Adults With Developmental Disabilities

We often see community members talk to and treat our adult consumers like children. Unfortunately, sometimes we see our staff members doing the same thing. And it kills me to see a parent do it. I am often asked, “What’s wrong with that? The consumer likes it.”

Are you seriously asking me why it is wrong to treat a 50-year-old man like a 5-year-old child? We are living with a generation of adults with developmental disabilities who have been treated as children their whole lives. These adults now don’t even have the perception of themselves as adults. Where is any motivation for them to act as adults? If we have few expectations for them, how can we be surprised when they “live up to” the expectations we do have? If the general public sees us treating them as children in the community, why shouldn’t they do the same? We are modeling behavior when we are in the community with consumers.

When one of your adult friends falls down, do you run over and say, “Oh, you fell down. Did you get a boo-boo?”

Never assume that an adult with a developmental disability prefers toys and games unless they have been presented with an array of age appropriate options and have been rewarded for their acceptance (reinforcement). Would the 50-year-old man who carries a teddy bear feel comfortable carrying a backpack? Is it the bear or just the comfort of holding “something?” When community members see him carrying a teddy bear, what are they to think… “Oh, look at the retarded boy with his bear. Isn’t it nice that he has staff people to care for him.” That community member just dug the hole a little deeper for the consumer.

Please, just because a person acts out a behavior at a 5-year-old developmental level doesn’t mean that they are 5 years old. It means that they haven’t been taught the communication skills to act any differently. How do we teach a person about respect if we don’t respect them? Our job is to teach them the skills to act out their behavior in a socially acceptable manner more appropriate for their actual age (replacement behavior).

Always remember that our job is not to stop “bad” behaviors, but to teach replacement behaviors. Those replacement behaviors should be age appropriate.

OK, this is all well and good to say, but how do we teach people age appropriate skills? That’s why we created the SNAP Curriculum. It was specifically designed to show new or inexperienced staff people how to address issues in an age appropriate manner for adults. There is lots of curriculum out there written for children, but no so much for adults. Let’s address adult issues in an age appropriate forum and an age appropriate manner and I guarantee that you will be surprised at the results.