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Book Review
Title: Personnel preparation in disability and community life: Toward universal approaches to support, by Julie Ann Racino (Editor), 2000
Publisher: Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 2000
ISBN: 0398070776 (cloth), 0398070784 (pbk)
Price: $US76.95 (cloth) $US57.95 (pbk)
Description: 330 pp.
This is an interesting and thoroughly researched book that seems to be primarily aimed at instructors and administrators in higher educational institutions. It could also be beneficial for persons working in human resources within community organizations who are interested in developing training programs. The overall theme is the development of programs and/or courses related to the professionalization of the field of community support workers. The book is well organized and filled with very practical and helpful information. The book is based in the developing models of community support, empowerment, independence, and self-determination. The author views training as an agent of change and is promoting the development of a formal community support discipline.
The book is organized into four parts with a total of eleven chapters. Parts I and IV are individual chapters. In Chapter 1, the author provides a very good foundation for community support workers as an "emerging profession." She covers such topics as educational requirements, professionalism and para-professionalism, adult education theories and models, and certification/licensure. Section II is all about existing and potential training models. In Chapter 2 an overview of issues and some examples of existing courses is provided. It is organized around the themes of family, housing, employment, independent living, and community supports. There is excellent supporting documentation and the beginnings of a suggested curriculum for professionalization. In Chapter 3 the author continues with a description of residential services and training models. Actual samples of course syllabi are provided in Chapter 4 with potential goals and objectives, and suggested teaching strategies and roles. Finally, an in-depth description of a specific master's level program in transition and integrated employment is provided in Chapter 5.
Part III is described as a "new edited collection of papers on community support." It is not entirely clear what this means. However, the collection is about classifying community support services, emphasizing alternative and qualitative research strategies, providing effective technical assistance, drawing from the disciplines of Disability Studies and Disability Policy Studies, and working within the context of communities. In Part IV the author provides a final summary related to new directions and philosophies of specific disciplines, describes disciplines that need strengthening, and makes suggestions related to future directions (i.e. distance and continuing education). This is a comparatively brief chapter considering the overall goal of the book.
I found the book to be a potentially useful tool for higher education programs wanting to assess their existing curricula and develop stronger programs targeting community support workers. There are extensive reviews, useful materials, and important perspectives contained in the chapters. There are also a few hurdles one must get through depending on ones perspective. The author continues to perpetuate the "us" against "them" professional debate in some subtle and not so subtle ways. There is a definite bias toward a "support/empowerment paradigm" that assumes that this paradigm is not equally distributed among professional disciplines. This model has been rapidly infused into existing curricula for many disciplines and credentialing bodies in recent years. Although the ideas in the book may be international in scope, most of the examples and models come from the northeastern United States. The book could have benefited from additional examples based in different countries and cultures, esp. if the theme is truly "universal." Overall, I would recommend this book as a starting point for educators interested in struggling to appropriately address the training and educational needs of community support workers. The author certainly provides extensive background information and challenges individuals and institutions to look at comprehensive and thoughtful ways of approaching program development.
Review by
Leslie C. McAllan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and School Psychology, University of Arizona.
Email: lmcallan@u.arizona.edu
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