What are the goals of the Adult Program?

• Provide a safe and supportive environment to allow for participants’ successful participation in meaningful, interactive, and enjoyable functional tasks that are part of larger GSI community projects and activities.
• Create accessible and individualized vocational opportunities, within the Day Program setting, that maximize each participant’s individual strengths and preferences.
• Develop and maintain relationships within the larger community that simultaneously enhance public awareness and education of autism, as well as create purposeful work and volunteer sites for the participants.
• Provide a variety of opportunities for participants to positively interact with the larger community.
• Synthesize incoming skills, including communication, fine and gross motor, life skills, vocational, and self-advocacy skills to help participants maintain levels across their lifespan.
• Provide a structured and supportive environment that allows for increased participant independence from staff (reduce the student to staff ratio), as appropriate for the participant and setting.
• Encourage the development of increased preferred leisure and recreational activities.
• Evaluate and build a portfolio of participant skills, abilities, and preferences to be accessible by any current or future family, caregivers, or program staff.
• Reflect any expansion of the adult program, by organizing tracks that reflect participants’ individual sensory needs, vocational and life skills ability, projected long-term goals and required staff to student ratio.
• Maintain an active role in changing the dynamic and nature of the program to continually adapt to participants’ needs.