Maintenance

Lyn's annual ISP review was today.  Each year, they try to set three new learning goals for her to achieve over the year.  When Lyn was asked what goals she wanted to set for herself, the response from her was just a blank look.  She didn't understand what they were asking.

Mom asked if new learning goals could be omitted from this year's ISP because of the difficulty Lyn is having remembering how to complete tasks she already knows.  As an example, several times a week now, Lyn will call out to Mom "Would you be happy to make my bed for me?"  Mom always agrees to do it, hearing the frustration in Lyn's voice.  When she goes in, she can tell Lyn has tried to make the bed.  She's tried and it just doesn't make sense.  When she gets frustrated, she asks Mom for help.

Mom explained that the frustration is increasing in frequency.  Learning something new is impossible at this point.  Trying to introduce a new skill would be an exercise in frustration and that leads to a bit of an aggressive attitude.

It took a couple of minutes for Lyn's team members to realize what Mom was saying.  From their perspective, the state says the client has to have three new learning goals and they were trying to keep to the state's guidelines.  Finally, one of her case managers responded with "Well, they don't like the term 'maintenance', but in this case I think our best option is to just maintain Lyn's current skills."

This decision was shared with the staff at day hab.  They agree that it is a sound decision for Lyn.  For her day hab plan, they will just carry last year's goals forward into the new year.  They have documented changes they notice with her.  At day hab, for example, they are tracking her scores on the game Memory and on her bowling.  They are also tracking how well she accomplish the same task on different days.

As a result of the ISP review today, Lyn is officially in maintenance mode.

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