One of the key factors in helping people build self-esteem and self-sufficiency is having a job and earning an income. Pathway recognizes the unique challenges of training mentally and physically disabled children and adults with skills that will qualify them for some type of rudimentary employment. As such, they have developed a comprehensive vocational program that includes several levels of training and development, as well as internal income-generating activities and outside job placement.
Pre-vocational training includes utilizing teaching aids developed by the Pathway vocational staff, as no standardized tools exist in the ready market. These aids are specially designed to meet specific learning disabilities, determined by extensive testing and evaluation of each child. All children above age 9 are evaluated for trainability, and taught key values necessary for successful integration and job placement:
- Time management
- Hygiene
- Social interaction
- Responsibility
- Cleanliness –personal and environmental
- Age-appropriate behavior
- Healthy sense of competition
Pathway also requires each child to contribute to the cleaning and maintenance of each center. It is the goal of the organization to replace as many “normal” workers with the disabled in various household functions. These activities provide “on the job” training for many children. Additionally, the pre-vocational training methodology takes into consideration several aspects of a given task, such as:
- Type of job
- Physical energies required for a specific job
- Mastering a particular skill
Statistics on Pathway’s Vocational Programs are also available here.
