Products > Developmental Disabilities

Respect, Choice, Decisions, Family

What would you do if an adult with developmental disabilities wants to do something you think is wrong or dangerous, or something you don't agree with? How would you balance your own feelings and opinions with the individual's desires?

This program identifies three common roles that direct support staff assume when confronted with questions about self-determination: the Ally, the Smotherer, and the Slacker. Through careful examination of each role in several situations, direct support staff learn to become allies of the people they work with.

Funded by a research and development grant from the National Institutes of Health, this program teaches specific skills and strategies direct support staff can use to promote self-determination. 24 video-vignette practice-exercises give staff the opportunity to rehearse and practice.
 
Includes a 38-page viewer guide, 5 VHS-videos and a DVD: 

• Developing Respectful Relationships, 19 minutes Opportunities for enhanced self-determination will only occur in a relationship built on mutual trust and respect between the individual with disabilities and the support staff person.
• Encouraging Choice-Making, 15 minutes Strategies for eliciting choices and supporting good choice-making include helping people get information about alternatives in an unbiased manner and encouraging people to think about outcomes of choices.
• Promoting Informed Decision-Making, 15 minutes How to clearly define the decision to be made, generate multiple possible solutions, consider what might be the outcome of each option, make a decision, express and act on it, and check out the results.
• Planning for the Future & Working with Families, 17 minutes. How to support people with the process of clarifying their dreams, setting goals, making plans to get headed in the right direction, tracking progress in reaching the dream and planning for the future. Includes how to work with families to achieve a plan family members support.
• What Would You Do? 24 video vignettes of common situations, ending with the question "What would you do?" - to elicit discussion about behaviors that support self-determination.

Audience

Support staff, special education teachers, and school vocational and support staff.

Developers

Developed by  IRIS Media Inc. and Elizabeth Thorin, Ph.D..