Abstract
Many individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) have co-occurring mental health needs, yet service delivery options often do not allow for the integrated delivery of mental health treatment and social behavioral support services. Siloed treatment approaches often result in lack of collaboration between providers, increasing the difficulty in accessing comprehensive and coordinated treatments and reducing treatment potential and effective outcomes. Additionally, many service providers in behavioral support services are not trained to address significant mental health needs; similarly, providers of mental health services lack experience in modifying practices for differing cognitive needs. The lack of cross-training and cross-collaboration makes it difficult for an individual or family member to access appropriate treatment, sometimes resulting in crisis situations when coordinated, comprehensive interventions are absent. This paper discusses the need for delivering services in a coordinated model, presents a pilot program model in detail, highlights the relationships needed for collaboration, and addresses the importance of inclusion of the person with lived experience in overall treatment planning. Outcomes of the pilot model are presented, including description of a case study of a youth with both IDD and co-occurring mental health conditions who made functional improvements in response to an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach despite failure of multiple previous siloed interventions. Implications for policy development and community-based partnerships are discussed.
Plain Language Summary
People with developmental disabilities sometimes have mental health needs. When needs are not met, people struggle to live meaningfully in their homes and communities. This paper discusses the importance of having professionals, such as doctors and therapists, work together so that good plans can be made to support all the person’s needs at one time. The importance of having the person with the disability and their family members at the table for all planning and goal setting is talked about.
The model that was built and covered in this paper is called the Intensive Team Consultation (ICT) model. The ICT process is explained and includes information about the team members that participated, how often the team would meet, what type of information the team would collect and review, how the team would come up with ideas for supporting the person with a disability, and how the team would make sure that the plan was working to help the person and their family meet their goals.
Several pages of this paper give an example of a person named Eric that the ICT helped. Eric was 15 years old and had a learning disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and he was anxious and depressed. Eric was hitting his mom and he hated going to school. The team worked together to help teach Eric’s mom how to be happy and positive with her son. The team also helped Eric learn new skills about how to calm down when he was upset and how to talk to other people to get what he needed. By the end of ICT, Eric was no longer hurting his mom, he was doing online school, and he even got a great job.
The last part of the paper shares some thoughts about why working together is important and what made ICT successful. The ICT model works best when the whole family is willing to participate, when the professionals on the ICT can work together, and when the goals and needs of the person with a disability are at the front of all plans being made.
The model that was built and covered in this paper is called the Intensive Team Consultation (ICT) model. The ICT process is explained and includes information about the team members that participated, how often the team would meet, what type of information the team would collect and review, how the team would come up with ideas for supporting the person with a disability, and how the team would make sure that the plan was working to help the person and their family meet their goals.
Several pages of this paper give an example of a person named Eric that the ICT helped. Eric was 15 years old and had a learning disability, autism, and he was anxious and depressed. Eric was hitting his mom and he hated going to school. The team worked together to help teach Eric’s mom how to be happy and positive with her son. The team also helped Eric learn new skills about how to calm down when he was upset and how to talk to other people to get what he needed. By the end of ICT, Eric was no longer hurting his mom, he was doing online school, and he even got a great job.
The last part of the paper shares some thoughts about why working together is important and what made ICT successful. The ICT model works best when the whole family is willing to participate, when the professionals on the ICT can work together, and when the goals and needs of the person with a disability are at the front of all plans being made.
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Recommended Citation
Greenwald, Ashley; Ryst, Erika; Thorkildson, Diane D.; and Brown, Lauren
(2024)
"Interdisciplinary Treatment Approach to Youth with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities and Co-occurring Mental Health Conditions,"
Developmental Disabilities Network Journal: Vol. 4:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
DOI: 10.59620/2694-1104.1096
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ddnj/vol4/iss1/8
Included in
Applied Behavior Analysis Commons, Disability and Equity in Education Commons, Disability Law Commons, Disability Studies Commons, Mental Disorders Commons, Social Policy Commons