Our printable summer newsletter offers information and resources for individuals and families on DDA’s No Paid Services caseload.
Topics
Person Centered: Creating a Life from the Inside Out
We talk a lot about person-centered practices—from service-planning to goal-setting across the life course—and there’s a good reason for that: individualized planning works. It’s all about creating a life from the inside out; a life that’s built on the person’s interests, goals, abilities and needs, rather than one that’s defined by a service system.
Employment Funding for High School Transition Graduates
The budget for the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) includes new employment funding for high school transition graduates.
The Right to Belong, by Rachel Nemhauser
Some people welcome summer with its lazy days, trips to the beach, suntans, fruity drinks, and a reprieve from nightly homework battles. Me? I panic. In my house, summer vacation is an oxymoron. There is no vacationing. Instead, there is a moderately tyrannical, but incredibly charming, 11 year-old named Nate to supervise, entertain and support (along with his older brother, Isaac). In my quest to organize summer activities, I have to consider more than Nate’s interests and abilities; I have to ensure that wherever he goes, he will be welcomed. All of him, including his sometimes not so endearing behaviors.
Summer Resource Links
Free and low cost activities for children and adults.
Pilot Program Promotes Benefits of Person-Centered Planning
This past March, our state began implementing a pilot program for individuals living in Adult Family Homes who experience challenging behaviors. Learn how this person-centered approach reduces crises and increases quality of life.
Smart Living: Expanding Life Through Technology
When the DD Council received funding from the Developmental Disabilities Administration to explore ways that technology could be used to create greater independence for people with I/DD, things did not go exactly as planned. Find out what happened and why lessons learned are helping more people understand the key role that technology plays in the lives of people who have been left behind in the wake of the technology wave.
