Medical Training

GOAL/MISSION

Our goal is to help in empowering families to assist and care for their loved ones. Furthermore, providing medical training and expertise to the families. 

The training program’s primary purpose is to promote the independence of people with intellectual disabilities. 

ABOUT US

According to the CDC, 200 million people or 1-3% of the population in the United States have intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). Children in the United States often experience IDD, and the prevalence has grown recently in adults, due to longer life spans. In 2019, there were 7.39 million Americans who had IDD (National impairment Navigator Resource Collaborative). The prevalence of any documented developmental disability increased from 7.40% in 2019 to 8.56% in 2021.

The WHO offers a course on caregiver skills that focuses on teaching families of children with autism (2–9 years old) in underserved countries. This program emphasizes on providing caregiving and communication skills to the families. This is an in-person program, which also consists of an 8-hour long online course. Majority of the programs worldwide are solely dedicated to autism in children. However, there are different types of intellectual and developmental disabilities, though, and they include Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, Fragile X syndrome, and numerous other genetic and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. One of the categories of IDD is autism spectrum disorder. In addition, IDD is an increasing problem among teenagers and adults, in addition to children 2-9. 

While there are some DDA verified online medical training courses for direct support professionals, however, there are no thorough digital software/training programs for families of individuals aged 10 and above. Teenagers and adults with IDD have lack of access to proper care, leaving them permanently dependent on others. A training program for their families/guardians will help these individuals become self-sufficient and independent. Most of the IDD population is adults who are aging and suffer from several chronic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension and chronic liver diseases. This adds an additional financial burden on the families in future. Families rely on day programs, group homes and other IDD therapy schools, who they believe are better medically and socially trained to care for these individuals. Families have minimal to no understanding of healthy living and medical conditions that affect IDD individuals. Several medical diseases are assumed to be behavioral issues in the IDD population due to lack of their communication skills. The families are ill-equipped to comprehend the medical problems of their loved ones due to lack of knowledge regarding complex medical diagnoses. 

This is a digital training software for families of individuals with IDD. Our digital training program focuses on providing basic knowledge on social determinants of health, healthy eating habits, importance of physical activity, genetic disorders that result in IDD, behavioral issues in IDD, differences between different kinds of IDD, trauma informed care in IDD, depression & anxiety in IDD individuals, communication skills, healthy meal preparation, exercise program training, etc. This is a 2-month intensive in-person and digital training program that consists of 12 one-hour long online training sessions, 6 group sessions for families living in the DMV area, and 4 individual home lessons. Additionally, a free, open-access online collection of medical videos developed by doctors and mental health professionals is accessible around-the-clock.