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Disability Information

The Right Drug Treatment Center Will Include Health and Medicine Options

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Medication, Rehab | Posted on August 22nd, 2010

Do you, a family member or a friend need of drug or alcohol treatment and are in search of a drug treatment center or facility? Finding the right facility can seem to be a daunting task and if you are really not sure of the needs, can become confusing.

When starting your search it’s a good idea to narrow your list of search criteria for treatment centers. Here are a few items that should be addressed:

• How severe is your condition? Centers with detoxification services may be the best bet for severe cases of drug or alcohol addictions.
• Are you handicapped or have any special needs? Do you require a special diet? Do you have any special needs? Are you handicapped in some way? Have you been eating vegetarian-only meals? These are important things to consider and ask about when talking with drug treatment facilities.
• What is your budget? Does your insurance help with the cost? This is an important factor that is often uncomfortable to address. But it will help narrow the search.

There are several answers to questions that need to be received about potential treatment facilities. Answers to the following questions can help with the decision-making process.

• What is the cost and length of stay?
• How long has the facility been in operation?
• What are the credentials of staff members and what is the patient-to-staff ratio?
• How does that facility involve family members?
• Is the facility accredited and licensed by the proper health and medical organizations?
• Is detoxification available?
• Are there follow-up programs or post-stay treatment?

The location of the potential facility is also another consideration. Studies indicate that if the patient is located far away from negative influences there is a better chance of recovery. If there are patients with children, a closer facility might be a better choice.

Special Education Teachers and the Turnover Rate

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Rehab | Posted on August 10th, 2010

There is a growing question in the early and elementary education system. The question is that with all the cut backs school districts are making and all the layoffs that are occurring how come there is so much turnover in the Special Education field of teaching? Where aren’t Special Education teachers hanging onto their jobs longer and why aren’t schools keeping them around? This question has several answers and no one answer is true of all school districts.

The easy and most obvious answer is money, the Bill Consolidation. While students with special needs are always going to exist there are not as many special needs students as there are children without special needs. This of course means that when push comes to shove there are going to be cut backs for the demographic with the least number of students. With programs such as full inclusion into the classroom there is a growing need to hire teachers who have a background in both regular education and special education. This, coupled by a para-professional(someone who is there to assist the teacher in lesson planning) allows for a lesser number of teachers who are only trained in special education.

Another reason for such a high turnover is a difference in philosophy between the Special Education teacher and the administration itself. The methods to deal with students with special needs is ever changing and there are many times where there is disagreement. One of the reasons is on the idea of full inclusion. Many of those in the special education field do not agree with full inclusion and yet the school district has made a decision to implement it. Of course there are also times where full inclusion is supported by the teacher but not practiced in the district. This of course is an important difference in teaching philosophy and can result in the severing of a business relationship.

Easy Steps for Dealing with the Wheelchair

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Disability Care, Rehab | Posted on August 5th, 2010

One of the more difficult things to do when dealing with a newly disabled person in your life is finding a way to accommodate them in your home. When you first bought your home you never envisioned it would have to be equipped for your loved one who is now going to be using a wheelchair for the long term. But life changes and so does the circumstances.

Dealing with a wheelchair in the home is not only an emotional and mental adjustment but in order to do it right it is a financial adjustment as well. But sometimes it’s not easy to make all the adjustments necessary at one time so sometimes you have to improvise. A few simple steps can make your home wheelchair friendly and without hurting you too much in the pocket book.

Adding a rail to the bathroom can be a quick and painless fix. You can go to a local hardware store or a home medical supply store and find a metal rail which you could install in your home for under 30 dollars. All you will need is an electric drill. You can place a rail by the toilet and on the inside of the shower.

Moving products on shelves to a lower location is easy and doesn’t necessarily require any other tools. Simply removing useful items from the top of cabinets and putting them underneath counters or on counter tops can create a comfort for your disabled loved one by making everything they need in the home within reach.

If you are going to make adjustments then you might need to accommodate for the stairs. If your loved one used to occupy a bedroom upstairs then you might want to do your best and swap rooms in order to keep them on the level floor. This can be a big sacrifice for everyone involved but it can make the ease of living with a wheelchair improve. A few simple adjustments and you can make a tough situation much more manageable and comfortable for your loved one.

Transitioning into Long Term Care

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Medication, Rehab | Posted on August 4th, 2010

When you have spent a very good amount of time taking care of a loved one who is disabled, it can be very difficult to transition out of that role. One of the big reasons for that transitioning is when your loved one is put in a long term care facility. This happens because it makes the best sense for their quality of life long term to be in a place where there is long term care but the adjustment for you and the loved one can be very difficult.

One of the hardest things to transition out of is the routine. That’s why when a loved one is put into long term care there is a tendency to make promises that are difficult to accomplish. For instance, you might tell your loved one that you will be sure to visit everyday but what happens is the function of your life changes and it becomes difficult to get out to see them everyday.

Do not feel guilty about this. There is no shame in letting your life take a new form and finding that there are new things to fill your day. You gave a long time to the care and comfort of someone else and now it is time to make your own life and no one, not even your loved one in question, should fault you for that.

The goal is to not make unrealistic expectations with your loved one. It would be hard for someone to visit every single day unless they are at a retirement age. You are best making the reasonable goal of visiting once or twice a week with another once or twice a week phone call. It’s easier to live up to a reasonable plan and make that loved one happy, rather than try and live up to an unrealistic plan only to disappoint. If you are direct and honest your loved one with at the very least have to respect your honesty. It’s a difficult transition for both of you but it’s clearly for the best and that’s all that matters.

Setting Expectations for Hiring a Family Friend

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Medication, Rehab | Posted on July 23rd, 2010

If you have been entrusted, or taking on the responsibility of caring for someone you love you know there is the need for a significant amount of outside help. Sometimes this comes in the form of a clinically trained professional and other times it comes from the help of an outside family or friend.

If you have make the decision to go with the latter then you may be doing it for a number of reasons. Perhaps you like that you can go with a friend of the family because it’s someone whom you know and feel an instant trust with. Perhaps you have went a family friend because it’s someone your disabled loved one feels comfortable with or perhaps it’s because you see that there is some money to be saved by going with someone who doesn’t have the medical training. For whatever reason you need to make sure you both are on the same page about how to care for the loved one in question. Being on the same page is paramount to ensuring everyone’s comfort level.

Make sure you are all aware of what the exact level of care you expect. Write out a list if you have to marking down every responsibility that needs to be met. It’s important that the newly hired care giver is aware. This will save you from a disagreement later on about what the confines of their job are.

Make a list or explain to them what a typical day should look like. It’s important that they understand what a day should be because it gives them direction on their job. It might seem a little formal but it also might be best to have a written agreement signed by both of you on what you expect and what they should expect from you. Make sure this has everything from sick days, vacation days, policy about calling into work. Remember, you are their employer now and so you need to give them some of the same guidelines as any other job. Being honest and upfront will save you stress later on.

The Detractors of Full Inclusion

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Rehab | Posted on March 10th, 2010

Full inclusion into the classroom for special needs children is not a new development in the world of education. This is where kids who have special learning needs due to a physical, mental, or behavioral handicap are infused into the same classrooms where children without such limitations are educated. There is an instructor that is present at all times for these kids, also known as a special education teacher who is responsible for giving them an individualized education program or an IEP. This is so that the kids can learn the same subjects at the same time as other kids but have it modified to fit their special needs.

The thought behind the full inclusion is that kids will feel less alienated and socially awkward if included with the general population of students participating in the same daily activities. However this is not supported by everyone in the education system. Full inclusion certainly has its detractors.

For instance there are a number of people who believe that full inclusion hurts the learning of special needs children. The argument is that kids with special needs should be pulled out of the classroom to be taught individually. Having kids who learn at a slower pace cannot be expected to keep up in a traditional classroom setting. Even with IEP’s being used a kid still needs special, individual attention.

The other argument is that full inclusion doesn’t eliminate a kid’s social awkwardness. A special needs student in a general population classroom will have his differences and limited capacity for learning on display for other students to see. Some also believe that because these special needs students know they need extra help and special attention it makes them feel more awkward and more timid in asking for help or making the effort to learn at all. Full inclusion, some believe, can be a bigger obstacle for a student who already has a difficult time learning. With so many school districts deciding to go with full inclusion this appears to be a hot button issue that should continue for years to come.

Full Inclusion in the Classroom

Posted by admin | Care & Support, Medication, Rehab | Posted on February 10th, 2010

There are more than a few developments that are happening in this country in regard to treating special needs children in the school setting. Education is constantly changing and so is the role of children with learning disabilities in the normal classroom. One of the growing practices in treating and servicing special needs children is that of full inclusion of these children into the regular classroom.

Full inclusion in classrooms is where kids with mental disabilities such as Autism and Downs Syndrome operate within the same classrooms as those kids who are of normal functioning intelligence levels. This is a departure from older methods of handling special needs children. In the past kids were placed in classrooms with children with similar challenges. In many school districts kids are being put into the same classrooms where special needs teachers are placed in the same setting with regular teachers.

There are many in favor of full inclusion. They see it as a golden opportunity for kids to learn amongst others their own age. One of the big challenges special needs children face is that they feel different when they are at school. In the past being shuffled into a special classroom being away from their peers often made them feel socially awkward and in many cases allowed kids to treat them awkwardly and occasionally be mean to the kids.

By placing kids in a classroom where they are allowed to participate in normal school activities and be a part of the everyday environment these kids often feel better about their place among their peers and the hope is that it allows for the other children to feel good and comfortable amongst them as well.

The presence of a second, and specifically trained teacher, helps in making sure that while the special needs children are involved in normal school activities that they are still on track academically. This is done by creating an Individualized Education Plan where the same subjects are studied by modified to meet the needs of children with learning disabilities.