Pre-employment opportunity for young adults with autism
PARK RIDGE – (November, 2016) – For parents who have children with autism, a deep frustration exists once their child has completed their education and now faces employment challenges as a young adult.
When Park Ridge resident, Cindy Montgomery, recognized the disconnect between transition services for her son with autism, and true employment opportunities for him, she created Teachability™, LLC, an organization that connects small businesses and young adults with autism, by providing them with a unique pre-employment experience.
Teachability™ is currently seeking local small businesses to participate in its pilot program, opening their businesses to a unique population. No autism knowledge or experience is required.
Montgomery’s premise is that inclusion makes financial sense, in addition to being the right thing to do.
“Teachability™ benefits both small businesses and young adults with disabilities like autism,” says Montgomery. “Why not pay a small business to help your child practice job skills?” said Montgomery. “It’s not unlike hiring a tutor to help your child with a particular subject.”
Families will provide a job coach to accompany the participant at all times while they are on site at the business. The job coach acts as the liaison between the business and the participant and relieves much of the responsibility for screening and training. A job coach can be a family member or anyone that the family trusts to be patient and has good communication skills.
For information on Teachability™, call Cindy Montgomery, 847-922-0489, email cmontgomery@teachability.org, or go to www.teachability.org
About Teachability:
Teachability is a social enterprise that solves the youth unemployment problem for people with invisible disabilities like autism. Our mission lies in leading the untapped workforce into work. We offer modern, state of the art, training, coaching and placement programs for young people with invisible disabilities needing advanced modifications and for traditional job seekers.