ADULT ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (AEP)

The AEP is a skills enhancement program targeted at persons with intellectual disabilities who have graduated from (special) schools at 18 years old. It is a weekly 5-day program from 9.00am to 4.00pm that focuses on:

1. Work Activities (Work)
2. Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
3. Leisure Activities (Leisure)

AEP seeks to enhance the clients’ skills in the above three areas so as to maximize their potential and to help them become more independent and productive in the course of their life. Clients in the program are placed in three tracks of specialization, namely Open Employment/Social Enterprise, Project-based, and Leisure-based tracks, respectively.

Open Employment/Social Enterprise
The objective of the OE/SE track is to prepare clients for open employment/social enterprise opportunities through the capitalization of their strengths and interests. Training in this track focuses on vocational, social and interaction skills for possibly between 9-12 months, before they transition to a more rigorous training platform, under the framework of a social enterprise (e.g. Push Cart, Thrift shop). Training in the social enterprise would enhance the clients’ work hardening skills, to better prepare their readiness for transition into potential open employment work opportunities.

Project
The objective of the Project track is to support the Social Enterprise unit in producing items for sales. New items that have been developed include recycled paper products such as fridge magnets, gift tags, greeting cards, and salt dough products such as hanging charms. These items were sold at our Cart21 at numerous DSA events: ‘Natural’, World Down Syndrome Day at Bishan Library, DSA Fashion Show, Charity Corporate Stationary Bikeathon with Love, and Charity Bowl Challenge. The Cart21 was also set up at various external events such as Temasek Polytechnic Open House, NUS Arts Festival, as well as Arts from the Heart at Habour Front Centre.

Leisure
The objective of the Leisure track is to enhance and facilitate socialization and interaction development among peers through recreational activities in the community. Training in this track focuses on interaction with others, participation in group activities, and engagement in self-directed leisure activity.

Apart from the various tracks, AEP clients are encouraged to adopt a well-balanced lifestyle through various activities such as community sports (e.g. swimming, basketball, soccer), weekly aerobics sessions, and more recently, the use of gym facilities on a weekly basis. Other activities include weekly community learning outings such as the National Museum, Singapore Discovery Centre, National Heritage Centre, Police Heritage Centre, Civil Defence Heritage Gallery, Movies, and the Botanical Gardens. Clients also participate in the Visual Arts programme conducted by Ms. Nanda Lourier and Ms. Gill Darbyshire as part of their enrichment.

Social Enterprises
In alignment with the mission of DSA to provide opportunities for life long learning, social integration, as well as advocate for equal opportunities, quality of life and their contribution to society, DSA under the Adult Enhancement Program (AEP) has set up a Pushcart business in December 2004 with assistance from Temasek Polytechnic. The purpose of Cart21 is to create work opportunities for suitable AEP clients and to use it as a work-training platform to further prepare AEP clients for open market employment. Four other clients are currently working as a Sales Assistant with the Pushcart sales team on an ad-hoc basis. 

To further create more training opportunities, as well as expand on the repertoire of work skills to train the AEP clients, DSA has currently embarked on the development of a DSA thrift shop in December 2007, which is conceptually a shop selling donated goods. The thrift shop seeks to further enhance work hardening skills, create greater work realism, as well as provide a more rigorous training platform to better prepare AEP clients for potential work opportunities.