by Dannett Frey

Created on: December 26, 2008

There is an old saying that I take to heart; "Give a man a fish and he eats for today, Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime". I take this to heart each and every time I encounter a child or adult with physical or developmental disabilities or both.

I have seen firsthand a nine year old boy who "doesn't speak", no eye contact, and severe seizures, physically unable to use his hands, walk, or control his body enough to sit without a restraint holding him in a chair begin to communicate with this community support worker and her family. He began to speak in one and two word sentences, laugh at appropriate conversations, look for a second or two in the direction of the person speaking and following simple commands.

How did this occur? Not by introducing a new medication or believing he would begin to see things the workers way. The worker took the time to introduce skills and consistently follow the steps to accomplish the task. This worker took time to show real love, concern, consistency and breaking the steps down into steps this child could learn. A real connection occurred with this worker and child. He was able to learn very small tasks and communication. But he was able to learn. Will he be able to all that a typical nine year old would be able to do? No, but he will be able to live the fullest life he is able to live. And who can ask for more than that from anyone?

A community support worker is someone who works with the physically or developmentally disabled child or adult on a regular basis in order to teach, assist or rehabilitate the person with the skills necessary to accomplish as many of the activities of daily living as possible. This means the worker will have to find out how much the person can do on their own and begin from the next step, not do all for the child or adult who is disabled.

It is unfortunate that most parents, staff and other professionals will do for the child or adult instead of assisting them in what they can't do and praising them for what they can do on their own. It is often times easier and quicker to do for them than to wait for the child or adult to accomplish the task on their own.

A 43 year old woman with moderate mental retardation was being taught how to identify her colors. The staff had been going over red, yellow, green, blue and orange with this lady and she was getting frustrated. Her long term memory was only slightly better than her short term memory. The staff was repeating the colors, using flash

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