Westchester Exceptional Children's School

Vocational Department

Work Activities Center Program

The Work Activities Center is a pre-vocational readiness program offering a logical and sequential system for developing the fundamental skills and work habits needed for real life job opportunities.

The Work Activities Center attempts to increase skill, increase rate, or improve a behavior specific to the community training site or job site at which a student may work in the future.

• Students must acquire a wide range of work-or-life related skills to secure and maintain community-based jobs when they graduate.
• Work activities provide the students a wide variety of opportunities. We work on ways to increase a student's work tolerance and attention to task.
• By simulating work tasks, students are able to receive additional training on specific problematic task components.
• Learning specific work skills at an early age facilities the transition into community-based vocational training program.

School-Based Program

Each student involved in the school-based program works with a Job Coach. This is the intermediate step from the work activities center to STAIRS (Students Transitional Adjustment Independently Reaching Success). The training parallels specific community job site skills/activities.

STAIRS (Students Transitional Adjustment Independently Reaching Success) Community Program

STAIRS is community-based vocational training program providing a hands-on approach to showing the students what real work at a real job site is all about. By participating in community-based instruction, students are able to learn a variety of job skills and develop employments interests based on real work experiences.

• We strive for independence; offering age-appropriate activities and giving individuals an opportunity to demonstrate excellent productivity.
• We encourage learning in a natural environment and provide regular, well-planned training in a community environment specifically for each student (including community business).
• We focus on classroom activities that improve performance at the community work site.
• We integrate students with non-disabled workers, supervisors and customers.
• We provide our students with the necessary guidance, knowledge, skills, concepts, and attitudes for job survival and success in the world of work.
• We evaluate student progress under natural conditions.
• The outcome of our program will be to develop those skills necessary for successful assimilation into the adult world of employment and community living.

Wec Café

Students between the ages of 14-21 participate in the WEC Café. A systematic approach is used for the training experience:

• Identifying food-related careers.
• Describing and demonstrating skills and/or educational requirements for food-related careers.
• Differentiating between positive and negative aspects of food-related careers.
• Performing those tasks necessary for the career or careers they choose.
• Cash register skills.