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Pathfinder, Inc.About Us
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A basic concept of Pathfinder is that all people, regardless of individual differences and intellectual abilities, have an inalienable right to an education and vocational program which is consistent with their needs and helps them to achieve their maximum potential. |
Pathfinder, therefore, seeks to provide the best possible educational and vocational opportunities for the developmentally disabled of the central Arkansas area so that it may fulfill its major responsibility, the fullest development of these human resources. |
The professed goal of Pathfinder is to provide parents and individuals with the option of
remaining at home or in the community, rather than seeking institutionalization. Pathfinder
Schools, Inc. is governed by a Board of Directors selected from a broad community base. We are
committed to the Non-Discriminatory Delivery of Services and are an Affirmative Action Equal
Opportunity Employer. The Board of Directors realized the need for a comprehensive array of
services and developed the long-term goal of providing services from infant throughout life
within the community setting.
Pathfinder, Inc. is a non-profit corporation, incorporated in August of 1971, with
an initial enrollment for the year of 6 students in a preschool program. The licensing agent was
Mental Retardation Development Disabilities Services (MR-DDS). As awareness of the services
available in the Jacksonville area increased, Pathfinder was approached by a group of concerned
parents to make services available to their adult disabled dependents.
Pathfinder, Inc. developed a pilot project for MR-DDS and the Division of
Employment Development in 1979. This project demonstrated the feasibility of relocating
institutionalized individuals within the community by providing skills training in the world of
work as well as self-help living skills training. The project was very successful. We have placed
many individuals with I.Q. scores ranging as low as 35, in competitive employment in local
industry. All these individuals were either illiterate or functionally illiterate. Their primary
disabilities were developmental and all had secondary disabilities. What we are able to do is
teach these people specific job skills, help them develop an adequate work attitude, and help
them to believe in themselves.
An active treatment plan which will provide on-going skills training will be designed by an
interdisciplinary team of professionals. The plan will provide a balance of self-help, social and
vocational skills training to enable each person to live as independently as possible, and perhaps
move into even more independent living arrangements.
In July of 1989 Pathfinder, Inc. opened an ICF/MR in Cabot and has since opened
nine more around the state. The homes have 10 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, a living-activity room,
kitchen and service area. The facilities are home to ten individuals who have chosen to live
in the community.
Currently (1998) Pathfinder, Inc. has 10 ICF/MRs housing 100 individuals, 4
supervised apartment complexes serving 80 individuals, 2 group homes serving 20 individuals, 2
apartment units serving 12 individuals and 4 workshops which serve approximately 600
individuals daily.
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