The goal of the CIO is to develop the capacity and skills of the Learning Disabled members by participation in user led CIO activities aimed at improving their confidence, self-esteem and general well being. Although not a commercial workplace it will adopt some of the inherent attributes of such an environment in that it will conduct itself with a sense of purpose, learning and discipline.
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COGS Prepares 4 Life CIO offers opportunities for adults with learning disabilities to learn transferable skills such as gardening, woodwork, machine maintenance, cooking, independent living skills and travel training, as well as offering individualised Maths, English, and IT courses of which they can then use at home or within their community.
By being part of a working team, they feel that they are contributing to their community by growing and selling home grown plants and vegetables as well as bespoke woodwork items whilst gaining new skills within those subjects and discovering new potentials. We help individuals progress their skills at their own pace and offer guidance and support specifically suited to each individual.
Our main focus is gardening, where they learn the skills to maintain a garden ready for the day parents/carers are no longer around and they are living independently. This also includes growing edibles so they can understand where some of their food comes from. Maintaining their garden stops it from looking overgrown, leaving them vulnerable, as the property may look vacant, attracting vandalism and squatters.
The next focus is cooking skills, which is essential when living independently. We teach them how to cook simple, easy meals that can be replicated at home, often using the fruit and vegetables they have grown onsite, which is a healthier alternative to them eating microwave meals.
We then do woodwork activities, which introduces the skills needed for basic maintenance around a property. This includes using basic tools such as screwdrivers, tape measures, hammers and saws and painting skills. More confident service users can be trained in the use of power tools.
Travel training consists of escorting service users on public transport, teaching them about timetables, recognising bus numbers, payments methods, and stopping the bus when at their destination.
Our educational programme runs for the purpose of preparing each individual for real life after school or college. We start from scratch and purposely evaluate each individual with baseline tests to see how much of their formal education they have grasped, and then formulate a teaching programme at a pace that suits each person in a learning style that will benefit each person the most. Although there is a personalised learning target for each student, there is no rigid curriculums that we have to stick to, so if we need to slow down the pace, or change the way we teach, then so be it. Nothing is impossible and everything is achievable.
