Situational Assessments
Situational assessment is used to determine the best match between the customer, a type of job, and work environment.

Lesson 2

Situational Assessments - slide 2

Situational assessment is used to determine the best match between the customer, a type of job, and work environment.

There are many other terms you may here that really mean the same thing as situational assessment and that could be an environmental assessment, a behavioral assessment, an on the job evaluation. Those are just some terms you might see that really more or less mean the same thing. I think what is really important to remember is that we are not using the assessment to screen out any potential candidates for employment. That we are trying to identify really the best fit or the best job match by determining characteristics of the individual related to their interest and abilities, as well as maybe looking at characteristics of that environment that would facilitate that persons success. And ultimately what we want to have at the end of a situational assessment process is that we have identified the individuals training needs, know something about his or her support needs, as well as something about the potential environments that he or she may be successful in. So I think that’s really an important headset to get into when we are thinking about doing a situational assessment.

Now you might be asking yourself, who could benefit from a situational assessment? And I think the answer to that question is just about any person who would come into your program seeking assistance with supported employment could benefit from a situational assessment. In many instances, I think that the individuals who are most uncertain of what they would like to do or who are unable to verbally tell us what their interests are could most benefit from participating in this type of on the job assessment, because we can observe their reaction to different jobs or job types for that matter and really get some ideas about their choices and preferences. Now for someone who really can’t tell us we can observe whether they engage in the activity or don’t engage in the activity, and let me give you an example of that that comes to mind.

I remember seeing someone at a situational assessment sight, and this was a young man who was not verbal and really could not tell us what his interests were, and we were working with him in a kitchen area and the job coach, or the employment specialist was trying to get him to scrub pots. Now I’ll confess that scrubbing pots is really my least favorite activity too, and I’d probably not want to do that either, and this particular young man was refusing to scrub the pots. So the employment specialist said that basically means we should give up and take him back to his workplace or his sheltered workshop.

And instead, we simply looked around the kitchen and found some other tasks including preparing some of the vegetables for a salad, and the young man happily proceeded to participate in the activity. Now, because I used an example of someone with a developmental disability, does this mean that situational assessments are only for individuals who are mentally retarded or who have cognitive disabilities or can situational assessments be used successfully for other individuals? And I would suggest to you that indeed situational assessments are as beneficial for individuals who could verbally say to you I would like to do a particular job or work in a particular environment. Many individuals have little or no experience with the choices they are talking about or preferences that they are identifying. So if we can provide them with some brief experiences within similar or typical workplaces that represent those choices or interests then they can experience first hand what it means to actually work in that workplace. So I would tell you even if you have done an extensive inventory of interests, done person centered planning, and have a good idea about what the person would like to do based on their interests then that individual, if they have never had any experience with the choices or interests they are telling you about could very well benefit from situational assessment.