TRANSITIONS at BCSSSD offers four programs to our young adults based upon their interests, desires, and needs:
ATTAIN, ACCESS, ASPIRE, and ACHIEVE 
ATTAIN  (Advance Training Through Abilities, Interests, and Needs):  

Attend a campus-based program to work on skills to support independence in the student’s home and community and while preparing him/her for a future adult day program and sheltered workshop. This setting provides opportunities for our young adults to enhance overall levels of independent functioning including but not limited to communication, toileting, feeding, self-care, self advocacy, life and leisure activities.  Job readiness training is provided to assist our young adults to develop further social and job skills to support future success. Work tasks are designed to ensure our young adults will gain job readiness skills in a small group setting which will be assimilated into skills offered in our workplace skills program. Volunteer opportunities will occur within the campus and/or in the local community, as appropriate. Community Based Instruction is part of this program focus. 

ACCESS  (Advocacy, Community, Career Exploration, and Social Skills)  
Attend a campus-based program to work on job assessment, job readiness skills, and volunteer opportunities while continuing to develop life skills. The campus-based model offers a variety of work experiences and specialized training in landscaping, food service, auto detailing, custodial services, production and assembly work, and inventory control and delivery. Volunteer opportunities will occur within the campus and/or in the community, as appropriate. An additional focus in this model is to support our young adults who may continue to live at home or move into a residential-based program with the availability of intensive support services.

These and other opportunities give our young adults the experience needed to gain employment in a community-based setting. The goal of the program is to prepare individuals to transition from school to career or employment success.

• Workplace Assessment - establishes job readiness and current skills, targets appropriate job matches, and recommends skills and supports necessary to secure and maintain employment in the community. Creates an individualized program based on ability.

  • Assessment is obtained by observation and evaluation both of which concentrates on time management, following simple and multi-step directions, organization, pace, production, stamina, consistent work quality, teamwork, safe work practices, initiative, use of equipment, punctuality, appropriate social skills, and response to supervision.

• Workplace Readiness- encompasses job skills, hard and soft skills development, work-related skills training, social skills, money management, and transportation training, as needed. 

  • Hard skills training teaches specific job duties, which are developed through concentrated instruction in small work groups, tailored to the individual's needs.

  • Soft skills training develops important life function areas such as hygiene, appearance, attitude, response to supervision, voice control, personal space recognition, leadership, and socialization. This training occurs daily and is reinforced in all work and skill environments by job coaches, teachers, and workplace mentors.

• Job Development - provides training and assistance in all phases of the job search including but not limited to: creating a resume, completing job applications, developing interviewing skills, contacting potential employers, and analyzing potential and employment sites. 

Our Business Partnerships

Transitions at BCSSSD is proud to partner with the following businesses in our ACCESS program:

• Accuscan

• Champion Fasteners

• Liberty Lakes

• Trenton Soup Kitchen

• Village Pizzeria

• BCSSSD
  

  • Pioneer Donation Center

  • Pioneer Logistics

  • Pioneer Specialized Service

ASPIRE   (Acquiring Social, Professional, Individualized Real-Life Experiences)   
The campus-based program will assist young adults in developing skills with a goal to be able to live with minimal support or in an independent living situation with a focus on obtaining and maintaining employment in a sheltered workplace or within a business in the local community. Workplace experiences are provided to individuals who wish to transition into an integrated workforce through our Work-Based Learning Experiences (WBL), unpaid and paid (supportive and competitive), employment opportunities. Workplace opportunities may include volunteer placements, supportive and/or competitive employment, work study, or a mixture of each. When not engaged in volunteer or supportive and competitive employment, our young adults will follow the workplace skills model i.e., ACCESS.

Our young adults will have the following support as part of this service model:

• Workplace or Volunteer Placement- reviewing specific job responsibilities prior to placement, new job orientation support.

• Job Coaching - onsite job training including job coaching, gradual reduction of on-site support as appropriate, periodic visits to monitor progress, additional coaching for new tasks or to enhance skills as needed, and lastly, monitoring and evaluation.

• Mentoring- when our young adults are able to decrease the need for job coach services, a work site mentor (non-school employee) may be assigned to the young adult while the WBL Coordinator continues to monitor and evaluate.

Our Business Partnerships

Transitions at BCSSSD  is proud to partner with the following businesses in the ASPIRE program:

• Acme

• Breaking Grounds Coffee & Cafe

• BCIT - Westampton

• Burlington County Library

• Heroes Comics & Sports

• HomeGoods

• Marriott

• Marshalls

• One Dollar Zone

• Optimal Health Club

• Sacred Heart School

• Virtua

• Westampton Diner

ACHIEVE (Attitude & Commitment for Higher Education with Vocational Experience)
The college readiness program will occur at our campus-based location during the first year the young adults enter the program. Here, our young adults will exhibit college readiness skills in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. Furthermore, there will be a focus and motivation to encourage the young adults to become lifelong learners while seeking and maintaining competitive employment opportunities in the local community. During year two of the program, the young adults will participate in college coursework on the Rowan College of Burlington County (RCBC) college campus or online from the BCSSSD campus. In addition, the young adults will have access to utilize college resources and have access to the social life within the college community.  

Prerequisites for Success:

• Attitude  

• Self-Advocacy

• Accepting Responsibility

• Preparatory Curriculum 

Attitude. Our young adults need to have a positive attitude and interest in learning to achieve their goals. It takes a good disposition and understanding of how a positive attitude will help them get through some challenging obstacles to meet success.
Self-Advocacy. Our young adults with disabilities need to know the functional limitations that result from their disabilities and understand their strengths and weaknesses. They should be able to explain their disabilities. Our young adults need to practice explaining their disabilities, as well as why they need certain services.
Accept responsibility for their own success. Our young adults also need to identify any academic adjustments they may need as a result of their disabilities to meet those standards and how to request those adjustments. They need to learn to be responsible for time management in order to act independently while managing their time with little or no supervision. 
Take an appropriate preparatory curriculum. Because all of our young adults will be expected to meet an institution’s essential standards, school personnel, the student, and the student support systems will need to prepare them to meet those standards. 

It is essential that our young adults learn to use computers if they are to be prepared for postsecondary education to complete a multitude of tasks, including but not limited to registering for classes, accessing course material, and accessing grades. 

For all our young adults, good study skills and the ability to write well are critical factors of success in postsecondary education. Our young adults are encouraged to enroll in classes that focus on writing and study skills during their freshman year of postsecondary education.