In 1998, five families became the “founding families” of the Pathways Strategic Teaching Center, enrolling their children for its inaugural year.

Twenty-five years later, Pathways is serving many more children, and the center- which specializes in serving children and adults with autism and related conditions- has established itself as a strong program.

Pathways is part of the J. Arthur Trudeau Memorial Center, which was founded in 1964 and serves both children and adults with developmental disabilities. The organization offers services to people between the ages of three and 22. Currently, it serves around 75 students, and employs 155 members.

Joseph Robitaille, vice president of children’s services, said that Pathways offers occupational, speech and physical therapy to help children enrolled with behavioral challenges and education using data and a “two-tiered” approach involving teachers and clinicians.

“In many cases, you’ve got the behavioral challenges that are interfering with access to that curriculum,” Robitaille said. “Ideally, as you see the behavioral challenges going down and more adaptive behaviors being implemented, you have better access to the curriculum and you’re able to learn.”

Pathways has also partnered with Salve Regina University’s Behavior Analysis graduate degree program since 2009.

According to CEO and president Al Vario, Pathways also has received referrals from Connecticut and Massachusetts, and as such, helps serve those states as well.

Pathways officially celebrated their 25th anniversary with a gala at the Quidnessett Country Club on Sept. 30, in an event that Vario said was an upbeat celebration of the work that Pathways has done.

“We’ve all been to those things that can be kind of stuffy with long speeches,” Vario said. “From the get-go, we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to make it light, fun and to be a celebration of Pathways and the staff, because frankly, it’s really challenging work.”

Pathways measures success differently for every student- each one has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and different goals. In general, though, Vario said that the greatest measure of success is a student no longer needing Pathways’ services and going to a public school. Pathways is funded by the school districts of the students they serve, according to Robitaille.

One graduate, according to Vario, has even gone on to become a professional composer with some of his music included in video games and animes.

As Pathways moves into the future, one of their biggest challenges will be staffing, as Vario said there is a shortage of college students going into the special education field specifically. According to Robitaille, out of every college in the state, currently only Rhode Island College offers a Severe Intellectual Disabilities degree program, which is necessary to work at Pathways.

“We have a commitment that we won’t be a giant, poor quality program,” Vario said. “That’s our line in the sand- we will only grow to the level where we can maintain and ensure quality services.”

Vario did say, though, that Pathways has been good with employee retention, which he attributed to a strong work environment despite the challenges they face. According to Robitaille, 19 of Pathways’ employees have been at the organization for at least ten years, and one has even been with the Trudeau Center since even before Pathways was founded.

After twenty-five years, though, Pathways’ journey to reach the point they’re at today is one that Robitaille and Vario consider special.

“There’s so much history here,” Robitaille said. “It’s an incredible program.”