An Independent Living Skills Training Program

The growing rehabilitation and consumer movement toward independent community living for disabled adults has placed new demands on the health care delivery system. Programs must be developed for the disabled adult that provide direct training in adaptive community skills, such as banking, budgeting, consumer advocacy, personal health care, and attendant management. An Independent Living Skills Training Program that uses a psychoeducational model is described. To date, 17 multiply handicapped adults, whose average length of institutionalization was 11.9 years, have participated in the program. Of these 17, 58.8% returned to community living and 23.5% are waiting for openings in accessible housing units.