Sunday, November 03, 2019
Training
The biggest problem I see in the field of supporting adults with developmental disabilities is a lack of staff training. When I first started working, I was trained by current staff... who were really babysitters because they had only been trained by existing staff who were trained by...
No one had ever had any training in any form regarding supporting adults with developmental disabilities.
As I moved up in the organization, I was pleased that I was doing a good job continuing on with the fine work my predecessor had been doing... who had been trained by their existing predecessor... It took me a while to realize that none of us had any real idea what we were doing.
Two incidents took place that really brought this home to me. After I became the director of a day program within our agency, I got after a staff person who had spent an entire afternoon having the clients cut out paper chains. I pointed out that each client had a specific service plan detailing the specific skills that they were supposed to be working on. The staff person asked why they couldn't let the clients do whatever they wanted all day if that's what kept them happy. Other staff agreed with him. That's when I realized that my staff did not understand that we were a training program and not a babysitting service. Whose fault was that? We did no training, so it was my fault.
Another time, a staff person was talking to a care provider (which was against our rules - only Support Staff could have direct contact with care providers) and as I approached them, I heard my staff person assuring the CP that no matter what we said, he would make sure this particular client would be taken care of. I spoke with the staff person as I went over his subsequent disciplinary action for breaking our rules, and he assured me that he knew best how to care for the client. Again, whose fault was that? We provided no actual training on what we were doing and how to do it. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks later I had to fire that staff person for additional actions, so he never got any training.
When I asked my supervisor about training, she (and later a he) both said that our training was fine. When I pointed out that we had no training, I was politely told to go back to work.
That's when I started writing my own training materials. My staff loved it! Other program directors were ho-hum about the concept of training and I had no support from administration, so I just proceeded ahead on my own. My staff learned how to deal with behavioral issues which made their lives and the lives of our clients much easier. Staff also learned how to learn how each client learns things and then how to teach the appropriate skills (read that sentence again).
I beg you - if you are in a supervisory position, PLEASE get some training for your staff. If you are a line staff, PLEASE beg your supervisor for training. We are not a babysitting service!
Where do you get training materials? Yeah, there's the rub. I sell my training program. You can see it at www.mosscanyon.com. Just click on the Disability Resource button when you scroll down the home page.
Our agency did eventually provide an online training program, although I don't know where it came from. I do know it wasn't very effective because staff took it at their leisure, and it was set up where you were supposed to read some material and then take a test... but you could skip reading and just take the test, and if you missed too many questions, you could just take the test again, remembering what answers you gave last time. There was also no way to ask any questions if you didn't understand something. PLEASE find a training series that you can give live. If it's not mine, fine. Look around and find something.
No one had ever had any training in any form regarding supporting adults with developmental disabilities.
As I moved up in the organization, I was pleased that I was doing a good job continuing on with the fine work my predecessor had been doing... who had been trained by their existing predecessor... It took me a while to realize that none of us had any real idea what we were doing.
Two incidents took place that really brought this home to me. After I became the director of a day program within our agency, I got after a staff person who had spent an entire afternoon having the clients cut out paper chains. I pointed out that each client had a specific service plan detailing the specific skills that they were supposed to be working on. The staff person asked why they couldn't let the clients do whatever they wanted all day if that's what kept them happy. Other staff agreed with him. That's when I realized that my staff did not understand that we were a training program and not a babysitting service. Whose fault was that? We did no training, so it was my fault.
Another time, a staff person was talking to a care provider (which was against our rules - only Support Staff could have direct contact with care providers) and as I approached them, I heard my staff person assuring the CP that no matter what we said, he would make sure this particular client would be taken care of. I spoke with the staff person as I went over his subsequent disciplinary action for breaking our rules, and he assured me that he knew best how to care for the client. Again, whose fault was that? We provided no actual training on what we were doing and how to do it. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks later I had to fire that staff person for additional actions, so he never got any training.
When I asked my supervisor about training, she (and later a he) both said that our training was fine. When I pointed out that we had no training, I was politely told to go back to work.
That's when I started writing my own training materials. My staff loved it! Other program directors were ho-hum about the concept of training and I had no support from administration, so I just proceeded ahead on my own. My staff learned how to deal with behavioral issues which made their lives and the lives of our clients much easier. Staff also learned how to learn how each client learns things and then how to teach the appropriate skills (read that sentence again).
I beg you - if you are in a supervisory position, PLEASE get some training for your staff. If you are a line staff, PLEASE beg your supervisor for training. We are not a babysitting service!
Where do you get training materials? Yeah, there's the rub. I sell my training program. You can see it at www.mosscanyon.com. Just click on the Disability Resource button when you scroll down the home page.
Our agency did eventually provide an online training program, although I don't know where it came from. I do know it wasn't very effective because staff took it at their leisure, and it was set up where you were supposed to read some material and then take a test... but you could skip reading and just take the test, and if you missed too many questions, you could just take the test again, remembering what answers you gave last time. There was also no way to ask any questions if you didn't understand something. PLEASE find a training series that you can give live. If it's not mine, fine. Look around and find something.
