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About Us

Our Program

B.R.I.D.G.E.

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Building Responsible Individuals,

Determined to Grow and Excel.

What is the Bridge Program and what do students learn?

The BRIDGE Program is for persons 18-22 with disabilities who have completed four years of high school with a Certificate of Completion or who are working towards a Certificate of Completion and have turned 18 years old. 

The goal of the BRIDGE Program is to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills they need in order to make a successful transition to adult life.  The BRIDGE Program assists individuals to increase independence and to access vocational, social, and recreational opportunities in the community. 

Components of the program include: 

Goals/objectives, curriculum, instruction and activities are developed in the following domains according to each individual’s needs, family and individual values and goals, and the student’s personal interests: 

  • Functional Academics Social/Emotional/Behavioral
  • Vocational skills Transportation/Mobility Communication, Leisure/Recreation Personal Care 
  • Independent Living Skills Community Access

Furthermore, BRIDGE's program provides the following instructional activities across the five Adult Transition Program Domains: 

Independent Living: 

  • Daily living skills training (cooking, cleaning, banking, budgeting)
  • Self advocacy skills
  • Increasing access to adult medical care
  • Development of healthy personal relationships 
  • Increasing student’s decision making abilities
  • Completion of Certificates of Competency in 2 areas

Career/Vocation: 

  • Completion of Certificates of Competency in 5 areas
  • Vocational skill instruction and Career Exploration in the PAES Lab
  • Job development and coaching, 
  • Career exploration
  • On-the-job training (WorkAbility Job Placements)
  • Resume building 
  • Classroom based businesses

Community Integration: 

  • Travel Training (planning for and using public transportation)
  • Volunteer opportunities in the community
  • Planned activities designed to align to instructional goals

Recreation/Leisure: 

  • In school and community access for social and recreational activities.
  • Expected behavior across a variety of settings 
  • Practice accessing community assets such as parks and museums

Communication: 

  • Self expression of factual, opinion based and emotional communication
  • Comprehension of received communication 
  • Identification and management of feelings
  • Expected social skills across various settings 
  • Communication of basic personal identifying information to unfamiliar listeners

The BRIDGE Program is located on the Loma Vista Adult Education campus in Concord. The program has eight classrooms, a community room and a vocational skills workspace called PAES. BRIDGE also provides students some instruction in the community setting and via public transportation to practice and generalize the concepts and skills explicitly taught in the classroom. 

Students at the BRIDGE program receive explicit, evidence-based instruction in seven distinct certificate areas, each with identified essential standards, and earn Certificates of Competency issued from BRIDGE. Upon completion of the program students will earn a Certificate of Completion and Certificates of Competency. Each competency can be achieved at Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum levels through mastery of specific skills. These certificates can be presented to employers or post-BRIDGE programs to provide information about the student’s ability levels for program planning purposes.

The Bridge Program assists individuals to increase independence and to access vocational, social, and recreational opportunities in the community.  The program is based on research which demonstrates that goals can best be accomplished by teaching in the setting in which skills are relevant, such as vocational and community settings.

Goals/objectives, curriculum, instruction and activities will be developed in the following domains according to each individual’s needs, family and individual values and goals, and the student’s personal interests:

  • Social/Emotional/Behavioral
  • Personal Care
  • Independent Living
  • Community Access
  • Functional Academics
  • Vocational
  • Leisure/Recreation
  • Transportation/Mobility
  • Communication

Program Staff includes:

  • Designated Administrator/Special Education Program Specialist
  • Special Education Teachers
  • Special Education Assistants
  • School Psychologist
  • Speech Therapist
  • School Nurse
  • Occupational Therapist/Physical Therapist