How People with Developmental Disabilities Can Learn Life Skills

One of our primary missions at Hands of Heartland is to help people with developmental disabilities achieve levels of independence they and their families thought might never be possible. We believe not that they are disabled, but that they simply need to be shown the path towards their empowerment and the ability to lead their best lives, in whatever form that might take. In some cases, people we work with throughout the Bellevue community show an ability to take direction and over time execute basic life skills that help them achieve their goals of independence. Today, we’re going to talk about how our programs and our approach to care can help adults with developmental disabilities in Bellevue and the surrounding community grow and learn the life skills they need to succeed in day-to-day life .

Personal Hygiene and Self-Care

Independence starts with being able to take care of your own body in a way that allows you to be presentable and comfortable around groups of people. It also entails taking care of your physical well-being by eating healthy and taking part in activities designed to keep you healthy and fit.

These are all behaviors that we focus on and encourage in our continuous residential services and independent living arrangements between residents.

• We teach the need for maintaining a healthy diet through meal planning and helping them to participate in the preparation of meals
• We promote physical activity both in and out of the residence to build hand-eye coordination and improve motor skills.
• In the residence we teach the importance of personal hygiene and help them to learn how best to care for themselves by establishing routines that are easy to remember and carry out.

Interpersonal Skills

Often, adults with developmental disorders have difficulty interacting with others. In addition to the socialization and necessary negotiation and compromise skills they will learn as residents of our various levels of care facilities, our habilitative day services and community services programs are structured to expose participants to new experiences alongside people they might have never met otherwise, giving them the chance to build up their confidence in talking to and interacting with others as well as build up their communication skills. Further along, they might take part in our vocational programs which allow them to learn important collaborative skills.

Practical Life Skills

Across our community activities and in the preparation for participation in the supported employment program, we help people learn basic skills such as telling time, how to count out money to make purchases, and how to make a daily plan and stick to the schedule they’ve created. In addition to the independence this will instill, learning these skills will also establish a degree of responsibility and accountability.

Helping People Find Their Best Selves

As caregivers, the staff of Hands of Heartland are focused on creating impactful and meaningful moments for the adults with developmental disabilities under our care. Even the most intentional lessons we teach are structured in a way to help integrate what they learn into their every-day routine. Regardless if they’re residing in one of our facilities or attending a Create-Able event, we want to make sure that we’re always helping them to learn new life skills and steadily create the lives they want to lead. If you have a loved one that might benefit from our approach, don’t hesitate to reach out to learn more about the services we provide.