New Horizons Un-Limited Inc. New Horizons Un-Limited Inc.The following two guides are available through The ARC of the United States. To access these guides, you will need to have an on-line account with the ARC and login to their website. Creating an account is free. If you decide to create an account and login, go to On-Line Community: Publications on the ARC website to access the guides.
A Family Handbook on Future Planning
The ARC of the United States wrote this guide to help families develop a future plan for their sons or daughters with cognitive, intellectual or developmental disabilities that provides personal, financial and legal protections for these individuals after the parents either die or can no longer provide care or support. It is not designed to be a “do-it-yourself” guide to will writing, trust development and other legal processes. Instead, it will help families review and inventory the needs and strengths of their family member, determine what should be in a plan and then locate qualified professionals and resources to finalize the plan.
The ARC of the United States has developed comprehensive, state-specific Family Resource Guides, offering information on benefits, supports and services for families raising children with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities. Compilation of this information is dependent on states providing appropriate data, and not all states have done so. Other states will be added as their information is made available.
This guide, published by the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs offers information to brothers and sisters of people with disabilities and special needs and provides suggestions for helping them face unique concerns and challenges.
Planning for the Future: Family First
April 30, 2002
Many families, when faced with disability for the first time can be consumed with grief and despair, overwhelmed by the prospect that their family life may never return to "normal." Often, families are so consumed with "dealing" with disability, that they forget to take proper mental and emotional care of themselves. High levels of stress can quickly lead to burnout, disallowing families to properly plan for the future of their family member with a disability. This article, written by New Horizons Un-Limited staff, is the first of a series, designed to offer families of people with disabilities a tool in combating the negative feelings and roller coaster emotions often associated with disability. In reading this article you will be introduced to the basics of coping with stress and ways in which you can prevent burnout. It will further outline ways in which you can ensure that your family's uncontrolled stress levels do not prevent healthy life stage transitions.
Planning for the Future: Ensuring Opportunity
June 28, 2002
When families discover a close family member to have a disability, mourning and despair can prevent them from grasping the reality of the event and therefore hinder the development of a proper transitional plan. Parents finding themselves without the necessary resources in place as their child ages will be forced to make rash decisions, thereby limiting their child's development.
An additional issue arises for aged parent caregivers who do not realize that at some point in the future they may no longer be able to care for their children in the capacity that is required. This will only lead to inadequate planning, causing their child, once grown into adulthood, to be left with nowhere to turn but the state social system, already overrun with growing waiting lists.
In both situations, despair and frustration can be avoided if parents have access to the resources, services and legislative information needed to properly plan for their family's and their child's future. This guide, written by NHU staff, is the second in a series designed to remind all families affected by disability that proper planning is the key to ensuring opportunity for your family member with a disability. It will also offer an introduction to each transition for which families must prepare, offering resource suggestions throughout.
Planning Today for Your Child's Tommorrows
This guide, written by the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (SCDDSN) is designed to guide you, the parent, through the issues involved in developing a lifelong plan for your son or daughter with a lifelong disability. These issues include identifying your and your child's goals and preferences, developing a plan for the future, analyzing your financial situation and protecting financial resources, exploring financial resources available to your child and protecting your child's rights and interests.
This online course, discusses some new ways to teach students to be more independent. Many students who are making the transition from school to adult life have not developed the skills they need to make decisions, complete work assignments, or be assertive on their own. This course will teach you how to promote students' self-management and self-determination skills in order that these students may increase their independence as they leave high school and enter their adult lives. While this course does not necessarily focus on students with disabilities, there are very practical suggestions that can be applied to anyone. Lessons include: Using the Internet for Education, Promoting Student's Self-Management and Self-Determination Skills, Teaching Self-Management and Self-Determination Skills, and Increasing Students' Choice and Decision Making. This is an excellent for all parents of persons with disabilities throughout the United States.
Where am I going? How will I get there? A guide to Creating Your Future Through Transition Planning
This handbook, created by the Statewide Independent Living Council of Hawaii, is designed to help you, the student, gather information you need, participate in creating your future, and making decisions about the directions your life will take. It is intended to serve as a resource for students and families in participating in the development of the transition portion of the student’s Individualized Educational Program (IEP).
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