In Parenting An Adult with Disabilities, I talked about assuring that support would be there for your adult child when you can’t be. It doesn’t matter what level of functioning your son or daughter is. If they are living independently in their own home or some facility, they could be abused in some way and terrified to report it.
I walked through the living room in the middle of a piece on a Fox News program and then searched for the story on the web about the “Fight Club” at Corpus Christi (TX) State School for the Mentally Disabled. One of the commentators called it “human dog fighting”.
Disabled residents were forced fight each other by night staff at the facility and it was filmed on cell phones. One of the alleged ringleaders apparently left his cell phone at a hospital and it was turned over to police to find the owner. Police found video of the Fight Club on the cell phone. That is how this terror was discovered. I wonder how long this whole terror for the residents had been going on and would have gone on if the phone had not been forgotten.
According to the ABC News story “One resident is seen on the video trying to run away from his attacker and a large group of employees and residents tracking him through the halls. When cornered, he wails and moans and tells the employees, "I will behave."
This story is horrifying but is an important reminder of why it is so important to plan someone (or multiple friends) who can be trusted to stay involved and check on your adult child regularly when you can’t . Someone visiting the residents regularly would surely have seen bruises, etc.
Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
Blogs: Amazon Author Connect Blog, Parenting A Complex Special Needs Child and Lighthouse Parents
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Showing posts with label Transition Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transition Planning. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Preserving the Parents' Expertise
Part of a question from an interview I did recently has haunted me. It suggested that some might feel transition planning was letting go in the sense of giving up on an adult. I decided to chat with you in a video blog today about that. I am pasting the video below. Depending on what feed you are reading this post on it may not come through. If not, go to my video blog page here .
Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
For a complete list of my sites see www.peggyloumorgan.com
Until next time,
Peggy Lou Morgan
For a complete list of my sites see www.peggyloumorgan.com
Monday, January 9, 2006
Preparing Myself for Billy Ray's Transition to Adult Living
Health issues including a medication reaction that changed him permanently at 14 and his health crisis this summer have delayed the transition plan for Billy Ray. We continue to work with him on skills he needs for his transition from our home and to stabilize his health.
With a complex special needs child, even when they become adults, the empty nest is not quite the same as it might be for parents of whose offspring can fly away to total independence. Parents will usually be involved in some form for support their complex special needs child even when they are no longer in their home.
If our plan goes according to our hopes, we will still need to arrange for and train inhome support staff , assure his medical and psychiatric care is continued, etc., etc., etc.
This weekend I was remembering the nine months Billy Ray spent in a residential treatment program to re-establish his medication regime and how I reacted to his absence. I did not know what to do with myself. Whether it was depression or just trying to catch up from years of sleep deprivation and stress, all I wanted to do was sleep for several weeks.
I was thinking about it this weekend. While I have no immediate plan to transition Billy Ray, I know that it is coming. It is time to preparing me while we are preparing Billy Ray. Preparation while he is still at home is not something I can actively work at but my thinking needs to be in that direction to avoid the sudden shock that occurred during his temporary placement.
Until tomorrow,
Peggy Lou Morgan
http://www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com/
http://www.lighthouseparents.com/
With a complex special needs child, even when they become adults, the empty nest is not quite the same as it might be for parents of whose offspring can fly away to total independence. Parents will usually be involved in some form for support their complex special needs child even when they are no longer in their home.
If our plan goes according to our hopes, we will still need to arrange for and train inhome support staff , assure his medical and psychiatric care is continued, etc., etc., etc.
This weekend I was remembering the nine months Billy Ray spent in a residential treatment program to re-establish his medication regime and how I reacted to his absence. I did not know what to do with myself. Whether it was depression or just trying to catch up from years of sleep deprivation and stress, all I wanted to do was sleep for several weeks.
I was thinking about it this weekend. While I have no immediate plan to transition Billy Ray, I know that it is coming. It is time to preparing me while we are preparing Billy Ray. Preparation while he is still at home is not something I can actively work at but my thinking needs to be in that direction to avoid the sudden shock that occurred during his temporary placement.
Until tomorrow,
Peggy Lou Morgan
http://www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com/
http://www.lighthouseparents.com/
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Planning for Your Complex Child as an Adult
I want to say a big thank you to ABC for their recent Nightline program about Adults with Autism. The spot gave good insight into the problem of transitioning adults with disabilities from a parents' home. The two adults they featured appeared to be fairly high functioning. The transition is even more difficult for lower functioning adults.
I watched the Nightline program with delight because I realized that my book, Parenting Your Complex Child (AMACOM Books Spring 2006) addressed the problem. Suggestions are given for creating a transition plan while a child is still in school so that IEP goals can be set to help him reach as much independence as can be reasonably expected. The final chapter takes estate planning from a different prospective.
As a former professional guardian, I have many times been left to wonder what common language in wills and trusts such as "to enable my child to live in the same standard of living maintained during my lifetime". If you knew the family or if the parent is available to explain the standard of living the child maintained that is great. However, many times the parent is either deceased or suffers from conditions such as Alzheimers which prevent them from being able to communicate their wishes.
Suggestions are made for how to use some of the same documentation used for communicating with doctors, educators, case managers and other even your child herself. An abbreviated history of treatment and development in contained in the documentation system which will be helpful not only during childhood but later in transition to adulthood. I did a visual to help Billy Ray understand the process of going to a certain buffet. Since caregivers occasionally take him to the buffet without me a text box was added with his favorite foods. Placing of copy of this visual used in everyday life now in the estate planning file you maintain answers the question where does he like to go and what does he like to eat. That information can be a big deal for someone unable to communicate it to a guardian or caregiver who doesn't know him.
Until tomorrow,
Peggy
www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com
www.lighthouseparents.com
I watched the Nightline program with delight because I realized that my book, Parenting Your Complex Child (AMACOM Books Spring 2006) addressed the problem. Suggestions are given for creating a transition plan while a child is still in school so that IEP goals can be set to help him reach as much independence as can be reasonably expected. The final chapter takes estate planning from a different prospective.
As a former professional guardian, I have many times been left to wonder what common language in wills and trusts such as "to enable my child to live in the same standard of living maintained during my lifetime". If you knew the family or if the parent is available to explain the standard of living the child maintained that is great. However, many times the parent is either deceased or suffers from conditions such as Alzheimers which prevent them from being able to communicate their wishes.
Suggestions are made for how to use some of the same documentation used for communicating with doctors, educators, case managers and other even your child herself. An abbreviated history of treatment and development in contained in the documentation system which will be helpful not only during childhood but later in transition to adulthood. I did a visual to help Billy Ray understand the process of going to a certain buffet. Since caregivers occasionally take him to the buffet without me a text box was added with his favorite foods. Placing of copy of this visual used in everyday life now in the estate planning file you maintain answers the question where does he like to go and what does he like to eat. That information can be a big deal for someone unable to communicate it to a guardian or caregiver who doesn't know him.
Until tomorrow,
Peggy
www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com
www.lighthouseparents.com
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