Some Facts On Group Homes For Developmentally Disabled Adults

By Edna Booker


There is a myriad of mental illnesses which result into varying degrees of disabilities. Some of the commonly encountered ones include autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy among others. Persons with mental disabilities are often faced with numerous challenges in their day to day life. When living in the general population, they may either face stigma of may fail to have their special needs addressed. Group homes for developmentally disabled adults provide a new lease of life to these individuals.

Perhaps the biggest challenge that faced by persons living with developmental abnormalities is that they usually have difficulties taking care of themselves. As a result, they heavily depend on parents or other members of their families to take care of such as personal grooming, feeding and using the toilet. The degree of dependence is variable and depends on the type of disability and the severity.

The duration of stay in the homes is variable; it may be a fixed duration or an undefined period of time. The main determinants of the length of stay are the severity of disability as well as rate of response to training. The main focus should on improvement rather than duration.

It is important that you maintain the close family relationship even after you send a relative to the facility. Ensure that you visit as often as possible. This practice has been shown to increase the chances of success. At the same time, you will be in a good position to assess any form of progress yourself. This means that you need to identify a group home that is not too far from your family home.

When choosing a group home, there are a number of things to look out for. Make sure that your choice of home is fully equipped with enough facilities. Some patients may have a coexisting medical condition that has to be treated at the facility. You will be well advised to compare several of them before settling on your choice. More importantly, the home must have a licence to operate that is issued by the Department of Human Services.

It is a legal requirement that these residential homes contain day activity centres. This is meant to help the occupants undergo proper mental training. At the same time, they are required to have opportunities for vocational job training or placement services. With such programs, it is easier for the individual to be integrated back to the community after they leave the residential unit.

One of the advantages of the homes is that the individuals are given an opportunity to explore their talents which would not otherwise be discovered. When properly trained some of these people may be empowered to work alongside able bodied colleagues. Since each person has a unique problem different from the other, specially trained instructors are allocated to each of the adults. It is this instructor that is best placed to identify the skills of the individuals and to sharpen them so that they can be useful to society.

There is no doubt that a person with disability requires a lot of attention. This is because they have very little in survival skill. By taking them to a group home, you are not getting rid of them. It is simply an opportunity to train them so that they can take care of themselves. The fact that they live together with other people dealing with the same challenges, is advantageous.




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