By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
The program is new. And Brandon Releford says Brigid Matlock is the perfect person to oversee it.
Releford is the Executive Director of The Zembrodt Education Center – part of The Point/Arc – the non-profit organization celebrating 50 years serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities — known as I/DD.
The program – Transition Classes.
“Basically, Pre-Vocational Skills and Career Exploration skills offered for high school students primarily in their final two years of school,” Releford said.
Both the Pre-Vocational Skills and Career Exploration Skills have a duration of 10 months, Releford explained, with a class size between four and twelve students.
The instructor – Brigid Matlock.
The title – the new Transition Instructor, Individualized Services for The ZEC.
“I’m like a learning coach,” said Matlock who was a Special Education teacher in several Northern Kentucky schools prior to joining the ZEC at The Point/Arc.
“During class time,” she said, “Students will learn skills that will prepare them for the workforce and increase their knowledge on the culture of industries available around them when they transition into employment.”
Career Exploration gives students the opportunity to visit local businesses that we partner with as an agency and learn hands-on vocational skills in many fields of interest, she explained.
Three-days-a-week Matlock meets students – ages 14-18 – at four area high schools – Ludlow, Scott, Dayton, and Lloyd.
“Those schools actually reached out to us,” she noted.
And she said some of the topics included in the class sessions are financial literacy, job-seeking skills, communication/interpersonal skills, good hygiene, developing friendships, resume building, interviewing skills, request/accept help, and positive self-talk rights/responsibilities.
“While most of our students are looking to gain employment in the business field,” she said, “we do have some interested in continuing their secondary education.”
Releford points out that, “Historically, The Point Transition program has operated in a group-format.
“We’re very excited to now offer our program to schools in the region on an individual basis where the instructor will complete the services on-site and, in the community,” Releford said. “This allows our instructor to spend one-on-one time with each student to really focus on the skills they may need as they are transitioning from high school to adulthood.”
A Special Education Major who attended Xavier University, Matlock said she’s always enjoyed “helping and guiding individuals.”
She’s found the perfect home at The Point’s Zembrodt Education Center.
The Point/Arc was founded by a group of parents fighting for the educational rights of their children, who were diagnosed with an intellectual and developmental – I/DD – disability in 1972.