TMP for the IDD COMMUNITY

It’s how you say it

When we met with Kenny, he was 22 years old and slated to return to an institution. He had been fending for himself since the age of 7. His mother died, and his long-haul trucker father did not care much for him. He was often left alone, and was ultimately abandoned by his father and step-mother. The first few months Kenny was with us were very hard—fits of rage, destruction of property, and self hatred engulfed him. We could only imagine how many times he was called stupid, because anytime he would get mad he would yell “I’m NOT stupid.” Over the months, we would make progress, but then Kenny would regress. To move Kenny from a disheveled, angry, and hopeless individual to a thriving member of a community, we leveraged a loving staff, a plan, and TMP’s collaborative person-centered software that made sure everyone had real-time data and training specific to Kenny and his needs.

First, we addressed his poor self-esteem. Kenny had been called stupid so much that his self-perception was shattered. To build Kenny up, we immediately sent to all staff that interacted with him a training program with videos of daily affirmations to share with Kenny. We collected data on which ones worked and documented incident reports anytime there was a behavior. By getting everyone aligned delivering the same message, we saw quick results.

Second, we found out what didn’t work. With data collected from the system, a story began to take shape. The data helped us quickly figure out that if we asked Kenny to do something, rather than telling him to, the response was 100% positive. We immediately sent out training to everyone, and no one told Kenny to do anything from that day forward. Instead of telling Kenny, “It’s time to brush your teeth”, we would ask, “Would you like to brush your teeth now or in a few minutes?” Outbursts dropped instantly! Our staff, leveraging our TMP toolset, performed a miracle. Today Kenny is thriving in the community with an “adopted” family that loves him and serves as his guardian.

Plants = joy

Dianna loves plants and nature. One of her biggest challenges was harming herself and verbally putting herself down. Her family of origin was abusive therefore leaving many scars to overcome. Through monitoring real-time reports with TMP, the behaviorist quickly realized that Dianna behaviors occurred in all locations with the exception of when she was in the greenhouse or working with plants. Upon further review of TMPs data the behaviorist discovered several important factors, two of the greenhouse staff were very affirming and made a point to express multiple affirmations on each shift. They equated her to a flower that was blooming and becoming more beautiful as time went on. The behaviorist expanded this encouraging approach throughout all points of care immediately by deploying a short training video to assure staff turnover did not impede the progress others were making with Dianna. Today she is literally a different person , a person filled with joy and hope! Our data with some thoughtful caring staff proved to be the key in unlocking Dianna’s dreams. We assigned Dianna a customer facing job in the greenhouse serving community members as they purchase plants . Now Dianna is blossoming and spends countless hours in the greenhouse working, teaching others her craft, and providing plants to local businesses.

TMP is very involved in The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) organization. It is a national, nonprofit trade association representing more than 1,600 private community providers of services to people with disabilities. Check out their events; we may even see you there!

TMP also supports the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) organization. AAIDD promotes progressive policies, sound research, effective practices, and universal human rights for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Learn more here and check out their publications.

Person-centered planning is a forum through which people join in intentional efforts to support, expand, and deepen the direct and visible contribution a person with a disability makes to community life. It recognizes, embraces, and celebrates the gifts of diversity and shared humanity. This ultimately leads to greater inclusion as valued members of both community and society.

Founded in 2008, Disability Scoop is the nation’s largest news organization devoted to covering developmental disabilities. With daily coverage of autism, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and more, no other news source offers a more timely and comprehensive take on the issues that matter to the developmental disability community.

The Association of Professional Developmental Disabilities Administrators is devoted to the support of administrators of ICF-IID residential programs as well as other individuals with interests in the field of intellectual disabilities and other developmental disabilities.

The vision of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) is a world with a highly qualified and professional direct support workforce that partners with, supports, and empowers people with disabilities to lead a life of their choosing. NADSP works to elevate the status of direct support professionals by improving practice standards, promoting system reform, and advancing their knowledge, skills and values, through certification, credentialing, training, professional development, and accreditation services.

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