BJE 's School-to-Work Transition Program provides a bridge between the worlds of school and work for at risk learning disabled adolescents. Using sophisticated computer technology, along with individualized guidance, BJE screens, tests and counsels disabled youth in the difficult transition period between graduation from school and the start of a job.

The service, offered eight times during the school year, assesses students' interests and abilities and matches them with the best career or job-training program. In virtually all cases, the vocational training programs are funded by the government. The program works in close cooperation with the Federation of Employment Guidance Services.

The beauty of the program is that clients are accessed on a preventative basis, through schools, before they experience the anxiety and complexity of negotiating the world of higher education which is not designed with the learning disabled child in mind.

Because testing fees are on a sliding scale, no one is denied access to the road of self-sufficiency and independence. Clients are free to consult with the program director even after they have graduated their respective programs and are out in the world. They know that a caring and knowledgeable counselor at BJE will continue to guide them in finding appropriate educational, vocational training, job placement, socialization and if needed, psychotherapeutic and rehabilitation programs.

It should be noted that BJE introduced the testing and counseling component when B'nai B'rith chose to discontinue its vocational counseling program due to lack of funds. No one else is providing these services. In the current funding environment, it is clear that were BJE to discontinue the program, it would die and clients and their families would be left to fend for themselves.