The purpose of the paper Literacy, Employment and Youth with Learning Disabilities: Aligning Workforce Development Policies and Programs is threefold: (1) to provide information to policymakers and government personnel who support and develop workforce development programming, policies and practices for youth, including those with learning disabilities (LD); (2) to provide a national view of the literacy and employment status of youth with LD who have low literacy skills; and (3) to provide information on how workforce development programs can meet their literacy, employment and self-determination needs, providing professional development and leveraging technology to do so more effectively and efficiently.

To accomplish this purpose, the paper is organized to address six objectives:

1. Describe the critical need for sophisticated literacy skills in the 21st-century workforce
2. Define learning disabilities and discuss the implications of the need for higher literacy skills for youth with LD
3. Discuss the challenges in the current workforce development systems and personnel and professional development needs to address the achievement of youth with LD
4. Provide information on how these workforce development programs and personnel can meet the literacy, employment and self-determination needs of youth with LD
5. Offer examples of program models
6. Discuss implications for policymakers and government personnel who support and develop workforce development programming, policies and practices for youth.

Read the full paper.