Situational assessment of task preferences among adults with multiple severe disabilities in supported work

Identifying work related preferences is an important aspect of supporting p eople with disabilities in community based jobs. However, how to accurately determine preferences among supported workers who have multiple severe dis abilities and highly significant communication challenges has received litt le research attention. We evaluated the use of a situational assessment for identifying work task preferences among three individuals with multiple se vere disabilities. Two participants worked on a yard maintenance crew and o ne was assigned to cleaning offices. The assessment involved systematically observing indices of happiness and unhappiness while the participants work ed on different tasks. The observations revealed distinct differences regar ding the tasks that the workers liked and disliked. The validity of the ide ntified preferences was supported through observations, which indicated tha t work engagement of the workers was most frequent when they worked on thei r most preferred task and least frequent when they worked on their least pr eferred task. Overall, these results offer support far use of the situation al assessment to identify preferred work tasks for adults with multiple sev ere disabilities. Results are discussed in terms of evaluating the assessme nt process with other aspects of work placements beyond specific job tasks to further enhance the likelihood that supported workers will work in job s ituations in accordance with their work preferences.