Topic: Aging

This comprehensive 2-day training helps all staff build understanding, skills and empathy for working with aging adults with intellectual disabilities.
 
Over the course of the training, attendees learn how to best support physical, medical, emotional and social needs of seniors. Hands-on activities include powerful empathy exercises, learning and practice transferring and positioning adults who are non-ambulatory and testing a number of movement activities that are slower paced and engaging. Common medical issues are discussed and include tips for prevention as well as treatment.

A section on activity development helps staff tailor program activities to senior needs and interests. Our staff at YAI find this training very practical and lots of fun.

This Day Service program New Employee Orientation packet is designed to meet the unique needs of people who are aging with a developmental disability. 

The teaching materials and workbook pages cover information and activities related to the cognitive, social, physical and emotional needs of seniors.

It can be challenging for staff who are in their physical prime to understand the pain, stiffness and sensory issues that aging adults face.

Empathy is the cornerstone of good support and is best felt with direct experience. How do I get the experience of being 65 when I’m only 25?

Check out the “Expert Tips” for ideas to help you create an empathy building curriculum for your staff.

Individuals with intellectual disabilities historically have not been given the opportunity to experience the natural process of grieving. It was believed that they did not have the cognitive ability to understand what death means, that they did not form attachments or understand the behavior required at a funeral.

People with ID, of course, do have the same feelings and go through the same stages of grief that everyone does.  This guide will help staff support grieving adults in their program in a number of significant ways:

1) Assessing the person’s ability to understand his/her loss
2) Incorporating cultural rituals
3) Communication tips; what to say, what not to say
4) Preparing the individual for a funeral
5) Grieving/healing activities

When people with ID/DD experience a significant loss, it is critical to provide opportunities for them to go through the natural process of grieving. Many times participants are not given the opportunity to attend normal grieving rituals. 

This guide helps the program prepare for and hold a memorial service including ideas for how to prepare participants for sharing thoughts and memories, music and healing.

When working with seniors, environmental design is very important. We need to think about the specific needs of seniors when designing a functional environment for them. What level of accessibility does the environment provide to seniors who may have mobility impairments? What other impairments of people who are seniors may be highlighted in the environment? This How to Design a Senior Room Environment training teaches staff strategies for design and implementation to adhere to seniors’ specific needs.

This training explores the characteristics of the 3 stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, how AD differs from normal memory loss and the difficulties of diagnosis in people with intellectual disabilities.  Principles for effective treatment include minimizing stress, promoting positive emotions, optimizing function and enriching the individuals’ lives.

The training covers many strategies for working with individuals with AD and developmental disabilities including communication techniques, environmental changes and behavioral supports.

This picture system is a simple but effective way to help someone with memory loss remember and practice expected behaviors. It’s also a great tool for anyone who needs reminders in order to achieve successful outcomes.

Download the instructions and samples and get started! 

People with disabilities often deal with the loss of a special person in their lives. Loss can occur when a person moves away, goes into the hospital, or dies. As with all of us, emotional scars can occur when we do not deal with loss properly. Unfortunately, all too often, people with disabilities are not given the time or means to grieve.

This simple yet effective user guide helps to create an I Remember… scrapbook template to help the individual cope with these losses. The guide lists materials needed to create the scrapbook and specific pages to be included. These scrapbooks can also be created by a group of people who are sharing the loss of a special person.