The task of Their Grief part 4
Guidelines to help Individuals with Developmental Disabilities through the Grieving Process
Tell the person that the death or loss has occur
Adults with developmental disabilities should participate as full citizens in the community
They must not be denied the opportunity to learn about life and death events that affect them immediately.
Allow them the full range of human experience
They will be prepared to cope with the loss if they learn about it in a direct way.
Some suggestions for telling an Adult with Developmental Disabilities about a loss of someone close.
Identify a person who is close or at least known and is familiar with the adult to break the news about the loss.
.
Carefully choose the initial statement and the setting where the person is told about it.
Explain the loss in a way that maximizes the person's ability to understand.
Do not worry too much if you happen to say something in a manner that wasn't perfect.
Allow and encourage the person to share his or her feelings.
If grief response seems overwhelming to you the care provider then you should seek professional help for the individuals with developmental disabilities that experience the death, or someone close to them, and may have an opposite response. They may also appear to be calm, and may not want to talk about the loss. Adults with developmental disabilities would benefit from having someone who will initiate conversation about the loss.
It is a good idea however, to force the person that had the loss to talk to you about the subject, instead, offer them the chance to talk with you about it on their terms when ever they can which may be over a period of time, lasting at least several months.
One reason people avoid talking about a death is because they do not know what to say or what to do. They feel helpless and know they cannot solve the problem. You are not there to solve a problem, but can comfort someone who is going through emotional pain.
You can listen, give a hug and or hold a hand, do an activity that was done previously by the person that left or died, so that the person with the developmental disabilities is not alone, and reassure him/her that someone will be there for them in the future. Remember that grief process takes time, the length of time people grieve is individualized, and last longer that most people expect.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
People with Developmental Disability
This is part three in the series
The Task of Their Grief Process
People often try to protect individuals with developmental disabilities from harsh realities of life and death, for fear that they will be affected by death or loss of someone close to them, we must understand that they do not live in a vacuum but see and maybe hear what is around them. In some ways that may have been left out of a family gathering and rituals surrounding death, such as funerals, viewing of the body as well as their own grief.
As a care provider working with developmental disabled I have seen the fallout of behavior problems all this happened when a staff member died, and some of our consumers were not allowed to attend the funeral rituals, they moved into a new residence and they were disruptive behavior, it was not until this individual was asked if he wanted to visit the grave site that his behaviors began to diminished, this happened (visits to the grave) occasionally and now that he had gone through the grieving process he back to his old self.
In general individuals with developmental disabilities have fewer social support systems than people without disabilities most do not marry or have children, and have limited opportunities to develop friendships. Older adults on the other hand have experienced multiple losses over the years, such as residential transitions, losses of friends with whom they have lived with, staff turn over, and changes in job and vocational settings. If a person dies that was the primary care provider of the adult with developmental disabilities many losses may occur all at once.
Grief can become more complicated when someone experiences several losses. Individuals may not know how to deal with their losses, they may not have been around death before or had training that would enable them to understand better what occurred.
Most individuals need some form of life long support, especially if it was provided by the person that died, to that individual the future may appear very frightening, the death can increase fear that others in this bereaved persons life will die soon or leave.
The Task of Their Grief Process
People often try to protect individuals with developmental disabilities from harsh realities of life and death, for fear that they will be affected by death or loss of someone close to them, we must understand that they do not live in a vacuum but see and maybe hear what is around them. In some ways that may have been left out of a family gathering and rituals surrounding death, such as funerals, viewing of the body as well as their own grief.
As a care provider working with developmental disabled I have seen the fallout of behavior problems all this happened when a staff member died, and some of our consumers were not allowed to attend the funeral rituals, they moved into a new residence and they were disruptive behavior, it was not until this individual was asked if he wanted to visit the grave site that his behaviors began to diminished, this happened (visits to the grave) occasionally and now that he had gone through the grieving process he back to his old self.
In general individuals with developmental disabilities have fewer social support systems than people without disabilities most do not marry or have children, and have limited opportunities to develop friendships. Older adults on the other hand have experienced multiple losses over the years, such as residential transitions, losses of friends with whom they have lived with, staff turn over, and changes in job and vocational settings. If a person dies that was the primary care provider of the adult with developmental disabilities many losses may occur all at once.
Grief can become more complicated when someone experiences several losses. Individuals may not know how to deal with their losses, they may not have been around death before or had training that would enable them to understand better what occurred.
Most individuals need some form of life long support, especially if it was provided by the person that died, to that individual the future may appear very frightening, the death can increase fear that others in this bereaved persons life will die soon or leave.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)