Partnership for People with Disabilities is determined to establish a future where all people, including families with intellectual and developmental disabilities, are included in their home communities for self-determination, independence, productivity, and free participation in every aspect of community life. The mission of this organization is to partner with stakeholders both in the intellectual and developmental disability community and other interested groups at Virginia Commonwealth University (Virginia Commonwealth University, 2022). The organization is determined to provide culturally competent, engage in research, educate, give direct services and share information to ensure people with disabilities.
Summary of Services
Partnership for People with Disabilities, a Virginian University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). UCEDDs is one of the national networks and teaching hospitals across the country. This organization acts as the bridge between academic expertise and the service delivery system, pointing towards positive contributions to persons with developmental disabilities and their families. The organization enhances the life of the disabled by increasing their impendence, productivity, and integration into community participation programs. The organization works with people and families with disabilities, State and local government agencies, and community providers (Virginia Commonwealth University, 2022). The organization trains to give technical assistance, do research, and share information, focusing on establishing a community that sustains all citizens regardless of their conditions.
The organization was founded in 1985 to better people’s lives and families of disabled children. The partnership conducts a wide range of activities supporting children from newborns as they age. The organization provides early childhood care by instilling awareness and skills in the community members. Secondly, disabled children get educational support. Moreover, the organization is again committed to supporting aged persons with various disabilities to enhance their self-determination and inclusiveness in the community.
Reference
Virginia Commonwealth University. (2022). Commitment to Privacy. Web.
The first mention of developmental disability (DD) at the state legislative level is given in the last century. In 1975, the government signs “The DD Act,” ruling those conditions that affect the possibility of human development. They cause varying degrees of functional limitations regarding learning, group behavior, language, communication, socialization or mobility of a person. The most common conditions in the world include Down syndrome, autism or cerebral palsy. It is important to note that in families with a special child, the environment and his psychological well-being play a significant role in development. Since the main influence on a child with special needs is the family, the situation in the house should be appropriate. Family therapy in such cases helps parents and other family members accept what happened and work through the grief. Thus, attending support groups and treating the problem through family therapy can create a healthier environment for a child with special needs to develop more successfully.
Treatment for a Developmental Disability
The question of family therapy and the creation of support groups for families with similar problems has arisen relatively recently. The origins of support for families with special needs date back to around the 1950s after the end of World War II (Hanna, 2018). Medicine throughout the country was improving, the economy was getting stronger, and the entire territory was marked by the struggle for civil rights. These factors in the political, economic and social spheres set the stage for the emergence of family therapy and support groups.
Later, a wider movement to help families began, which became a turning point in therapy. In the 1960s, more active participation of parents with children with disabilities in the social life of society began. There was an association of parents who saw their goal as helping their children with developmental disabilities. They proclaimed the idea that their children are just like everyone else and do not need to be taken away for treatment in specialized institutions. This parental movement was the first to address the authorities, educators and psychologists with the problems of segregation of children with disabilities from society and the lack of psychological support. They put forward the idea that a society needs to create a system that would allow them and their children to receive the necessary assistance.
Often, society strongly repelled and did not accept children with special needs. This interfered with their socialization, and put moral pressure on all family members. Living in a limited society contributed to the emergence of many psychological problems in parents, including depression. This situation meant that the morally unstable family environment impaired the child’s capacity for rapid development. Parents moved away from their children and did not pay them due attention.
Often, society strongly repelled and did not accept children with special needs. This interfered with their socialization, and put moral pressure on all family members. Living in a limited society contributed to the emergence of many psychological problems in parents, including depression. This situation meant that the morally unstable family environment impaired the child’s capacity for rapid development. Parents moved away from their children and did not pay them due attention. Thus, the idea of family therapy was born, aimed at making children feel supported within the family. Moreover, long-term limitations in society led psychologists to create support groups. As part of this, families could share their experiences and support those who have just encountered a child’s illness.
Evidence-Based Practice
Family therapy and the creation of support groups seem to be an effective method for children with disabilities and their environment. Many researchers agree that they should fully characterize the changes that have occurred in the client (McGoldrick & Hardy, 2019). It should be seemed not only immediately by the end of therapy, but protractedly – in the follow-up in three areas: somatic, psychological and social. This assessment should be made both from an objective position – preferably by an outside researcher, and not by the psychotherapist himself, and from a subjective one – by the patient himself.
However, family therapy has been shown to be successful in teaching parents how to communicate with a child with special needs. First of all, this is due to the fact that many couples are not ready for the appearance of such a child. As a result, they do not have a prepared base for his upbringing (McGoldrick & Hardy, 2019). Therapy is aimed at facilitating and helping family members understand the characteristics of the child. Moreover, therapy establishes the necessary environment for the child in which he can develop. Support groups, which help parents understand the mission of raising a special child, have a similar effect. Married couples share experiences and comfort each other when difficulties arise. As a result, people feel relieved and their thought of grief recedes.
Conclusion
Thus, family therapy is aimed at helping couples with a child with developmental problems. The main reasons for the emergence of this direction in therapy and support groups is the long-term separation of families with such children from the main part of society. Moreover, they could not share their grief and problems with others. This issue was resolved with the emergence of family therapy, which aims to help people raise a special child.
References
Hanna, S. M. (2018). The practice of family therapy: Key elements across models. Routledge.
McGoldrick, M., & Hardy, K. V. (Eds.). (2019). Re-visioning family therapy. Guilford Publications.
The task of staff supervision is essential in any healthcare context, yet it represents a particularly significant concern in the environment where the needs of people with developmental disabilities are expected to be managed. Therefore, the staff supervision process must align with the following recommendations and requirements.
Alignment with rigid ethical and moral standards tooted in patient-oriented care, as well as central ethical principle, such as beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, will be required form all staff members. Therefore, rigid supervision will be established as the core framework for ensuring patient safety. The efficacy of employee supervision will be achieved with the help of the following standards.
Additionally, the supervision process will encompass regular assessments of the staff members’ performance. Specifically, the introduction of the assessment modules for the evaluation of the staff members’ compliance with the set requirements will be enacted. The assessment process itself will require that all staff members undergo the Support Intensity Scale evaluation (“DSP core competencies,” m.d.). The Support Intensity Scale tool has been approved as a critical framework for determining the eligibility of staff members for being a part of the healthcare tam for addressing eh needs of patients with disabilities (“DSP core competencies,” m.d.). The tool in question includes several versions, including the one for meeting the needs of children, and a corresponding one suggesting the assessment of adult-oriented services (“DSP core competencies,” m.d.). Therefore, the SIS framework creates opportunities for accurate evaluation of staff members and their ability to cater to the needs of patients with disabilities.
Furthermore, the supervision process will imply that staff members will have to provide daily reports detailing the key aspects of their performance. Specifically, the reports will contain information regarding the tasks, the completion thereof, and the issues that have been left unresolved, should any arise. The specified reporting system will allow locating both employee-specific and group issues, therefore, informing the further training process/ moreover, the specified technique will allow adopting an employee-specific approach that will help focus on individual talent management and point staff members in the directions of their further improvement process.
Likewise, the supervision of staff will involve the evaluation of the overall quality of care. Specifically service assessment tools will be integrated into the framework of ODDD, encouraging employees to recognize key performance criteria and strive to meet them accordingly. Thus, expectations for quality care in the disability management context will be set, determining the staff members’ ability to meet the expectations. The assessment device will include information concerning the extent of managing patient-specific needs, as well as the efficacy and frequency of nurse-patient and nurse-family communication. Thus, opportunities for updating the services and increasing their efficacy will be produced.
Finally, the process of supervision will imply that the measures utilized by the members of the ODDD allow the target population maintain high quality of life and participate in all of the activities into which the rest of community members are involved. The specified requirement will involve the design and implementation of patient-specific strategies for overcoming impediments to effective integration of the specified demographic into the community. Respectively, the strategies designed by staff members will be evaluated and supervised to ensure that the measures taken to address the needs of people with disabilities align with the target population’s requirements.
Therefore, the supervision of staff members will represent a combination of observations and assessments of submitted information. The proposed approach to supervision is defined to be the most efficient since it allows noticing and mending the gaps in the quality and success of designed strategies immediately. Moreover, the specified tool will allow measuring the extent to which the strategies developed by staff members correspond to the needs of a specific community. Consequently, the assessment framework will define the success rate of all types of inclusion approaches adopted by the employees, covering not only disability-related issues, but also other sociocultural variables, such as the racial and ethnic backgrounds of patients and the associated concerns, patients’ belonging to a specific economic class, and other essential variables.
It is believed that the specified assessment technique will help encompass the entire variety of issues that the proposed strategies are expected to address. Namely, it will target the issue of care quality, the values that employees consider when making decisions in the workplace setting, and the efficacy of communication with the target population and their caregivers. Moreover, the suggested assessment approach will incorporate both the overview of the employees’ compliance with the existing standards and their stability to comprehend the significance of the values and standards in question. S
Finally, the proposed technique will allow examining the changes that staff members will need to undergo in order to meet now requirements. Specifically, the assessment technique escribed above will provide the results that will shed light on the current progress of employees, their strengths and weaknesses, and the extent of their understanding of the organization’s core values. As a result, eh assessment outcomes will determine the course of the further training process that employees at6 ODDD will have to undergo in order to meet the set demands. With the application of the proposed change, immediate positive alterations are expected to occur.
Staff Training Plan
In addition to introducing rigid standards for controlling the staff members’ performance, the organization will also require a robust and effective training plan. Thus, employees will be able to acquire the necessary skills, competencies, and qualities, as well as test their ability to use the newly developed skills and knowledge in the workplace setting. Specifically, the training process will involve several stages, each based on the type of services that staff members will have to offer to the target audience.
It is recommended that the training should begin with the identification of key values and the development of urgency to accept them as the foundational decision-making principles in the organizational environment. Specifically, the idea of putting people first as the manifestation of a people-oriented approach should become the guiding standard for the further creation of the training process. Specifically, the scenarios that staff members will have to address in the course of training will have to be based on the people-oriented strategy as the core principle for the employees of the ODDD to make decisions.
In turn, the training itself will involve a combination of simulations as case studies that staff members will have to address and resolve, and tests that will help check the employees’ knowledge of the core standards and requirements for managing patients’ needs. The tests themselves will consist of open-ended questions, as well as multiple-choice questions. The described combination will lead to gauging the extent of the staff members’ understanding of the issue and their further ability to apply the newly learned skills to actual health issues.
Additionally, the training must incorporate the elements of information management. Namely, the training process will require that employees should be able to utilize the provided digital tools for managing patients’ data, particularly, collect, transfer, and safeguard it in the way that will enhance the efficacy of healthcare services. Namely, the staff members will be trained to access patients’ medical record and the specifics of their current health status, including detailed descriptions of core disabilities and complains. Additionally, employees will be encouraged to transfer information in the most efficient manner possible so that both patients and staff members could remain aware of the key changes and the current progress.
Another vital step associated with data management concerns the promotion of active communication. Specifically, employees will receive active training on the issue of communicating with patients and their caregivers. The specified skill will imply that staff members will be able to approach dilemmas associated with disclosure of personal information to caregivers as the third party, which may be vital for the patient’s well-being due to the complications associated with developmental disorders. Additionally, the issue of communication with caregivers will suggest that the problem of providing the target demographic with consistent support, including both in the healthcare facility environment and in their family setting, will be resolved. Specifically, the staff members will be obliged to communicate actively with patients’ family members to provide crucial guidelines regarding the necessity and strategies for supporting patients with developmental issues, as well as introducing activities that will allow them to maintain their cognitive functioning.
Furthermore, employees will be asked to ensure that quality control over the process of administering the required therapy and treatment to patients remains consistent. Specifically, the process of quality management will imply that strategies for avoiding workplace errors and the related issues are designed. Specifically, staff members are supposed to double-check the key steps to be taken when introducing a specific course of actions for addressing the needs of a person with disabilities. Furthermore, tin case of discrepancies, misunderstandings, or the lack of clarity, further inquiries into the subject matter by addressing the database, contacting staff members, or communicating with the patient’s guardians will be needed. The specified policy is of particular importance as a tool for maintaining the quality of care for people with disabilities. Thus, the training program will involve developing the communication skills needed for requesting clarifications. Furthermore, employees will be familiarized with the core standards for managing the communication process within the workplace by utilizing respective communication tools.
It is believed that the proposed set of training principles and strategies will encourage employees at ODDD to implement the best and the most effective strategies for addressing the needs of patients with disabilities. Furthermore, the change in the approach toward addressing people’s needs directly while prioritizing their safety is expected to cause significant improvements in the quality of the target audiences’ lives. Therefore, changes in the current framework for addressing the needs of people with disabilities in the ODDD context must be implemented accordingly. It is believed that, with the focus on communication, quality management, and patient-specific needs, opportunities for improving patient outcomes and preventing further health issues from developing will become possible.
DODD’s Major Unusual Incident and Registry Unit offer oversight to boards of developmental disabilities and providers to aid in ensuring the health and welfare of individuals with disabilities who receive services. The occurrences are reported and monitored across the state of Ohio to recognize trends and patterns and establish causes and contributing elements needed for prevention planning. Both types of incidents require reporting methods and reporting periods. Every incident must be examined, but some need police or other agencies to get involved. Unusual incidents are not as severe as major unusual incidents. However, they need investigations to guarantee that all individuals are secure and to attempt to reduce the chances of the event repeating. The paper outlines the proper policy and procedure of incident reporting and investigation and thus, provides how to become an agent for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities and satisfy individuals receiving services.
Discussion
Unusual Incidents
An unusual incident refers to an occurrence that involves an individual. It lacks consistency regarding policies and procedures, routine operations, or service plans and care of the person. Thus, it cannot be categorized as a major unusual incident. When it comes to recording, an incident report form is utilized (DoDD, 2021). All independent and agency providers must maintain a log of unusual events containing data concerning the incident, for instance, time, day, and notes about injuries. Additionally, they should contain the actions taken after becoming aware of the incident, contributing factors, and preventive measures.
Both independent and agency providers are required to review unusual incident logs more than once monthly to guarantee proper preventive measures were executed and to identify trends or patterns. The providers are needed to possess written policies and procedures for reporting and examining the occurrences. These must require direct service providers to report unusual happenings to designated staff within twenty-four hours of becoming aware of the UI (DoDD, 2021). Additionally, they have to identify at least one staff who can take or execute appropriate actions and include guidelines for investigations. The examinations need to identify what resulted in the incident. They should also bring a plan to prevent future occurrences for individuals in danger.
Major Unusual Incidents
Major unusual incidents are suspected, alleged, or real happenings of an incident when there is evidence to prove the health, as well as the welfare of an individual, may be negatively impacted or the person is at risk of harm. These types of happenings are reported such that they can be studied (DoDD, 2021). The exploration will aid in discovering the reason behind happening of the event and what can be done to prevent it from re-occurring. The main objective is to assist in keeping people secure.
Incident Reporting and Investigation
Reporting Process
The major unusual incidents ought to be reported immediately or within the twenty-four hours timeframe based on the type. All boards of developmental disabilities have designated individuals to receive the reports. The latter may be made online, in contact, or to country board employees. The Department of Developmental Disabilities and a major unusual incident reporting hotline at 1-866-313-6733 (DoDD, 2021). One must report occurrences within four hours after discovery comprising exploitation, accidental or suspicious death, misappropriation, peer-to-peer act, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, and neglect. Particular personnel is needed for the reporting task, including providers contracted, licensed, or certified to serve individuals with disabilities, county board, department staff, and anyone on a Medicaid waiver. After an occurrence, there is a major unusual incident reporting procedure that providers, DODD, and county boards need to follow.
Regarding the provider’s role, he or she is required to take immediate action to safeguard the safety and health of the individual. They must notify the person’s legal or next of kin on the day of the happening. A parent who does not qualify as the lawful guardian may only be notified with approval by the child or legal guardian. It is their responsibility to inform the county board instantly within a four-hour timeframe when the allegation is misappropriation, neglect, abuse, prohibited sex, or accidental death (DoDD, 2021). Additionally, they are advised to alert law enforcement or children’s services when alleged criminal activity occurs. Lastly, they must file a written incident report to the county board by 3 PM of the following working day.
It is the responsibility of the board to ensure or notify law enforcement if a potential crime has happened. They are obligated to alert the Children’s Services Board in the event suspected abuse is done on a person under twenty-one years. They as well notify the county board SSA of the happening on the same day and licensed residential provider if the occurrence is in the county board initiative. They are obligated to ensure that the legal guardians are informed about the event. They should submit a report on the Ohio Incident Tracking and Monitoring System by 5 PM the following day after notification (DoDD, 2021). The board communicates preliminary discoveries with a guardian, person, and provider within fourteen working days of an alleged physical or sexual abuse. It sends a summary letter to the residential provider and legal guardian five days after the case has been recommended for closure by the county board.
Individuals’ Satisfaction with Services Delivered
The DoDD is required to review every report to guarantee instant action is taken, notification is made, and incidents are categorized to ensure people are satisfied with the services delivered. The department evaluates cases before closure to ensure proper cause and contributing factor recognition and prevention plan development (DoDD, 2021). The department alerts the Ohio Department of Medicaid through an online incident reporting system. A major unusual incident and registry unit is an entity in the department that helps to hold individuals accountable as it aids in improving satisfaction levels for services delivered.
The major unusual incident, as well as the registry unit, consists of various areas such as regional managers, intake, and registry investigators. These individuals perform different tasks intending to ensure the people’s satisfaction with delivered services remains high. They as well reviews all entered incidents into the Ohio Incident Tracking and Monitoring System (DoDD, 2021). A regional manager conducts quality assurance evaluations of incident management via the system, performs site visits to Ohio State’s counties and providers of service as needed, and offers training and technical help throughout the year.
The Unit Registry investigators are in charge of the Department of Developmental Disabilities Abuser registry. They are obligated to conduct department-directed investigations and onsite visits to the state’s counties as needed. Registry investigators offer technical assistance and training to the county investigative agents (DoDD, 2021). Other statewide events comprise giving health and welfare alerts, conducting mortality review committee gatherings, and managing a complaint hotline.
Every agency provider and county board ensures that the staff employed in the indirect service positions are trained before direct contact. Those in non-direct service spots must undergo training within ninety days after being hired. After that, each employee shall receive major unusual incident training each year, consisting of an evaluation of health and welfare notifications since the previous year’s training. Every happening requires immediate action to protect people from more harm. Additionally, an investigation is required to establish the cause of the event and contributing factors and that a preventive plan is designed to minimize the chance of future happenings.
Summary
Major unusual incidents are reported to the local County Board of Developmental Disabilities, which afterward reports the data to the DoDD. County boards are in charge of immediate action, prevention planning, and investigations (DoDD, 2021). Upon identifying the events, the provider ensures that the individual receives instant and continuous medical attention for injuries. They remove employees from direct contact with any person when the employee is alleged to have been involved in abuse until the provider has determined that such removal is no longer needed. They perform every other necessary measure to protect the health as well as the welfare of people. They notify the county board within four hours of discovering the following incidents: exploitation, sexual abuse, neglect, misappropriation, and accidental death.
It is important to understand that a provider must complete a written report of happenings showing usual major or unusual incidents. It has to comprise the person’s name, address, date of occurrence, description, location, type of injuries, witnesses, and their statements, among others. The written report is submitted to the county board by 3 PM. As mentioned earlier, the latter enters preliminary data regarding the MUI in the incident tracking system, as advised by the department by 5 PM. If applicable, the provider makes proper notifications to other agencies, including law enforcement and Children’s Services.
Conclusion
The paper has outlined the proper policy and procedure of incident reporting and investigation and thus, provides how to become an agent for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities and satisfy individuals receiving services. It has highlighted the different types of occurrences, that is, major unusual incidents and unusual incidents. On the one hand, major unusual incidents are suspected, alleged, or real happenings of an incident when there is evidence to prove health and welfare may be negatively impacted. These types of happenings are reported such that they can be studied. The exploration will aid in discovering the reason behind happening of the event and what can be done to prevent it from re-occurring. The main objective is to assist in keeping people secure.
On the other hand, an unusual incident refers to an occurrence that involves an individual. It lacks consistency when it comes to policies and procedures, routine operations, or service plans and care of the person. Thus, it cannot be categorized as a major unusual incident. Regarding recording such a happening, the incident report form is utilized. All independent and agency providers have to maintain a log of unusual events that consists of data concerning the incident, for instance, time, day, and notes about injuries. Additionally, they should contain the actions taken after becoming aware of the incident, contributing factors, and preventive measures.
Reference
DoDD. (2021). Department of Developmental Disabilities. Web.
The Special Olympics is a premier sporting organization that provides adults and children with physical and intellectual disabilities an opportunity to train and compete among themselves. From the organization’s webpage, inclusive health is one of the tasks they are involved in. Together with partners, the Special Olympics aspires to improve the health outcomes for people with physical and mental disabilities to close the gap with the healthy population who are more advantaged in terms of access and affordability. They recognize that people with Intellectual Disabilities encounter problems in healthcare and have thus come up with multiple initiatives to mitigate the problem.
From the MD Presentation video, it is apparent that an individual suffering from profound intellectual and multiple disabilities is unable to communicate verbally and requires constant supervision. Their movement and coordination of body organs are also impaired and they require lifetime care by others. Despite the Special Olympics being specifically designed for people with intellectual difficulties, the severe case of profound intellectual and multiple disabilities complicates her participation in any activity or initiative. Interestingly, her parents have given her some freedom by getting having her in her own house. However, she is under constant care and observation of the people she lives with.
Consequently, the appropriate type of accommodation, according to Miller, is a substitute curriculum. Under a substitute curriculum, she will be provided with different materials and instructions. The provision of these items is especially important because her learning abilities are compromised by her limited to no speech. However, this arrangement should not turn into a geographical inclusion where the special needs students are placed with regular students but the topic they are learning has nothing to do with the goals of the class. Geographical inclusion might give normal students the impression that special needs students are different from them.
The main role of a family is to bring up children despite their conditions; whether they are challenged or not. Most families diligently take up their parental roles. However, there has been a sharp rise in grandparents acting as caregivers for their grandchildren. The recent increase in single parenthood and infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS has led to a sharp increase in grandparenting. Grandparents chip in to help their children in balancing between work and parental responsibilities. However, grandchildren who are disabled pose a serious challenge to their caregivers. They not only need frequent medical attention but also special needs like education, housing, and food. Additionally, society’s negligence on children with disabilities has led to an increase in their number.
Parents might cause disability in their children either before or after birth. Drug abuse and parental negligence or abandonment is the main cause of disabilities. Sadly, there are frequent occurrences of disabilities in poor families due to either genetic problems or other calamities. The common health challenges affecting children include cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy and other physical disabilities like polio (Force, Botsford, Pisano, & Holbert, 2000, p.9).
However, due to poverty, single parenthood, parents’ disability and epidemics like HIV/AIDS, grandparents end up with the role of parenting. HIV/AIDS is a world epidemic that is currently wiping out the young generation. Consequently, there is an increase in the number of orphans and grandparents take over parenting responsibility. The recent increase in divorce, unwanted pregnancies, teen pregnancies, and separation has led to single parents who are unable to balance between parenting roles and their career; therefore, grandparents decide to act as caregivers. Sometimes, grandparents take care of their grandchildren to prevent them from going into children’s homes or being brought up by foster parents.
Currently, there is limited financial aid put in place to support grandparents with disabled grandchildren. Additionally, statistical analyses of the population do not consider grandparenting, single parenthood, and children with disabilities. Therefore, medical attention to children with disabilities is low hence the high rise in disabled children. There has been a “sharp increase in children living with grandparents from 3.2% to 5.6% in 1997” (Heller & Ganguly, 2008, p.5). In 1998, the US Bureau of statistics recorded an upward trend in grandparents taking care of their grandchildren, however, this is regardless of whether the biological parents are alive or not. On the other hand, more than 70% of the grandparents are women while slightly above 50% of them are married.
Grandparents who take care of their grandchildren face many challenges. They find it difficult to provide basic needs like shelter, food, and education. Also, they lack support from the community services for their disabled grandchildren. Due to poor contact and inaccessibility of social service agencies, grandparents caring for children with disabilities are unable to meet their special needs. Housing is one of the common challenges; children with physical disabilities need special houses to suit their special needs. They also lack knowledge about community-based agencies for the disabled hence do not bother to access them.
When the grandparents’ age out or die, their grandchildren’s future hangs in balance and chances of them plunging into abject poverty are high. Moreover, poverty usually prevails in grandparents who are caregivers. Most of their savings and income end up meeting the basic needs of the disabled children. Unfortunately, some grandparents leave office or jobs to concentrate on parenting. However, the consequence is the lack of finance and privacy for themselves. Additionally, physically or mentally challenged children demand many basic needs like food, clothes, medical attention and houses with special facilities. Therefore, they end up using a lot of money for the upkeep of their grandchildren.
Social and cultural differences pose a major challenge for grandparents. Due to the age difference, grandparents undergo hard times when instilling discipline in their grandchildren. This becomes a challenge at the adolescent stage where an aging grandparent may lack the proper knowledge to counsel his/her grandchildren in an ever-changing environment. Unfortunately, the grandchildren with disabilities are difficult to handle at this stage because most of them have low self-esteem and statistics indicate that some may even attempt to commit suicide because they are unable to fit in the society.
The long-term impact of grandparenting is stress and depression that comes in handy with the development of chronic diseases pushing the grandparents into leading miserable life and the eventual death. The duty of administering discipline to disabled children becomes very strenuous and sometimes may strain the relationship between them and their grandparents. Lack of leisure time for recreational activities also contributes to their depression. Grandparents who live in poverty have frequent worries about the future of their grandchildren especially those with body impairments and this phenomenon leads to stress.
In the case of their absence, these grandparents worry about the well-being of their disabled grandchildren and the influence they have on other children. The circumstances that herald grandparenting like the death of the grandchildren’s parents may culminate into sorrow and grief hence depression (American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), 2008). Unfortunately, in most cases the grandchildren happen to be below five years of age; actually, some are even infants demanding a lot of attention from their caregivers.
Social isolation is also among the challenges grandparents who have disabled children face (AARP, 2008). There is discrimination from neighborhoods, schools, and other social institutions to children with disabilities. Society, therefore, disrupts the way of life for both the grandparent and the disabled grandchildren. Some grandparents even end up losing their jobs and self-esteem due to isolation. Eventually, some grandparents do not declare the physical or mental disabilities of their grandchildren and due to all these frustrations; these caregivers do not access public services and systems hence isolation. Similarly, disabled children face discrimination and physical abuse from their peers. Therefore, grandparents are unable to delegate duties to other people to take care of their grandchildren.
Other countries have enacted strict laws concerning parental and guardian responsibilities. The common challenge grandparents’ face is to provide legal papers as guardians because the common reasons for grandparenting are the death of the parents or drug abuse and this scenario denies their disabled children to access vital institutions. For instance, there is poor school enrollment for disabled children despite the availability of special schools. On the other hand, due to financial constrains grandparents are unable to transfer their grandchildren to schools located far away or even afford the school fees.
They finally, end up with illiterate and disabled grandchildren. Nevertheless, the taking up of parenting roles by grandparents acts as a role model in the community. Their grandchildren usually follow their steps as they grow up. Besides the challenges, they enact good morals in their grandchildren whether disabled or not. Some grandparents are always happy to stay with their grandchildren and cater to their needs hence they do not see it as a burden but rather a blessing. Although the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, most grandparents accept parenting roles to strengthen their families’ names.
Finally, the community and government should step up the campaign to help grandparents who have grandchildren with disabilities. There should be sufficient information concerning the basic needs, source of income and medical attention on disabled grandchildren and their parenting grandparents. The government should also contact and connect such ‘parents’ and ‘children’ to the nearest community services that would be of great help.
Additionally, the establishment of financial aid is necessary to channel funds to grandparents who spend more than what they earn. When grandparents die or become too old, the community social services should be ready to take up parental responsibilities. Both social and healthcare workers should undergo training to cater for the increasing number of grandparent families. Parents and grandparents with mentally retarded children should undergo training on how to meet their special needs.
In conclusion, the current society is full of families headed with grandparents. There is a sharp rise of parents who are either addicts or alcoholics and in most cases; these parents neglect their responsibilities especially when the children are disabled. Additionally, the decline of social morals has led to high divorce and separation cases hence single parents.
Similarly, teen pregnancies are on the rise, which leads to the children abandonment. Therefore, all these parental responsibilities fall on grandparents who take care of their grandchildren. However, these grandparents face several challenges especially when the children in the spot are disabled. Such grandparents face financial hardships and are unable to meet the basic needs of their grandchildren. Additionally, they lack social and community services due to discrimination; however, the community has to assist these grandparents to attain their goals.
References
AARP. (2008). Who Is Raising the World’s Children? Grandparent Caregivers: Economic, Social and Legal Implications. Web.
Force, L. et al. (2000). Grandparents raining children with and without a developmental Disability: Preliminary comparisons. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 33, 5-22.
Heller, T., & Ganguly, H. (2008). Grandparents raising grandchildren with developmental disabilities. Web.
In their article, He, Chen, Wang, Guo, and Zheng assessed the relative significance of paternal and maternal education on children with disabilities (1-10). The noteworthy association involving every parent’s contribution portrays that the connection is robust over about two decades irrespective of the variation in values for every variable.
The information in the article is helpful for parents of children with disabilities and other parents since it assists them in appreciating the significance of each parent’s education in lessening the incidence of child disability. This signifies that policymakers ought not to just mull over reinforcing health systems to offer quality services but also take into consideration the social aspects of child fitness, for instance, educational achievement amid parents.
The mistreatment of children, particularly the physically disabled, is a global problem that has severe lifetime effects (Jumma and Çerkez 527-532). Children with disabilities are threefold highly probable of suffering mistreatment from parents when judged against their able-bodied counterparts. The outcomes of the study illustrate the difference between maltreatment of children with boys having a higher susceptibility than girls. Divorced parents have a higher possibility of mistreating disabled children than married parents. The study could be used to help tackle the challenges encountered by parents of children with disabilities and other parents, especially the ones divorced, in an effort to reduce the prevalence of maltreatment among disabled children.
Studies across the globe have established that parents encounter a range of negative impacts while giving care to children with intellectual disabilities, encompassing a high rate of stress and the possibility of depression and anxiety (Kimura and Yamazaki 455-458). This stress poses a great burden to parents and has a severely negative influence on disabled children. A child with an intellectual disability has a higher probability of experiencing violence when judged against one with any other disability. The article is helpful as it creates a vivid explanation of the problem faced by parents of children with disabilities and facilitates the creation of child abuse prevention approaches.
Works Cited
He, Ping, et al. “The Role of Parental Education in Child Disability in China from 1987 to 2006.” PloS One, vol. 12, no. 10, 2017, pp. 1-10.
Jumma, Bader, and Yağmur Çerkez. “Parents’ Mistreatment towards Physically Disabled Children.” International Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 11, no. 1, 2017, pp. 527-532.
Kimura, Miyako, and Yoshihiko Yamazaki. “Physical Punishment, Mental Health and Sense of Coherence among Parents of Children with Intellectual Disability in Japan.” Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, vol. 29, no. 5, 2016, pp. 455-467.
Natural supports can be defined as personal connections and associations that improve the quality of a person’s life; these primarily include family relationships and friendships and constitute “the first line of supports, followed by informal and community supports” (Duggan & Linehan, 2013, p. 200). Identifying natural supports and recognizing them as sources of assistance can help people improve their everyday lives at home and at work.
In my life, the primary natural support is my family. In a general sense, having an understanding family environment, in which concerns can be shared and discussed, and solutions can be suggested, is very helpful. Even the mere awareness that there are people who are close to you, care about you, and will help you with any problems you may face without judging you or demanding anything in return is very comforting and encouraging.
Main body
In a narrower sense, family support can come in various forms. Duggan and Linehan (2013) argue that a major role of family members as natural supports is that they help individuals achieve personal goals and do so unconditionally, on the basis of personal ties, rather than in exchange for anything (e.g., other types of support for people with disabilities can come from paid caregivers). For me, family support is not limited to home but also extends to my work; I know that my family members want me to succeed and are ready and willing to assist me when I am overwhelmed.
A specific form of family-related natural supports is family events. We may not even discuss problems or seek solutions during such meeting (but rather simply celebrate), but the very idea that many people give up their plans to attend these meetings (because they realize how important family is and often put it first) makes me feel like there are always people I can ask for help and receive it.
Another type of natural supports is friendship. I have noticed that the company of friends is a very supportive environment regardless of what you are doing together. When I am stressed or frustrated (e.g., from work), I can meet my friends and complain to them, and it makes me feel better, or I can meet them and simply have fun talking about something completely different than my personal problems, and it makes me feel better, too. I think it is important that friends are not only supportive but also can be critical; they will comfort you, but then they will tell you that perhaps you were wrong in a certain situation or you did something unwise and maybe you should fix it. Since those are friends who I know want the best for me, I can easily take criticism from them.
Conclusion
Not only current friendships are natural supports but also new ones. Duggan and Linehan (2013) stress the importance of making friends in the context of natural supports. I think that friendships can be much harder to maintain than family ties; only extremely dramatic events can make two family members drift apart, while friends are much more easily lost.
Making new friends, getting to know each other better, sharing personal stories, and maintaining good relationships despite differences have always been meaningful and enjoyable experiences for me. Having friends at work is especially helpful because working environments can often be pressuring, and being able to simply talk about work to a colleague who is also a friend is an important source of support.
Reference
Duggan, C., & Linehan, C. (2013). The role of ‘natural supports’ in promoting independent living for people with disabilities: A review of existing literature. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41(3), 199-207.
The process of responding to the needs of students with learning disabilities can be discussed as rather challenging and complex, as it is observed in the Australian schools. According to Chloe, there are three aspects associated with this complex issue, and they are the problem of appropriate parents and professionals’ intervention, the problem of identifying resources, and the problem of government’s funding (Chloe Posting 1, 2014). While focusing on these aspects, Chloe recognises the origin of this complexity in the problem of definition. Chloe’s considerations are supported with the fact that the term ‘learning difficulties’ used in the Australian school environment is not appropriate to discuss all students who can have problems in learning in general words (Rivalland, 2000, p. 12; Westwood, 2008, p. 3).
Chloe also points at the connection between the weak definition and absence of effective diagnostic tools to assess students with learning difficulties (Chloe Posting 1, 2014). This statement is reasonable because standardised tests that are usually used for assessing students are not appropriate to identify all possible disabilities and problems in learning. Teachers need specific assessments and tests that are not based on comparing students’ results with average ones. The reason is that much attention should be paid to the origin of the student’s problem in order to find the solution and help students (Robinson, 2002, p. 30; Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2001, p. 337). From this perspective, it is important to agree with Chloe who accentuates the role of the teacher’s careful observation before assessing students.
One more important barrier identified by Chloe is the teacher’s unwillingness to address the needs of students with learning difficulties while developing interventions and adapting the curriculum (Chloe Posting 1, 2014). Working with disable students and other students with learning difficulties, teachers need to create instructions appropriate for the diverse student population (Kavale & Forness, 2000, p. 239). However, the problem is in the fact that teachers often lack the necessary competence, and they need to receive recommendations and consultancies of special teachers who work with disable students.
Among negative effects of identifying students with learning difficulties at school, Chloe emphasises the negative role of labelling. According to Chloe, the teacher’s labels lead to the students’ loss of self-esteem (Chloe Posting 1, 2014). The actual results of labelling can be even more dramatic. Thus, according to Westwood, those teachers who use labels make students with learning difficulties become the part of the ‘bottom’ groups (Westwood, 2008, p. 78). The potential problems in this case are “negative social labelling effects, reduced curriculum coverage, removal of opportunities for lower-achieving students to work with and learn from high-achieving students, and a widening of the gap between high-ability and low-ability classes in terms of achievement” (Westwood, 2008, p. 78). From this point, labelling students as disable, teachers can fail to propose effective interventions, and they can create more barriers for learning. In this situation, discouraging labels should be avoided in the school environment, and more focus on the effective intervention strategies is required.
References
Chloe Posting 1. (2014). Web.
Kavale, K., & Forness, S. (2000). What definitions of learning disability say and don’t say: A critical analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33(3), 239–256.
Rivalland, J. (2000). Definitions & identification: Who are the children with learning difficulties? Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities, 5(2), 12–16.
Robinson, G. (2002). Assessment of learning disabilities: The complexity of causes and consequences. Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities, 7(1), 29–39.
Sternberg, R., & Grigorenko, E. (2001). Learning disabilities, schooling and society. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(4), 335–338.
Westwood, P. (2008). What teachers need to know about learning difficulties. Victoria: ACER Press.
There is doubt about whether there has been a moment when the issue of emotional and behavioural disabilities was of no importance in the sphere of education. Furthermore, there is equal doubt about whether the professionals in the sphere of education give no significance to the term of emotional and behavioural disability itself. According to Garner, Kauffman and Elliot (2014, p. 22), the term emotional and behavioural disability is frequently used as children-specific quasi-clinical and administrative category. The most frequent denominators are the words like ‘alienated’, ‘at risk’, ‘disruptive’, ‘excluded’, and so on (Clough, Garner, Pardeck, & Yuen 2005, p. 7).
Importance of Teacher Training and Teacher Awareness
The Disability Scoop article written by Jackie Mader and Sarah Butrymowicz told the story of 12-year old Cody Beck having put to jail for losing his temper in the classroom. When teachers could not do anything to calm Cody Down, they decided to call the authorities. As a result, the boy was sent to a mental health facility and released after twelve days. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder and provided with a special education program as well as additional accommodations, Cody Down was not allowed to study with his peers despite a medical cause that explained his erratic behaviour. Furthermore, he was called to the youth court a couple of times after the incident.
The article emphasized the fact that one in three arrested children happen to have some sort of a disability ranging from dyslexia to bipolar disorders. Furthermore, it is underlined that the lack of counselling and coaching for teachers remains one of the main reasons for children with disabilities being jailed. Because many of the arrested students are suspended from schools, they get into further trouble without the guidance from teachers and peers (Mader and Butrymowicz 2014, para. 2). Thus, there is a critical need for school efforts and resources to improve the system of dealing with students that have behavioural or emotional disabilities.
In their article ‘The Importance of Teacher Self-Awareness Working with Students With Emotional and Behavioural Disorders’ Richardson and Shupe concluded that there is a significant number of teachers that have not received appropriate training on how to deal and interact with students that have behavioural and emotional disabilities. Even though the success of an educator when dealing with students with EDs is connected to a variety of factors, there is an increased importance of teachers’ self-awareness (Richardson & Shupe 2006, p. 12).
Exclusion of Students with Behavioural and Emotional Disabilities
According to the Investigation Report ‘Left Behind: Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disabilities in the Hartford Public Schools’, the system of Hartford public schools has been discriminating against students with the mentioned disabilities. The investigators visited various school facilities for two years to get information about the major reforms as well as their impact on students. The investigating team concluded that students who have EDs have been denied from the ‘Free Appropriate Public Education that is their fundamental right’ (Garrison, Gaynor & Quiros-Dilan 2010, p. 2).
Also, the team underlined the fact that improvements in the Hartford Public School system will not be possible if schools do not stop abandoning certain students. Through the denial of the right of students to receive appropriate education means the denial of the future for them.
Dealing with Behavioural Disabilities in Classroom
There are no quick solutions when it comes to working with students that have emotional and behavioural problems. On the other hand, over the years of studying and addressing the issue, educators were able to outline some recommendations on how to deal with such students. The U.S. Department of Education has offered a three-tier approach that addresses the issue of emotional and behavioural disabilities in students:
Introduction of primary efforts of prevention targeted at voicing the behaviour of expectancy to all students;
When required, early intervention can become a first step in dealing with students most likely to be exposed to behavioural issues;
Involvement of intensive services that target students struggling with emotional disturbances (Quinn et al. 2000, p. 3).
Based on the outlined three-tier approach, the conditions that perpetuate positive behaviour in the classroom include teaching clear expectations about behaviour, sound response to the behavioural and emotional issues, individualized programs. To deal with emotional disturbances in students and create a positive atmosphere in a classroom, the teaching personnel along with the administration is advised to create an engaging schooling curriculum, making changes and adaptations that account for the needs of the emotionally challenged students.
Proactive Teaching Interventions
Since schools are created for support and provision of instructional programs which facilitate success in the education of all students that then become citizens who make their contributions into the society. The promotion of successful teaching interventions when it comes to students with emotional and behavioural disabilities is no doubt a challenging objective that requires a cohesive and multi-dimensional approach that will meet a large number of needs (Lehr & McComas, 2005, para. 1). The following interventions provide a multi-faceted system
Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)
The implementation of PBS comprises three levels of emotional and behavioural disabilities. The primary level includes interventions conducted schoolwide, aimed to target the reduction of behavioural disturbances in students. Such interventions include behaviour control strategies implemented class-wide and instructional practices implemented in the school-wide level. Secondary preventions are targeted directly at students with higher risks of emotional issues. On this level, interventions like anger management and training of problem-solving skills are implemented in a smaller group environment. Tertiary interventions are directly connected with specific students that exhibit behavioural disabilities. On this level, an intervention takes a form of an individualised plan of behaviour.
Comprehensive Classroom Management
This proactive teaching intervention was designed by Jones and Jones (2004) and places a primary focus on the community support, parent cooperation, problem-solving skills, and active student participation in the creation of behavioural classroom norms. Furthermore, Jones and Jones have found that the implementation of comprehensive classroom management in their study resulted in the reduction of up to fifty per cent of suspensions or disruptive student behaviour (Christensen et al. 2005, p. 7).
Individualised Behaviour Intervention Plan
While the above-listed teaching interventions have an impact on a general scale, some emotionally and behaviourally challenged students to require a personalised approach. Individualized behaviour intervention plans are usually designed and conducted by professionals and target a specific student based on his or her behavioural assessment.
The Educator’s Role
Teachers and paraprofessionals are the primary entities within the school staff that diagnose, refer, and subsequently plan a programme of behaviour management. Furthermore, it is a teacher who most often facilitates and starts the process of getting help for the misbehaving student. First, an educator should identify the student behaviour that disrupts the learning process. With the aid of a pre-referral intervention system targeted at reducing the need for additional educational services for misbehaving students (Nelson et al. 1991, p. 243), an educator can address the issue and start it is resolving on the primary level.
When necessary, an educator can facilitate student referral. Most frequently, students are referred to a specialist per parent request or by the request of the school staff at any time in the period of the teaching intervention (Connecticut State Department of Education 2012, p. 15).
Furthermore, an educator can document disruptive or dangerous student behaviour in a specific way. By clearly identifying the behaviour, for instance, ‘continuously pushing a classmate,’ a teacher can provide primary behaviour information that will become a basis for a planned teaching intervention.
Conclusion
Students with behavioural and emotional disabilities should never be excluded from the teaching process. On the other hand, they should be engaged into the process with careful monitoring, documenting, and planning of suitable interventions that can be implemented on the school-wide level, class-wide level, and an individual level. Positive behaviour support and comprehensive classroom management are interventions that have proven to be successful on the first two levels while the individualized intervention plan focuses directly on the problem management of specific students with a behavioural disability. In this sense, the primary role of an educator is linked to controlling and monitoring, as well as facilitating the start of a teaching intervention.
Reference List
Christensen, B, Jaeger, M, Lorenz, R, Morton, S, Neuman, L, Rieke, E, Simpson, B & Watkins, C 2005, Teaching students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders: best practices guide to intervention, Seattle University, Seattle, WA. Web.
Clough, P, Garner, P, Pardeck, J & Yuen, F 2005, Handbook of emotional & behavioural difficulties, Sage Publications, United Kingdom. Web.
Connecticut State Department of Education 2012, Guidelines for identifying and educating students with emotional disturbance. Web.
Garner, P, Kauffman, J & Elliot, J 2014, SAGE handbook of emotional and behavioural difficulties, 2nd edn, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. Web.
Garrison, B, Gaynor, C & Quiros-Dilan, L 2010, Investigation report. Left behind: students with emotional and behavioural disabilities in the Hartford public schools. Web.
Lehr, C & McComas, J 2005, ‘Students with emotional/behavioral disorders: promoting positive outcomes’, Impact: Feature Issue on Fostering Success in School and Beyond for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, vol. 18, no. 2. pp. 2-4. Web.
Nelson, R, Smith, D, Taylor, L, Dodd, J & Reavis, K 1991, ‘Prereferral intervention: a review of the research’, Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications, paper 39. Web.
Quinn, M, Osher, D, Warger, C, Hanley, T, Bader, B, Tate, R & Hoffman, C 2000, Educational strategies for children with emotional and behavioural problems, Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice American Institutes for Research, Washington, DC. Web.
Richardson, B & Shupe, M 2006, ‘The Importance of Teacher Self-Awareness in Working with Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders’, Teaching Exceptional Children, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 8-13. Web.