For almost forty years, Threshold, Inc.'s ( www.threshold.ws) founder, Teena Willard, has remained clear in her goal to provide a place for families caring for people with autism to turn when others have turned them away. For the past thirty years, that place has been Threshold, Inc.
In many ways Threshold, Inc. pioneered the application of applied behavior analysis in the treatment and habilitation of the severely affected segment of people with autism.
Sincere in their belief that people with autism could perform both dignified and meaningful work tasks, in 2004 Threshold did the unthinkable. They opened a "Potter's Shop," staffed it with behaviorists who served to train people with significant degrees of autism to make pottery.
Today, adult day training clients successfully master the art of ceramics, mold maintenance, painting and the numerous creative steps involved with making pottery.
Threshold's Potter's shop re-wrote the model for adult day training in Florida, proving that the principals of applied behavioral analysis and errorless teaching techniques can have a meaningful impact on the lives of older people with moderate to severe autism.
The Potter's Shop represents a marked change in providing services to the developmentally disabled. The program takes clients with few or no skills in ceramics to the point of creating their own works of art. Contracts to provide pottery goods to local businesses provides Threshold with additional revenue that is funneled back into the program to ensure that equipment and supplies are sufficient to meet customer needs.
Rocking T Ranch aspires to do the same thing that was done so successfully at Threshold's Potter's Shop--to increase the functional skills of people with special needs by providing ranch-related living instruction as well as behavioral and vocational training in a safe, supportive environment staffed highly trained, professional, and caring staff. People with autism will contribute in a meaningful, dignified fashion to their own welfare, productivity, and support.
If you feel Rocking T Ranch fills a need for someone you know, or if you simply want more information about the development of Rocking T, contact rewright@threshold.ws.
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