ATHENS, Ohio (March 29, 2010) – Natalie Williams, first-year doctoral student in The Patton College’s Counselor Education and Supervision program, has a lot to add to her résumé this year.

The most recent and tremendous accomplishment is being published in the Rehabilitation Counselors & Educators Journal, a first for Williams. The article, "Academic Failure, Unemployment, and Incarceration: Poor Outcomes for Transition School-Aged youth with Learning Disabilities and Emotional and Behavioral Disorders” was co-authored with Sharon Brown, Ph.D., Clara Greer, M.S. and Felicia D. Jenkins, M.S., all from Langston University.

Stemming from a paper she wrote for a requirement in a master's degree course at Langston University in Oklahoma, Williams’ professor asked if she would be interested in publishing it. After about two years of student research collaboration and various drafts, the article was printed in the Rehabilitation Counselors & Educators Associations’ (RCEA) spring issue.

“My first reaction to seeing my name in print was sheer excitement,” said Williams. “I sent the article to my professors here, and my friends, family, mentors and former co-workers in Oklahoma.”

The article discusses the difficulties that youth with disabilities face as they transition away from school settings into other environments. According to Williams, the transitioning period can be challenging for anyone, but the youth with learning disabilities (LD) and emotional behavior disorders (EBD) often face poorer outcomes than their peers without disabilities. Also, the potential for poor outcomes is increased when race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and education are added to the equation.

“Additional funding is needed to assist rehabilitation counseling transition programs in serving youth with disabilities,” said Williams. “Transition programs connect youth with educational and career training, provide job placement, vocational assessment, and referrals for services which can increase the quality of life and decrease the potential for poor outcomes for this population.”

Williams was first exposed to the issues surrounding poor and minority youth with disabilities about five or six years ago. Through her library research, she found a shocking statistic: 75 percent of youth who are incarcerated would qualify for special education services if they were in school.

“Something more needs to be done and rehabilitation counseling is one avenue to address this need,” said Williams. “I am excited to have published a paper which will add to the growing body of literatureon this topic.”

To highlight more of her accomplishments, she also submitted an essay to the American Counseling Association (ACA) Foundation and a conceptual paper to the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA) Student Research Forum. Through her two submissions, she has won honorable mention in the American Counseling Association Foundation Graduate Student Essay Competition (free registration) as well as been selected to present her paper in the ARCA Student Research Forum as part of the 2011 ACA Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 23-27, 2011. With the help of Dr. Aimee Howley, Senior Associate Dean, Williams also received a travel grant to help fund the trip.

For her presentation, Williams will be discussing her conceptual paper, titled “Lesson Learned: Sex Education for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Implications for Rehabilitation Counselors.” In this paper, she proposes sex education as one method of protecting adults with intellectual disabilities from sexual victimization as well as encourages rehabilitation counselors to understand and teach certain skills to adults with disabilities in order to prevent sexual abuse.

Story by Nicole Bersani; photos by Mark Brunton