The Developmental Disability Association: Leisure Challenge Program (DDA-LCP) is an after-school drop-in program designed for teenagers with developmental disabilities (TDD) to develop social and life-skills.(1) Myself and my two other DHDP team-members designed two lesson plans for the TDD on Oral Self-Care and Nutrition, based on observations of the site, community assessment, and facilitator recommendations. Further, my team and I asked the TDD questions about what they knew about their oral health and what they are interested in learning about. From this information, our team structured lesson-plans to include an interactive mini-lesson, hands-on activities, SMART objectives, and an evaluation game. We designed our lesson plans to build on the foundation of knowledge on these topics and engage with the group of five TDD. The highlights from my experience at the DDA-LCP were developing rapport with the TDD and learning about the TDD from the facilitators and their guidance with our program development. Prior to my community engagement with the TDD at the DDA-LCP I had little experience with this population. Going into the DDA-LCP site I did not know how to communicate with the TDD and our team were faced with challenges regarding how to avoid making our lessons childish. As we spent more time with the TDD and facilitators we learnt that there is not a way of how to communicate with individuals with developmental disabilities. Instead, I realized that, as a health care provider, I communicate with the TDD population like I do any individual. Through our education at UBC, we learnt that people with developmental disabilities face barriers when accessing health care and are more vulnerable to caries, periodontitis, and other systemic health issues. (2,3) Moments of unlearning, are critical to providing care for people as sometimes our expectations limit the opportunities that we can gain from working and learning about how we can work together to promote health.

References:

1. Children and Youth [Internet]. Developmental Disabilities Association. [Updated 2018; cited 30 November 2018]. Available from: https://www.develop.bc.ca/programs/children-and-youth/
2. Whiteley AD, Kurtz DL, Cash PA. Stigma and developmental disabilities in nursing practice and education. Issues Meant Health Nurs. 2016 Jan;37(1):26-33.
3. Ziegler J, Spivak E. Nutritional and dental issues in patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities. J Am Dent Assoc. 2018 Apr;149(4):317-21.