Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living". Developmental disabilities can be detected early on and persist throughout an individual's lifespan. Developmental disability that affects all areas of a child's development is sometimes referred to as global developmental delay.
"The normalization principle means making available to all people with disabilities patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to the regular circumstances and ways of life or society." Normalization is a rigorous theory of human services that can be applied to disability services. Normalization theory arose in the early 1970s, towards the end of the institutionalisation period in the US; it is one of the strongest and long lasting integration theories for people with severe disabilities.
Self-advocacy is the act of speaking up for oneself and one's interests. It is used as a name for civil rights movements and mutual aid networks for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The term arose in the broader civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and is part of the disability rights movement. Today there are self-advocacy organizations across the world.
Supported living or supportive living refers to a range of services and community living arrangements (CLAs) designed with individuals with disabilities and their families to support disabled citizens to attain or retain their independence or interdependence in their local communities. Supported living is recorded in the history of the NASDDDS, celebrating its 50th anniversary. Community Supported Living Arrangements (CSLA) was a landmark federal multi-state demonstration to illustrate the federal role in community living in the US. Supported living is considered a core service or program of community living programs funded through federal-state-local partnerships.
Best Buddies International is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It consists of volunteers that create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The program's main purpose is to allow volunteers to be paired up with a buddy with an intellectual and developmental disability and provide them with a friend or a mentor. Best Buddies is the world's largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with IDD. It is an international movement that has spread to over 54 countries worldwide.
The Council on Quality and Leadership is a U.S. organization which provides accreditation and training for agencies providing services for people with intellectual, psychiatric, and developmental disabilities. It was established in 1969.
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. It is defined by an IQ under 70, in addition to deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors that affect everyday, general living. Intellectual functions are defined under the DSM-5 as reasoning, problem‑solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from instruction and experience, and practical understanding confirmed by both clinical assessment and standardized tests. Adaptive behavior is defined in terms of conceptual, social, and practical skills involving tasks performed by people in their everyday lives.
Paul Wehman is a professor of counseling and special education at the School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University. He also is Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center.
The Family Movement, also known in the past as the Parent Movement, is an arm of the disability rights movement, a larger social movement. The Family Movement advocates for the economic and social rights of family members with a disability. Key elements include: social inclusion; active participation; a life of meaning; safety; economic security; accessibility and self-determination. The family movement has been critical in closing institutions and other segregated facilities; promoting inclusive education; reforming adult guardianship to the current supported decisionmaking; increasing access to health care; developing real jobs; fighting stereotypes and reducing discrimination.
Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID), formerly known as Intermediate Care Facilities for Mental Retardation (ICF/MR), is an American Medicaid-funded institutional long-term support and service (LTSS) for people with intellectual disabilities or related conditions. Section 1905(d) of the Social Security Act enacted benefits and made funding available for "institutions" for individuals with intellectual or related conditions. According to federal law 42 CFR § 440.150 the purpose of ICD/IIDs is to "furnish health or rehabilitative services to persons with Intellectual Disability or persons with related conditions."
The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale is a psychometric instrument used in child and adolescent psychiatry and clinical psychology. It is used especially in the assessment of individuals with an intellectual disability, a pervasive developmental disorder, and other types of developmental delays.
Michael Lee Wehmeyer is the Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor in Special Education in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas. His research focuses on self-determination and self-determined learning, the application of positive psychology and strengths-based approaches to disability, and the education of students with intellectual or developmental disabilities. He is Director and Senior Scientist at Kansas University's Beach Center on Disability. He formerly directed the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities.
Gunnar Dybwad (1909–2001) was an American professor and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities. He is best known for his support for the social model of disability, reframing disability accommodations as a matter of civil rights, not medical treatment. The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities gives out the Dybwad Humanitarian Award annually in his honor.
Sakineh Simin M. Redjali (Persian: سکینه سیمین رجالی; born 1934 is an Iranian–American psychologist and author. Simin Redjali was the first female professor of National University of Iran.
Steven Reiss (1947–2016) was an American psychologist who contributed original ideas, new assessment methods, and influential research studies to four topics in psychology: anxiety disorders, developmental disabilities, intrinsic motivation, and the psychology of religion.
National Core Indicators (NCI) is a collaborative effort between the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), ADvancing States and the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) in the United States. The purpose of the program, which began in 1997, is to support state human services systems to gather a standard set of performance and outcome measures that can be used to track their own performance over time, to compare results across states, and to establish national benchmarks.
Intellectual functioning refers to the "general mental ability that includes reasoning, planning, problem solving, abstract thinking, comprehending complex ideas, learning quickly and learning from experience". Significantly limited or impaired intellectual functioning characterizes intellectual disabilities.
H. Carl Haywood was an American psychologist who researched motivational influences on learning and development, intellectual and cognitive development, cognitive education, learning, neuropsychology, and dynamic/interactive assessment of learning potential.
A Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional, often referred to as a QIDP for short is a professional staff working with people in community homes who have intellectual and developmental disabilities and was previously known as a Qualified Mental Retardation Professional or QMRP. The change in terminology was implemented after the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) modified the State Operations Manual Appendix J - Guidance to Surveyors: Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities The changes were implemented after President Obama signed Rosa's Law.
