My Life Book
Published: 2008-03-03
Library Journal, October 1, 2005
This multimedia tool is designed to help parents of adult children with developmental disabilities plan for the future. The version reviewed includes a DVD and CD-ROM containing a workbook in PDF format that can be printed for personal use. The first part of the workbook gives the person with a disability ample space to describe himself or herself and indicate likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams. Once completed, it provides an introduction that includes pictures for caregivers, relatives, or new friends and acquaintances. The second portion focuses on planning tools to help parents identify key people who can take over caregiving responsibilities when needed, secure appropriate housing, expand their child’s circle of friends, and help their child find suitable work and leisure activities. Parents are instructed to complete the workbook to a certain point, then watch the next DVD chapter, which follows four families through the process of filling in the workbook by shadowing them in a training class and watching as they attempt to implement some of the techniques. The DVD seems designed as a sort of virtual support group to encourage people who may be at different stages of life planning. My Life Book is the type of planning tool vitally needed in almost every community. Highly recommended to public libraries and special libraries in education, health, and social service settings.
Video Librarian, November/December 2005 ***½
Intended to help families create a future care plan for loved ones with developmental disabilities, My Life Book follows four families facing the unique challenges of special-needs children, taking viewers through the process of putting together a record of basic information for the child that would be useful to temporary caregivers in the event of an emergency. Designed to be used in conjunction with a personal fill-in-the-blank scrapbook (printable from the accompanying CD-ROM or available separately for $35 in a spiral-bound book), the program aims to help ease the adjustment process for new/temporary caregivers and children (parents and child record personal information, such as where the child/youth works, attends school, volunteers, his or her friends, hobbies, routines, medications, likes/dislikes, moods, communication styles, general support needs, and religious affiliations). In addition, parents are taken through the process of planning for the future (when they are no longer caretakers for their grown children), including sorting out various financial and legal questions, finding appropriate housing, and mapping out work and leisure activities. An outstanding tool for both families and agencies that work with the developmentally disabled, this is highly recommended.
Author: Video Librarian & Livrary Journal
