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Fostering Self-Determination Principles Among Support Staff
 From the November 2002 Disabilities newsletter."Historically, we've been directors in the lives of people with disabilities and not facilitators," says Freya Koger, a research scientist at Lehigh University who serves as the director of Lehigh Support for Community Living, a disability services program. Dr. Koger emphasizes that disability service agencies need to change staff training methods in order to create an atmosphere that is truly person-centered, where staff allow the people they serve to make decisions about their activities. Teaching Skills to Staff "Program directors should provide ongoing support to staff," Dr. Koger says. Staff should be trained to recognize [communication] initiations and how to respond. "They need skills on how to embed choices throughout the day, such as choices within activities." She recommends a training model of direct observation and feedback. Often, an agency or program's training methods will have to change. "Our [traditional] training model may not address how to ask for clarification [from people being served] rather than assume you know what they want," Dr. Koger notes. Agency and program directors should also brainstorm with their support staff on how to problem-solve in challenging situations. For example, a person served by the program or agency might want to clean a particular object multiple times. The challenge for staff is how to balance their roles as facilitators with their desire to encourage appropriate behavior. In this case, staff might solve the problem by encouraging the person to clean additional objects, and not simply the same one repeatedly. Evaluating Progress Most important is to "create a climate where self-determination is welcomed," according to Dr. Koger. "Talk directly to the people we support." To ensure their agency or program is achieving desired outcomes, directors should make sure they are seeing an increase in initiations and a decrease in challenging behaviors among the people they serve. Surveying staff about their perceptions of self-determination is also important in the program evaluation process.
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