Transitioning From Life At The Center
To A Home In The Community

What makes a great placement?
What makes a great placement in the community? It's a person-centered plan focused on just that one individual. It's knowing that individual and what their abilities and disabilities are - and what their hopes and dreams are. It's interviewing with all the people who know that individual and who know what makes that individual happy or sad or how he or she reacts in sickness or in health. It's talking with that person's family and helping them chart the future for their loved one.

A plan to create "A Wonderful Day In My Life"
It's crafting together a plan to create "What A Wonderful Day In My Life" would be like - and matching that individual's plan to compatible people and then to the right place in the community.

A careful, involved process
As you might imagine, this isn't a fast process. Nor is it an easy process. It takes everyone working together - the family, the case managers, the doctors, the nurses, the direct care specialists, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, the transition specialists, the new community provider AND the individual. Why is it so involved? Because the more difficulty that someone has in living in the community, the more important a person-centered transition plan is in working out that individual's likes and dislikes and what pushes his or her buttons.

Determining the type of support needed
And what's equally as important is that the individual service plan that's created from this process defines the number and type of provider support staff that's needed as well as the other services that will be provided in the community to support our people with developmental disabilities. We want our folks to be successful when they move, and a key factor in their success is ensuring that they'll have the qualified, dedicated staff they need to support them and help them to thrive in their new environment.

Community living skills assessment
And while the transition plan is in process, we here at the Center will be working with that individual and preparing him or her for life in the community. We'll conduct a community living skills assessment and determine what that person knows and what they need to know in order to live successfully in the community. And then we'll work with them on learning those necessary skills.

Preparing for the future
At the Fort Wayne State Developmental Center, we believe that our mission is to help our people with developmental disabilities prepare for a successful future living in the community.