Pre-vocational/ Vocational Training

Vocational and pre-vocational trainings are offered to older children as a part of our school curriculum. There is no particular process for this step. The entire program depends on the child’s passion, skill level, and other criteria. For instance, a child interested in cooking or cutting vegetables should be trained toward a career revolving around those passions.

Pre-vocational skills

Pre-vocational skills are the basic knowledge that a child should learn before the vocational skill of choice. It is a common misconception that pre-vocational skills usually involve math or other academic concepts. True, a significant part of pre-vocation skills would be academic-oriented, but it also involves interpersonal and personal skill development.

  • Personal skills involve time management training, personal hygiene, professional appearance, basic problem-solving skills, and logical conclusion derivation from a situation.
  • Interpersonal skills involve communication, negotiation, decision-making based on information gathering, understanding social cues, and more.
  • Academic/trade-oriented skills involve money concepts, sorting items, counting objects, preparation skills, learning terminologies related to the field, etc. It also includes learning essential safety elements. For instance, a child being trained in automobile mechanical jobs or culinary jobs should know the risk factors involving their job.
BRIGHT autism special school chennai

Apart from these, other life skills are added as a part of pre-vocational training.

  • Banking concept – opening a bank account, steps for depositing/withdrawing money, safe ways to use debit cards, payment wallets, and more.
  • Phone communication skill – The child should learn to initiate a phone call, introduce himself to the other person, offer/gather information through the call, and politely end the call.

 

  •  
  • Road skills include looking for safety signs and understanding traffic signals and road rules.

 

  • Self-advocacy is an important part of any pre-vocational training and is usually added to the vocational training too. Self-advocacy is the awareness of what information to take and which to ignore. The child should understand that not everyone would look in his best interest. There will be scammers and cheaters, and some unintentionally offer bad/wrong information. The child should be trained to cross-verify information and self-analyze the consequences of following any information and making a decision.

It is impossible to teach every life skill in a classroom setting. We try our best to incorporate as much wisdom as possible within the walls. However, the child has to learn a great deal of things while on his own. We at BRIGHT believe that by the end of our vocational and pre-vocational training, we have imparted enough information and wisdom for the child to learn, unlearn, and relearn throughout his life.

Bright autism special school chennai

Vocational Training

  1. We create a small shop setting for the child to learn basic skills. Then, we train the child to procure products from a wholesale shop, make purchase records, display the items, and sell them. We usually begin it on campus, opening the shop to parents of therapy children and school students. Slowly, we would remove them from the known environment and allow them to serve customers outside the school.
  2. We have also created a similar setting for a small coffee shop with an induction stove, a few utensils, and items. Again, we train the child in handling money, procuring items, cleaning the workstation and utensils, and safety elements.
  3. If the child has a special interest, we join with any local retailer or job site to offer basic vocational training under our supervision.