[acb-hsp] Diagnosing Developmental Disabilities

[J.Rayl]

Hi.  Chances are, if this lady has not been diagnosed with developmental disability by now, it does not exist.  In any event, she needs a psychological eval. for this DX to take place.  And, the only advantage therein is that it would open the door to other, possible, resources--Medicaid Waiver, etc. if you all have another set of services for DD clients versus blind.  
Personally, it sounds as though this is personality / depression to me, and if she wants your services, she needs to accept your terms; otherwise, she does not.
I cannot imagine she has likely falling through the cracks with a DD DX all these years.  Stranger things have happened, I suppose but ... <smiles>
Generally, folks receive DD even if / when they are not.  Especially the older population because "back then" that's pretty much what they called blind / mental illness--if she had both then.

Good luck!
Jessie Rayl
thedogmom63 at frontier.com
www.facebook.com/Eaglewings10
www.pathtogrowth.org

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Darla Rogers 
  To: 'Discussion list for ACB human service professionals' 
  Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 8:02 PM
  Subject: [acb-hsp] Diagnosing Developmental Disabilities


  Hi Everyone,

   

  I haven't worked a lot with adults who had diagnosed developmental disabilities--our TANF clients were given a brief IQ tests and some other things and if their IQ as evidenced by the test results--they were deemed eligible for VR services under our TANF grant.

   

  I am working with a 62-year-old consumer who, even in my limited MH counseling experience, has depression and asserts she has a personality disorder, panic disorder and claims she is developmentally disable, though I personally don't see that, but she is determined to have an evaluation for developmental disabilities.  Even if, on the off chance she has them, what can really be done at this point?

   

  It appears to me she wants to be cared for; she has a husband, but their relationship isn't good, I'm guessing, partly because of all her physical and emotional ailments--she asserts she also has bursitis, arthritis, GI problems; stenosis (which, if any of you don't know, is just a narrowing of the vertebra that surround the spine.

   

  She appears to have no goals either except wanting to live back in the country which, as an ILC, we can do little to help her achieve that, and I believe she is using us as a social outlet, and once our VR contract is signed, we truly won't have the time--and most of us don't have the expertise to do mental health work.

   

  She has been to several mental health facilities in the area, so I'm hoping she keeps her promise and signs the release; that way, we might have an idea whether or not we can really assist her.

   

  She does not follow through, at all, and as a depressive myself, I understand that one very well, so I tried breaking it down into small tasks--Call X and check on Y this week--next week Call y and ask about X--but she does none of these things, and as an independent living center, it is our job to help clients be empowered to help themselves.

   

  Anyway, after the novel:  I want to know any advantages of a late-in-life diagnosis of developmental disability; she claims she was beaten and otherwise abused as a child, but my sense is something else is going on with her, and I want to make sure she is getting the best referrals possible.

   

   

   

  Darla J. Rogers

  djrogers0628 at gmail.com

   



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  acb-hsp mailing list
  acb-hsp at acb.org
  http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-hsp
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.acb.org/pipermail/acb-hsp/attachments/20120802/78ab15b0/attachment.html>