Why Working with Adults with Developmental Disabilities is Really Just an Extension of my Special Education Career

When I moved from being a teacher to becoming a Special Education Administrator, I admit that it took time to adjust to being out of the classroom. Daily contact with the students had kept me close to each pupil’s needs. But as an administrator, I had to step back from individual personalities and requirements to consider the best ways to serve students and staff across the district. In addition, I was charged with developing creative problem solving to leverage limited funding in ways that addressed individual student and classroom interests. That was a challenge for many reasons.

One hurdle was coordinating funding requirements. No matter which state you’re in, you probably find that federal, state, and local funding don’t always work seamlessly together.?For example, in general, federal funds could only be used to supplement state and local funds. That meant I couldn’t take an existing state-funded staff position and pay for it with federal funds. In another case, when I was short on state funds one school year, I had to create another post using federal funds in ways that supported the existing staff. Nothing was ever easy or straightforward.

Shifting to Care of Developmentally Disabled Adults

When I started Community Integrated Services (CIS) with my business partner Janell Franco-Featherstone, I thought that owning a social services business would be simpler and would allow me the freedom to do things my way. And in some aspects, it has. But the reality is that I now have much more responsibility than when a school district employed me. If there are issues or challenges, it’s up to me to address them. ?I have spent a lot of late nights problem solving, looking ahead for opportunities and threats, thinking about creative solutions, and doing some good, old-fashioned worrying.?

As a business owner, there is an incredible amount of freedom to try out a new idea, but the consequences of failure remain. If my approaches worked, then our clients and staff were better off. ?But if my methods didn’t go to plan, the responsibility to make it succeed was on my shoulders.

Lessons Learned From Special Ed Often Apply to I/DD Adults, and Vice Versa

Disabilities and abilities cover a broad spectrum. There are no one-size-fits-all answers, so a habit of creating individualized approaches in my Special Education Administrator career was a helpful tool that I also used in working with I/DD adults.

With both groups, it is easy to see how disabilities and abilities are dramatically affected by a person’s past and present environment. A negative past is often manifested in ongoing behavioral challenges. The key to developing productive working relationships, now and then, lies in accepting that we must meet people where they are and be ready to create customized plans that accommodate diverse histories.?

Many of our clients come to us with few records and limited capacity to explain their lives or abilities. The team at CIS has become skilled in creating interim behavior and support plans based on partial, incomplete, or nonexistent records.?Our clients usually come to us from settings that are entirely different from our crisis stabilization program or our supported living program.?These interim plans are based on the information we have and our experience. Then we test and document results carefully.?We gather data every minute of every day to help us identify emotional and practical skills, so we can begin modifying the plan. This precise record keeping also allows us to adjust our plans based on how the individual is adapting.?

In one example, a recent client came to us as a middle-aged adult from her parent’s home. We had no records of her basic life skills such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, using the phone, dressing for the weather, or even knowing how to eat by herself. And self-reporting is unreliable: she told us she could do laundry, but we quickly discovered that her family dries clothes outside, so she needed to learn how to use a dryer. Observation, record-keeping, and trial and error all helped us properly assess her abilities, uncover her challenges, and continually create and revise plans to meet her needs.?

In another case, we learned that a client could use a microwave, but she wanted to use it in her bedroom and didn’t understand how to store food safely or why she needed to take dirty dishes to the kitchen. When we suggested moving the microwave into the kitchen to help create cleaner food areas, she began shouting and attempted to strike the staff.?When one of our trusted staff talked to her about the situation, we realized that moving her microwave wasn’t the issue, but resetting the clock once it was moved was worrisome to her. By teaching her how to reset the clock, we removed her anxiety about moving the microwave. And when we moved the microwave, it was easier to tackle other food safety concerns. Instead of implementing a standard protocol that could have been stressful or even counterproductive, we spent time with the client exploring concerns. We created a customized approach that helped her change her behaviors in healthy ways.

Respect the Developmental Role of Nurture

?People’s behavior is a result of a combination of factors. Some of our abilities and traits are biological. We are all born with or without specific abilities. But a large part of each person’s personality, emotional profile, and abilities are a product of nurture. How did they grow up? How were they educated? Were they supported and loved, or abused and abandoned? Each client’s family dynamic varies wildly. We’ve found that a person’s environment and upbringing can accentuate positive or negative abilities or even create new ones. This is a universal truth that is easy to see in primary education and when working with I/DD adults.

Understanding the family history of any student or client is enormously helpful in developing a plan of action. For example, I worked with an individual diagnosed with schizophrenia experiencing limited symptom relief with standard medications. His mother did not have a developmental disability but was neurologically similar. A psychiatrist who met with both was able to prescribe medication in the same way for both mother and son, helping us get a better medication treatment plan together much faster.

Regulations Always Change, so Learn How to Build Bridges

When it comes to state and federal laws and regulations, the only constant is change. Whether I was working in education administration or am working with CIS with I/DD adults, staying updated with compliance requirements is both important and time-consuming. But that doesn’t mean an organization has to recreate the wheel each time a new policy or requirement is announced. It’s helpful to learn how to build policy bridges.

At CIS, we examine our approach to the existing policy and map out the easiest, most straightforward way to bridge the old policy or procedure with the new expectation. It saves us from rehauling and retraining our staff over and over and minimizes redundant paperwork.

During the acquisition of an agency several years ago, I was training staff on CIS’s behavioral data collection system, and the staff said, “Is this all there is?”?When I asked her what she meant, she told me that there used to be so much duplication of documentation and data collection that it could take up an entire shift just to keep up with the paperwork.?That’s what happens when staff creates a new form to collect the specific information required by new regulations instead of adding the data to a current form or system.?

Compassion and Patience Rule the Day

No matter which industry you’re in, compassion and patience are valuable assets. Working with people to discover who they are, what influenced their development, and what approaches you can use to get the best outcome is a productive strategy whether you’re a salesperson, store manager, or surgeon.

In education and social services, we often talk about “meeting people where they are,” which is another way of saying we must understand whom we are dealing with and accept them as they are. Every one of us has experienced an imperfect past which makes us an imperfect person. Instead of trying to fit our students or our clients into a convenient category or definition, it’s more productive to be empathetic about what brought them to you, be compassionate about their life journey, and be patient as you look for ways to help. We rarely find the best solutions in the first few moments of meeting a person. Taking the time to learn more, observe carefully, and try new plans is key to long-term success.