Skyweir wrote:Would you mind sharing more about what you do?
Currently, I write various plans. The Safeguard Summary Plan has eight pages of questions on what kind of supervision someone needs; eating concerns (adaptive equipment, diet consistency, whether they are a known choking risk, etc); if they need help walking, and what kind of help; on and on.
The Staff Action Plan tells the staff what actions/services they must provide. Both as related to all those safeguard, and the person's Valued Outcomes. Our funding literally comes from the services that we bill for. Each person tells us (If they are able. If not, we base their Valued Outcomes on what those most familiar with them know of their likes and dislikes.) what they value, as far as things they want to do and accomplish. Some want to have better relationships with people, and the Staff Actions I write might be to remind them of good social skills (let other people talk, don't talk too loud when you're next to someone, etc), as well as to help them keep in touch worth family and friends by asking them if they want to call and helping them dual the phone. Someone who wants to be more independent might be taught how to cook, step-by-step, maybe only one step at a time for however long it takes them to get it. Someone with profound intellectual disability might seem to enjoy people talking to them, or certain types of music, or whatever stimulates their senses.
The best thing that's happened in my 23 years came several years ago when I was the site coordinator a day hab. In order to have our people doing something other than sitting at home all day watching Jerry Springer, we have day habs. All of the group homes take their people to the day hab, and the day hab staff take them out to whatever activities during the day. My day hab became the the day hab geared toward the very high functioning, but behaviorally challenged people. I won't get into any specifics, but some of these people were acquainted with the legal system. Anyway, one day I hear a bunch of people yelling happily from the other room. I went to see what was up, and was told by my staff that some of the guys who came to us knew how to play Spades. I didn't know how to play Spades, and asked what it was all about. A couple of my co-workers were in the same boat. The rabid players and the guys who came to us taught us how to play. I'm something of a Spades addict now. We would sit with the guys throughout the day, some coming and going as they went out to movies or shopping or whatever. And best of all, I called around to other places. It turns out another day hab three hours away also had some very good Spades players. So we met in the middle, about an hour and a half away, at a nice little restaurant, where we all ate lunch and played Spades for the afternoon. So much fun.
On the other end of the spectrum, I knew a guy many years ago who was wheelchair-bound. He couldn't communicate much, knowing very few words. You heard those words often enough, because they were curse words, and he was often angry. But he could also say "How are you?" And when we walked through the mall, he would ask everyone we got close to "How are you?" You would not believe the joy on his face and hand clapping when someone responded to him. Just amazing.
There's a woman, Nancy, with severe cerebral palsy. Physically extremely disabled. Turns out she was very intelligent. Couldn't guess what might have been if she was born later, when such people were assumed incapable of any thought or communication. We had a coworker who, as I put it, had a loose grip on reality. The bizarre things that she said and did. One day she came out of the back room where we had a parakeet, and said, "Well! The bird's back there masturbating!" Frequently, she would say things like that, and other types of oddness. And as you're trying to wrap your head around it, you hear Nancy cracking up on the other side of the room.
Fist!! 
When my son was furloughed and lived with us (he’s recently returned to the US to work) he taught dance/fitness classes here. 
… while they may not all have done all the moves precisely … Nate just wanted them to have FUN moving their bodies. 
very cool indeed 
pretty sad in truth. 
