QSAC is excited to announce the expansion of our GOALS Program for transition-age youth with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. The expanded program builds upon the success of a pilot that we launched last year.

GOALS stands for Generating Opportunities through Advocacy and Learning that promotes Success. The program is available free-of-charge for students between the age of 14 and 26. Specifically, the program seeks to bridge the gap in services between high school and adulthood.

Each learner is assigned a GOALS Advisor who works one-on-one with the student and their family to provide individualized ongoing support to help facilitate a successful post-secondary plan. The GOALS Advisor provides life and career coaching in addition to supporting the development of executive function skills (e.g., organizational skills, time management, etc). GOALS Advisors meet with students as frequently as one to two times per week depending on the student and family's preferences. Students still in high school can include the GOALS Advisor as an advocate in IEP and transition planning meetings.

Skills-based workshops seek to support a successful transition from high school to adulthood. Workshops focus on job-seeking skills, work readiness, independent living, self-advocacy, self-determination, social and interpersonal skills, and civic engagement. Students attend workshops for an average of five hours per week while completing the “onboarding” component. For six months, students complete a predefined learning series covering various content areas.

For students who exited high school without a diploma, we offer a New York State-approved alternate pathway to earning a high school equivalency diploma through our partnership with CASAS and the National External Diploma Program (NEDP). QSAC also offers industry-recognized credentials that demonstrate proficiency in those skills most in-demand in today's job market commonly referred to as "soft" skills. QSAC offers the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) and the Work Skills Certification System (WSCS).

QSAC facilitates a series of work-based learning activities to help expose young adults to an array of occupations. At the same time, these experiences seek to provide learners with hands-on opportunities to experience different types of careers to help inform their own career planning and to learn about different pathways to work as well as training that may be available and appropriate. Career awareness is critical to career development and planning.

There are four types of workshops offered as a part of the program: (1) 21st Century Success Skills, (2) Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination Skills, (3) Independent Living Skills, and (4) Social and Interpersonal Skills. Below are outlines of the topics included under each of these workshop types.