By Rachael Risby Raz | International Relations Manager
One of the special groups we have in the AAT program is the work-readiness (occupational) group, which prepares special needs teenagers with the skills that they will need in order to integrate into an employment scenario. They assist in various ways in the different exhibits at the Zoo and the Aquarium.
For example, in the orangutan exhibit, they helped prepare an enrichment activity for the apes by sewing pockets onto a towel and putting food treats into the pockets. They then brought this to the keepers who gave them to the orangutans. It was gratifying for the teens to see the orangutans wrap themselves in the ‘present’ that they had made and then see them discover the treats. They also learnt from how the apes interacted with each other and shared (or not) their discoveries.
These activities are both educational, teaching them how to deal with work interactions, communication and behavior at work as well as therapeutic by improving their self-esteem and helping expose potentially problematic issues that can then be treated and assisted to overcome.
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