RESOURCES
Understanding OPWDD
Image: Katherine Hoey
What services does the OPWDD offer?
There are three types of benefits applicable to New Yorkers under the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities. All information on this page comes from the OPWDD's website.
1. Day Services
2. Care
3. Tools and Technology
DAY SERVICES:
Programming that depends on an individual's disability level and interests.
1. Community Habilitation
Hourly Community Habilitation services are habilitation services that are provided to individuals who do not reside in a residence which is certified or operated by OPWDD. Community Habilitation services can be delivered at any non-certified location, including the individual's home. Supports include adaptive skill development, assistance with activities of daily living (hands-on), community inclusion and relationship building, training and support for independence in travel, transportation, adult educational supports, development of social skills, leisure skills, self-advocacy and informed choice skills, and appropriate behavior development to help the individual access their community.
2. Day Habilitation Services
Day Habilitation services are habilitation services that may be provided to an individual regardless of his or her living environment, and regularly take place in a non-residential setting, separate from the individual’s private residence or other home. As with Community Habilitation services, Day Habilitation services can assist individuals to acquire, retain or improve their self-help, socialization and adaptive skills, including communication, travel and other areas in adult education. Activities and environments are designed to foster the development of skills and appropriate behavior, greater independence, community inclusion, relationship building, self-advocacy and informed choice. Additionally, individuals accessing day habilitation often contribute to their communities through volunteer work.
3. Prevocational Services
Prevocational services address the individual’s vocational interests. They assist individuals who are interested in joining "the world of work" but whose skills are such that they may not expect to obtain competitive employment within the next year. The individual may or may not perform work for which he or she is paid while receiving prevocational services. Prevocational services include support and training related to the ability to obtain and retain employment, excluding training on job tasks per se.
CARE:
A variety of programs to help improve behavior and skills as well as assist families of people with developmental disabilities.
1. Family Support Services
If you have a developmental disability and live at home with your family or have a family member who is eligible for OPWDD services who lives with you, you will want to know about Family Support Services. OPWDD’s Family Support Services (FSS) Program helps families who are caring at home for a relative with a developmental disability; providing aid to the caregiver, enhancing family stability and preserving family unity.
2. Individual Supports and Services
Historically, Individual Supports and Services (ISS) assist adults with developmental disabilities who wish to live independently by providing funds to pay for housing costs, and on a limited basis, for such things as food, transportation and clothing. In late 2010, ISS was restructured, and is now a housing subsidy calculated based on an individual’s income and Housing and Community Renewal (HCR) payment standards.
3. Intensive Behavioral (IB) Services
Intensive Behavioral (IB) Services are short-term (6 month) services that focus on developing effective behavior management strategies for individuals whose challenging behavioral issues put the individual at risk of placement in a more restrictive residential setting. While not a crisis intervention program, this program does teach the individual, families and other caregivers how to respond to and deal with those challenging behaviors that might otherwise result in admission to a hospital or psychiatric center. To be eligible for IB Services, the individual must live in his/her own residence or a Family Care home and must be enrolled in the Home and Community Based Services Waiver.
4. Respite Services
Respite services provide temporary relief from the demands of caregiving, which helps reduce overall family stress. This often enables families to better meet the needs of their loved one with a developmental disability. Respite can be provided in the home or out of the home, during the day, evenings or overnight. Respite is an “indirect” service that provides relief to individuals who are responsible for the primary care and support of an individual with a developmental disability. When a family member, Family Care provider or live-in/house-parent staff person has to deal with such things as illness, emergency, and caregiver or staff vacation, respite services can ensure that their loved one’s needs are met.
TOOLS AND TECH:
To assist people in living more independently.
1. Assistive Technology (Adaptive Devices) and Environmental Modifications (Home Accessibility)
Some examples of adaptive devices are aids, controls, appliances, or supplies - of either a communication or adaptive type - which are necessary to enable a person to increase or maintain his or her ability to live at home and in the community with independence and safety. Assistive Technology includes, but is not limited to: augmentative communication aids and devices, adaptive aids and devices, and vehicle modifications.
2. Article 16 Clinics
These OPWDD-certified treatment facilities provide clinical services to individuals with developmental disabilities as well as to those caregivers and other support staff whose participation in the service is deemed necessary to maintain the effectiveness of the treatment, enable the individual to remain in his/her current residential setting and enhance the individual’s quality of life. Services, provided at a main clinic or satellite site by appropriately licensed/certified practitioners, may include the following:
rehabilitation/habilitation services (e.g., physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, speech and language pathology, social work);
medical/dental services; and
health care services (e.g., nursing, dietetics and nutrition, audiology, podiatry).