Students will participate in classes based on their interests and needs. The priority is to identify courses that lead to student self-advocacy, social integration, career development and independent living skill development. This may include course development and/or use of groups made up of WorkLink students to address skills needed.
Certificate of WorkLink Strategies and Employability
Career Development
As part of the WorkLink program students will complete participate in interest and ability assessments to help students identify areas of interest for coursework leading to the development of employment skills and experience(s).
- Through experiential learning opportunities (e.g. job shadowing, internships, etc.) students will gain experience based on their profession(s) of interest.
- Training and vocational educational opportunities will be designed based on each participants knowledge, skills, abilities and interests.
- WorkLink will work within the University, as well as with external community partners and employers, to build real-life, hands on work experiences for students that will lead to obtaining competitive employment upon graduation from the program.
These experiences will be supervised to assist students in building and developing skills necessary to navigate successful employment and work/life balance.
Comprehensive Transition and Post-Secondary Program
WorkLink is in the process of seeking approval as a Comprehensive Transition and Post-Secondary (CTP) program to enable participating young adults with intellectual disabilities access to Federal Student Aid programs (i.e. PELL and work study).
Comprehensive Transition Programs (CTP) were initially described and defined by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. Comprehensive Transition Programs are degree, certificate, or non-degree programs for students with intellectual disabilities that:
- Are offered by a college or career school and approved by the U.S. Department of Education;
- Are designed to support students with intellectual disabilities who want to continue academic, career, and independent living instruction to prepare for gainful employment;
- Offers academic advising and a structured curriculum; and
- Requires students with intellectual disabilities to participate, for at least half of the program, in:
- Regular enrollment in credit-bearing courses with nondisabled students,
- Auditing or participating (with nondisabled students) in courses for which the student does not receive regular academic credit,
- Enrollment in noncredit-bearing, non-degree courses with nondisabled students, or
- Internships or work-based training with nondisabled individuals.
Link to WorkLink’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy