NDIS funding focuses a lot on capacity building, and we often see that there has been limited capacity building, due to the wrong supports in place. Skill instruction for people with disabilities is a specialist skill. It cannot be assumed that support workers have the necessary skills and experience to achieve learning outcomes for people who as adults have not yet acquired important living skills.
In the last two weeks we have looked at:
- Stage 1 , designing a teaching program, &
- Stage 2, putting the program into action.
Today we are talking about Stage Three – Review and Monitoring
This super important step helps you to reflect on what worked, what didn’t and what can be done better or differently in the future.
It is important to know for people with disability, skill acquisition and retention can take long periods of time but there will be incremental gains and these should be celebrated by the team. Reviews need to occur with the person and support workers.
This stage includes reliability testing or questioning of staff in relation to the program to ensure staff are following program as much as possible, but also for program designer to note any feedback, suggestions for practice improvement and monitor the individual’s behavioural responses in the learning environment.
It is really exciting to see adults gaining completing tasks that they value and lead to greater independence and social outcomes.
I recommend you start small and have reasonable expectations and trust your learner and those that know them.
Question to consider, are your support workers helping you to build skills in the areas of your choice?
