Day Care of Individuals with Special Needs - Essay Example

Name Institution Place of placement Date Abstract Disability is a general term that covers restrictors to participation, impairments and limitations to activities. If the body has a problem in its structure or function, then it is impairment (Robert P. Marinelli, 1999). When an individual finds it difficult to undertake on a task that would have otherwise been easy, then that is activity limitation; while difficulty by an individual in the involvement of life situations is participation restriction. Impairments may range from physical, cognitive to sensory depending on a certain group’s standard norm. Disability occurs during birth or during the lifetime of an individual (Birenbaum, 1999). In this study we are going to look at personal experiences from a disability department of a day care recreational center. We will be also addressing what goes on in the center and what should be addressed that is not being addressed. We will also monitor the growth and development of these individuals with respect to the clinical experiences, not withstanding the positive and negative effects of any, of these experiences and aspects. We will also consider looking at the obstructions to learning in these centers, and what actions should be undertaken. A re-evaluation will be done to sum up the findings of the study, and any necessary items to be re-addressed. This study hopefully, will address the areas that have not been addressed in these disability recreational day centers and that it will aid in the improvement of such centers. Journal on clinical experiences in a day care facility Day care services aids adults over the age of 16 years, and having disabilities to develop new skills and improve on their independence with activities including cooking, and taking care of their personal health and nutrition, the development of their personal and social skills and teaching them to access community services such as public toilets, banks, etc (Gates, 2006). Day care services also help such adults to prepare for work by offering development of numerical skills and literacy. Common skills are also developed or improved and pre-vocational training is also offered in these day care centers (Clarke-Stewart, 1993). The requirements for placement into a day care center include a mandatory age limit of 16 years or older, if they are of the age of 65 years or older, they should be better suited to fit into day care as opposed to aged care, and finally the individual should have an intellectual, sensory or physical disability or should have acquired brain injury (Clarke-Stewart, 1993). The clinical experience was an opportunity to get to know better how to deal with individuals with special needs both psychologically and physically, and how to address to their problems. The type of assistance an individual who has been placed in a day care facility depends on an individual’s preferences, difficulties and the ultimate goals they aim to achieve, in relation to the kind of support and assistance they wish to receive. Another part of the clinical experience will involve ensuring that the individual meets with personnel from the adult services department who will ensure that the proper criteria is followed to ensure that the right assessment is made to figure out the provisions necessary to be made (John W. Jacobson, 2005). Day services assist in connecting the disabled individuals with the community in a manner that would have been otherwise difficult or impossible to achieve by provision of transport. Day services also dispel the misconception that the community has towards the individuals with special needs and improve awareness against the discrimination of these individuals (Robert P. Marinelli, 1999). Some of the needs that I noticed need to be addressed during my clinical experiences were the fact that the day care that I was in didn’t take into consideration the individual needs of the patients. The patients were attended to in groups and this made it difficult for them to air their personal problems. It is important that these people with special needs have their problems addressed on an individual level, to add that personal touch (Birenbaum, 1999). From all the experiences I went through on a daily basis with the patients with special needs, I realized that I had to cater to the individuals’ needs on a personal level. According to what I have read, dealing with such individuals on a personal level helps them deal with their problem better as they realize that they are actually cared for (E. Belle Evans G. S., 1975). There is an instance in which there was an individual who was unable to see, and I was able to interact with her. Her name was Allison, and she was blinded in a car accident, at the age of 15. She at the time of our interaction she was 19 and was still unable to cope with the loss of her sight. Talking to her and listening to her proved to be helping her psychologically, as she felt connected to me and I could equally feel connected to her. I also learned from my experiences that taking care of such individuals requires much patience, as they have special needs and they cannot be compared to normal individuals. These people with special needs are to be treated special, with care not to make them think that you are being discriminatory. My clinical experience enabled me to learn that in the medical model of disability like in the case of Allison, where the disability is due to trauma, the management of the disability is aimed towards curing or an adjustment to the behavior of Allison that would lead to a state of almost cured. The clinical experience also led me to understand that disability is a problem created by the society and a collection of several conditions set forth by the social environment. It is thus in the management of these people, that the collective responsibility lies upon the society as a whole. Some of the important features that I learnt from my clinical experiences were the determination of these individuals to be self reliant in most of their duties. They strived to ensure that minimal support was accorded to them and they even considered themselves as normal human beings capable of undertaking any task that other normal people could do (Robert P. Marinelli, 1999). Inclusion was the only thing missing in this facility, due to the fact that it only catered for people with special needs, but none the less, these individuals acted like they were all normal. They were involved in sporting activities for example; there was a blind sport, that the players would use a ball that had a constant beep within, to enable them to detect the ball by sense of hearing. They then would throw the ball to each other and the scores would be tallied on the basis of misses. The feeling of belonging and being connected to the goals of others was a very important feature that I observed and these individuals were really keen in ensuring they were self-reliant despite the odds. There were positive aspects during my time at the day care facility. I was able to learn first hand, and not from a book some of the theories that I had already acquired from class and books. I was also able to put into application some of the techniques that I had mastered in class and able to see their final outcome. Despite the positive aspects of my clinical experience, it is hard to ignore the negative side of it. Some of the bumps that I encountered during my visit to the day care facility included the fact that these individuals still had a feeling of being stigmatized by the community. This made it difficult to some level to really get to interact with them on some personal level. Choice of words around these individuals was very important. Joking about “Did you see last night’s program?” would be a good example of a bad way to crack a laugh with a blind individual. Also not being used to being around such individuals gave me a feeling of pity for them which I believe should not be present for a professional such as myself. It is my job to help them, instead of being pitiful which on the other hand is least helpful. These negative aspects proved to be the obstructions to my learning experience since it made me have a more careful and hands-off approach to certain situations which I now believe is not the best thing to develop my experiences (Robert P. Marinelli, 1999). Looking back at the experience, I realize that day care is really important to individuals to special needs since it helped them improve on their confidence and self esteem, besides providing them with daytime activities and training them in various skills. It was also an opportunity for me to take part in the bettering of lives of these individuals, and in the process be able to learn a few things that we as human beings take for granted. Works Cited Allan H. Goroll, A. G. (2009). Primary Care Medicine: Office Evaluation and Management of the Adult Patient. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Birenbaum, A. (1999). Disability and managed care: problems and opportunities at the end of the century. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Clarke-Stewart, A. (1993). Daycare. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. E. Belle Evans, B. S. (1971). Day care: how to plan, develop, and operate a day care center. Miami: Beacon Press. E. Belle Evans, G. S. (1975). Designing a Day Care Center: How to Select, Design and Develop a Day Care Center. Miami: Beacon Press. Gates, B. (2006). Care planning and delivery in intellectual disability nursing. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. John W. Jacobson, R. M. (2005). Controversial therapies for developmental disabilities: fad, fashion, and science in professional practice. New York: Routledge. O'Connor, A. B. (2006). Clinical instruction and evaluation: a teaching resource. Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Priestley, M. (1999). Disability politics and community care. New York: J. Kingsley. Robert P. Marinelli, A. E. (1999). The psychological and social impact of disability. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Read More