIC, or
the control group. The control
group follows the current standard work incentives for SSDI;
they do not receive any benefit
offsets or counseling services
(unless they seek services on
their own).
Employment Resources Inc.
(ERI) out of Madison subcontracted the Stout Vocational
Rehabilitation Institute
(SVRI) to participate in the
BOND project. SVRI staff
member Sara Dekan, MS,
CRC, CVE (right) works as a
part-time EWIC provider and
has a total of 62 assigned cases
under the BOND project. The
EWIC’s role entails intensive
and extensive case management
coordination. EWICs also follow
a “tracking system,” in which
they are responsible for submitting participant information,
such as case notes, earnings reports, Annual Earnings Estimates, End of Year Reconciliation, etc. to Social Security (SS).
Individuals assigned to an
EWIC are entitled to have the
benefit offset applied to their
wages, which Sara determines,
based on their annual earnings
estimate. EWICs are also responsible for contacting the active beneficiaries on a regular
basis. Under the project guidelines, the participants do not
contact the SS office anymore.
With the enhanced services,
Sara ensures that beneficiaries
are connected to various resources available to them in
their community. Not all of the
BOND participants reside here
in Menomonie, so she works
with and coordinates services
for consumers in Eau Claire,
Rhinelander, and La Crosse. She
offers employment-related services, such as assisting with résumés and job applications.
Sara also provides employment
support counseling to consumers, such as helping them understand any barriers to employment and recommending
ways to address those barriers.
SVRI receives monthly EWIC
reports from ERI. In the reports
are “making a difference” examples, which are successful consumer testimonies. Below is an
example from Sara’s caseload.
Sara is working with a man in
Rhinelander who is/was working prior to BOND. However,
before BOND, he was keeping
his earnings below the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)
amount. He could not afford to
earn $1,200 a month and lose
his $1,700 SSDI payment. Since
enrolling in BOND, his earnings
have increased to about $1,370/
month. Because of BOND, he
only loses about $150 of his
SSDI. This allows him to “earn
more and keep more,” which is
the slogan of BOND.
We would like to recognize and
congratulate Sara on a job well
done and for making a difference!
Page 6
Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
Find Wisconsin-PROMISE on the Web!
The Wisconsin-PROMISE grant is now connected to social media! Wisconsin-PROMISE can be
found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
Tumblr. “Like” WI Promise on Facebook,
“follow” WI Promise (@WiPromise1) on Twitter
and Instagram, and “follow” on Tumblr at
wisconsinpromise (http://
wisconsinpromise.tumblr.com/).
The social media sites can also be found and accessed through the Wisconsin PROMISE website: http://www.PromiseWi.com.
Staff Presentation at NCRE’s Spring Conference
SVRI staff members Cayte Anderson, Ph.D.,
CRC, and Priscilla Matthews, MS, CRC, PVE,
presented at the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) annual spring conference in Manhattan Beach, California in March
2014. The title of the presentation was
“Communities of Practice: Translating
Knowledge for Rehabilitation Professionals.”
This interactive session presented recent research on the use of Communities of Practice
(CoP) as a knowledge translation tool, as well as
provided a brief overview of the role CoP plays in
bridging the gap between research and practice.
In their presentation, Cayte and
Priscilla explored how CoPs can
serve both as a platform for con-
sumers, educators, researchers, counselors, and
employers to develop and implement evidencebased practices, and as a way to measure the
“success” of knowledge translation strategies.
You can learn more about CoPs from the RRTC’s
online training module by following this link:
http://research2vrpractice.org/trainingcop/.
Priscilla and Cayte
Page 7
Volume 16, Issue 2
State of the Science Conference
Members of the Rehabilitation Research and
Training Center for Evidence-Based Practice in
Vocational Rehabilitation (RRTC-EBP VR) presented at the State of the Science Conference on
April 8 and 9, 2014, in Bethesda, Maryland on
the theme of “Advancing Evidence-Based Practices and Policies to Close the Employment
Gap.” Vocational Rehabilitation professionals
received information to improve employment
rates and quality of employment outcomes within the state/federal VR system.

Personal and Environmental Factors that
Support and Encourage Innovation and Best
Practices that Lead to Employment Outcomes in Public Rehabilitation; Moderators:
Fong Chan and Tim Tansey (UW-Madison).
Information for this article was used with permission from the RRTC-EBP VR website. You
can access the presentation materials and
handouts from the conference by visiting their
website, www.research2practice.org.
The presentation topics included:

VR Counselors’ Perception of EBP: Value,
Barriers, and Preparation Needs; Presenters:
Michael Leahy (Michigan State University),
Fong Chan (UW-Madison), and John Lui
(SVRI).

Best Practices in Achieving Employment
Outcomes: Findings from a Multiple Case
Study of Agencies in the Public Rehabilitation Program; Moderator: Michael Leahy
(MSU).
RRTC-EBP VR Presenters (left
to right): John Lui, Michael
Leahy, and Fong Chan.
In addition to presenting at the RRTC State of
the Science Conference, John Lui was invited to
deliver the closing presentation at the National
Research and Training Center (NRTC) on Blindness and Low Vision State of the Science Conference in Bethesda, MD on April 10, 2014. He presented “From Dream to Action: Evidence-Based
Practice in VR Service Delivery.”
Page 8
Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute
Recap of SVRI’s Open House
On Thursday, April 24, 2014,
the Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute (SVRI) hosted an
Open House. Meghan Donahue,
Rehabilitation Engineer at
SVRI, presented on “Cool Tools
for Accessing Mobile Devices.”
With this presentation, Meghan
showed the attendees several of
the newest tools that make accessing touch screen devices
easier. Following the presentation, attendees were given tours
of the Assistive Technology and
Evaluation labs.
The different access methods for
the iPad presented at the Open
House, including switch devices
and various types of styluses.
Nine people attended SVRI’s
Open House. The group of individuals brought with them a
variety of backgrounds and experiences. Representation of
attendees included: Chippewa River Industries
(CRI) in Chippewa Falls,
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) from
both Eau Claire and Ladysmith, ManPower out of
Menomonie, Eau Claire
Department of Corrections, Community Care of
Central Wisconsin
(CCCW)-Wisconsin Rapids, Center for Independent Living for Western
Wisconsin (CILWW)-Eau
Claire, and the UW-Stout
Library. Not only did attendees learn about the newest
technology at the Open House,
but they were also able to net-
work with one another. All who
were in attendance provided
great feedback on both Meghan’s presentation and the lab
tours.
Meghan discussing one of the
adaptive switch devices.
Did You Know…?
Spring 2014 marks the 10-year anniversary of
SVRI providing work incentive benefits analysis
services, as well as the 5-year anniversary of becoming the first benefits counseling program in
the country to be accredited by CARF!
Page 9
Volume 16, Issue 2
SVRI Career Venture Showcase Exhibit
Career Venture is a hands-on career exposition
held in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This year’s Career
Venture event was held on Thursday, May 1,
2014. Approximately 2,800 students from
around Wisconsin were in attendance at the
event. UW-Stout departments showcased various
occupations available in their career fields at the
event. The College of Education, Health and Human Sciences (CEHHS) set up an exhibit. Meghan Donahue, Rehabilitation Engineer, MS,
ATP, and Erika Peterson, Rehabilitation Specialist, MS, CRC, CVE, PVE, ATP, SMS, shared a
booth with the CEHHS department and represented SVRI with an exhibit demonstrating career options available in rehabilitation, specifically directed towards disability awareness and
Assistive Technology (AT).
During the showcase exhibit, students would
spin the colored wheel to choose a scenario. Four
different scenarios were printed onto sheets of
paper, and the students had to pick a choice
listed to answer the question. Various multiple
choice answers to the scenarios included: voice
recognition software, switches for “idevices” (iPad, iPhone, etc.), and the eye gaze
mouse. Based on which tool the students chose,
they then got to try it out. Another piece of AT
showcased that the students got to use was the
pressure mapping tool, which is virtual sensation. It is a specialized mat connected to a computer, which allows a person to see the pressure
that is being exerted onto a seat cushion.
Meghan and Erika explained to the students
that, with AT, problem-solving skills are used to
help people with disabilities, as they did with the
scenario examples. The exhibit was extremely
interactive and informative.
Erika Peterson explaining and demonstrating the pressure mapping tool to the student on the right. The student on the left is
using the eye gaze mouse.
Meghan Donahue explaining
and demonstrating the eye
gaze mouse to the students.
Wheelchair Clinics & Power Scooter Loan
SVRI Wheelchair Clinics are
held the second Tuesday of
each month from 9:00 AM
to 11:00 AM in room 120 of
the Vocational Rehabilitation Building on campus. At
the free clinics, SVRI technicians are available to perform routine cleaning and
maintenance adjustment
procedures, such as: tighten
fasteners, check tire pressure, bearings and spokes,
check wheel alignment, adjust seating and positioning
of footrests and armrests,
lubricate, evaluate seat
cushions, and adjust wheel
locks. If significant repair
issues are found, SVRI technicians will provide an estimate of repair costs. SVRI
also has a Seating and Mobility Specialist on staff, Erika Peterson, ATP/SMS, who
consults during the Wheelchair Clinics as needed.
For further information
about seating and mobility services, contact
Erika via email: petersoneri@uwstout.edu.
In addition to the clin-
Professional Development
ics, did you know that SVRI
loans out power scooters for
staff and student use? The
scooter loan program is designed for short-term use to
accommodate an individual’s mobility needs. Recently, a group of potential students visited UW-Stout to
tour campus. Tom Tozier,
SVRI Shop Supervisor, was
able to loan out a power
scooter to one of the students to help her better access campus for the day!
If you have questions about
the Wheelchair Clinics, or
need additional information, please call Tom Tozier at (715) 232-4037.
Upcoming Events
Opportunities
CRC Exam Preparation Workshops
Wheelchair Clinics

May 15—July 10, 2014

June 10, 2014

August 7—October 2, 2014

July 8, 2014

August 12, 2014
Rehabilitation Ethics

August 28—October 2, 2014
If you would like more information about training opportunities, or if you would like to register for a course,
visit www.uwstout.edu/svri/training.cfm.
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