Diagnostic Manual for Intellectual Disabilities...

Diagnostic Manual for Intellectual Disabilities. Persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) have long been difficult to diagnose due to many of the criteria in the psychiatric manual, DSM, focusing on internal feelings (grief, self worth, guilt, etc.) and abstract concepts (contamination, grandiosity). In addition communication issues, unique expressions, and concrete expressions of abstract issues mean that persons with ID...

Coping with Family Stress in Caregiving...

Although support professionals may view parents as uninvolved or overly involved research shows that family involvement improves outcomes for persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD).  Many families find caregiving a positive experience. They report closer ties, personal gratification, spending time together, and community involvement. All families do face some challenges with… having enough...

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Mont...

What a great time to kick off a new blog raising awareness of developmental disabilities! March is developmental disabilities month enacted by Congress in 1987 and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. This is a great time to celebrate all our interdependence. One interesting article in the Chicago Tribune by Barbara Rose titled Performance of workers with disabilities as good as co-workers from January 2008 emphasizes...

Is Therapy for Grief Dangerous? The Science and th...

There has been some controversy on whether therapy for grief is at all helpful and possibly even hurtful. Grief is the normal reaction to the feeling of loss when a loved one passes away. Reports in 2000 and 2003 seems to indicate that a large percentage of persons who are “normal” grievers were actually harmed by participating in therapy. The research from this paper, while appearing very scientific, makes claims...