CHCDIS405AFacilitate Skills

development and maintenance

Mary Grigoriadis

OUR ROLE

The role of a social educator includes that of an educator fostering skill development.

For some clients, choice is a new or difficult concept & skills need to be developed.

Other clients who have acquired a disability through trauma, illness or through the ageing process may need assistance to maintain the skill they have & remain active in the community

OUR ROLE (cont)

The role includes working with your client to identify their individual goals and assess their learning and development needs.

Social role valorisation – suggests that if a person’s place in society is not valued, then that person is less likely to benefit from what society has to offer.

OUR ROLE (cont)

Person-centred planning – All clients should have an individual service delivery plan developed – to meet their own goals & objectives.

Job role and boundaries – you must check your job description, duty statement and your organisation’s policies and procedures.

Assessing client needs

Assessing a client’s skills development or maintenance needs involves four steps:

1. Setting individual goals2. Assessing what the clients need to be

able to do to achieve these goals3. Assessing what the client can already do4. Drawing up a skills development plan to

bridge the skills clients currently have and those required to achieve their goal.

TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS

Literacy, Numeracy Life skills Observation Specialised assessment tools Self assessment tools/checklists

QUESTIONS What is the difference between Informal

and Formal assessment processes?

What categories of people/professionals might be regarded as relevant others when assessing a skills development /maintenance needs when the person has a physical disability?

ANSWER

Advocate/s Carers/Family Disability social educators Employment officers Occupational therapists Teachers Programming staff

The chart on the following slide shows the range of strategies you may use to identify skills development or maintenance opportunities and examples for each of the skill sets.

Making referrals to other staff or specialist services

Life skills Vocational skills Social skills Personal support skills Developing and maintaining relationships, including

intimate relationships Maintaining physical health, including sexual health Safety

Make a list of various specialists used in this slide that can assist with skills sets

outside of your role.

Basic principles of good communication with examples of how you can apply them when interviewing your client to establish their learning goals

RespectTake time to establish rapportBe culturally appropriatePractice active listeningUse appropriate languageSummarise what has been arguedAvoid use of jargon and complicated languageListen rather than talkTry to understand what is important to the person who is speakingBe patient if the process takes a bit longerObserve body languageCommunicate non-verballyUse an interpreter if necessaryAsk if you can take notes

Identifying learning strategies to address the person’s goals

Following is a list of strategies social educators can use :

Role modelling Demonstration Skills component mastery Contextualisation Drama and role-play Peer education

Case Study

Tara, 24, became an amputee after losing her right arm in a car accident in which her partner was killed. Tara is undergoing rehabilitation and physically is managing well, but she has lost confidence in herself. As she says, she ‘feels deformed 'and that people stare at her as if she is a freak.

Tara identifies one of her goals as being able to mix socially with confidence once more. She discusses this with her social educator, Shirley, who suggests peer support may be useful. Shirley thinks if Tara gets to talk to other women who have lost a limb, she can overcome her negative feelings.

Discuss in pairs what additional strategies may be useful to Tara to achieve her goals.

ADULT LEARNING

To support learning, you need to take into account your client’s preferred learning style that is:

Visual Kinaesthetic Auditory Combination of all or some of the above

COMMON DE-MOTIVATORS

Your client is likely to loose motivation easily under the following circumstances:

COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES FATIGUE UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS RIDICULE OR SARCASM REPEATED FAILURE

Ensuring the skills development / maintenance plan is implemented consistently

Consistency – consistency means doing the same thing, the same way each time the opportunity arises, to reinforce the learning. For your client , this means having a regular program of planned, formal and informal learning activities and, wherever possible, having the same people working with them each time they engage in the learning activity.

Who should be informed about your client’s skills development plan

Family members Other social educators Recreational officers, lifestyle and leisure

consultants Physiotherapist or occupational therapist Dieticians Educational psychologists Teachers Development officers Employment officers Technicians

POLICES AND PROCEDURES

You need to be aware of your organisation's guidelines on the sharing of information. There are a number of policies you have to be familiar with including (but not limited to):

Privacy and Confidentiality Duty of Care and Dignity of Risk Informed Choice Record Maintenance

Assessing and using equipment and resources to facilitate learning

To effectively facilitate the learning of people you may find clients require adaptive equipment or technology to assist with their skills development.

Alternately, they may require extra resources or support to assist them to access learning opportunities that are already available to the general population.

To identify and access these resources for your client you need to:

Understand your client’s abilities and disabilities

Be familiar with all aspects of their skill development or maintenance plan

Understand current resources and technology and how these can assist your client

Know how and where to access these resources and equipment for your client

SOME DEVICES AND EQUIPMENT THAT MAY HELP

Communication devices – electronic communication device, communication board, spelling board

Fine motor skill assistance – note taker or page turner, nutrition and hydration support, ventilator, voice activated computer, continence aids.

Mobility devices – wheelchair, walking frames, slide boards, hoist, special taxi

For further information on these devices you can contact the Independent Living Centre or access: www.ilcaustralia.org

For people with Sensory or an Intellectual Disability

Vision Impairment – Braille, talking books, large-print books, adaptive devices such as talking clocks

Hearing Impairment – hearing aids, Auslan, TTY, interpreter, note-taker or scribe

Further information on these devices can be obtained at: www.visionaustralia.org or a deaf society in your state

Intellectual Disability – language and literacy support, teachers aide in the classroom, problem-solving assistance, assistance with life skills.

Maintaining records to demonstrate the person’s

achievements and to assist with monitoring and review of the plan

Once the skills development plan is drawn up, you must maintain it by recording and monitoring progress with evidence of achievement of expected learning outcomes.

This involves recording what you have observed the client perform.

Remember to: Document only what you have observed Quote the exact words that someone has told you State the number of times activity was performed and

under what conditions Sign and date all entries Consider a reward system like stars to show

achievement

How to notify people of changes to plans

Through the actual care plan Discuss with client and family Rosters Adjust policies where necessary Communication books File notes Staff meetings Training and information sessions Case management meetings

PROVIDING FEEDBACK

As a worker, in addition to monitoring the progress of the plan, you must also provide accurate feedback to your client or their advocate on this progress. The monitoring and feedback process can be formal or informal; you will find you use both methods.

FORMAL MONITORING – there will be a prescribed process to follow i.e. expected performance criteria to follow. An assessment will be planned and an assessment tool will be developed.

INFORMAL MONITORING – more often this method will occur i.e. through observation and providing feedback on their day-to-day progress.

PROVIDING FEEDBACK TO YOUR CLIENT

First you need to be familiar with your client’s skills plan. Your feedback should be accurate, constructive and non-judgmental.

Use the following principles: Make sure it is a suitable time and environment Ask your client how they think things are going, or what

help or assistance they think they may need Clarify performance expectations and discuss evidence of

achievement Keep advice constructive, focus on what they can do not

what they can ‘t do Listen and take in their response

PROVIDING FEEDBACK TO YOUR CLIENT (cont)

Use the ‘sandwich technique’ with praise, constructive feedback on what should be changed, then reiterate what they do well

Expectations and suggestions must be realistic and achievable

Use appropriate communication devices for nonverbal clients

Ensure body language is consistent with the message you want to communicate

Remember; the purpose of the feedback is to improve performance and progress towards individual goals.

PROVIDING FEEDBACK TO A CLIENT’S ADVOCATE

Seek your client’s permission to give feedback to the advocate and ask the client if they would like to be present.

Ensure the advocate is familiar with your role and with the client’s skills development plan

Inform the advocate of the purpose of your feedback Give the positive feedback first Provide constructive feedback on what needs to be improved,

with concrete examples of the client’s behaviour, success or failure to achieve performance expectations

Suggest how you may make changes to the client’s development plan

Provide a written report if requestedAcknowledge that it is the role of the advocate to work in the best

interests of the client, so ask for their opinion and treat it as a joint problem-solving exercise rather than as a briefing session

ACTIVITY In pairs or groups of three, practice

giving feedback to another person in that group. Each person is to have a turn.

You may want to give feedback on a particular topic e.g. How that person participates in class, or find a topic for yourself if you are familiar with that person.

WHEN TO REVIEW PLANS

The plan has a timeline for review and evaluation Periodic or annual review is part of the organisational

policy A request for review from the client, family member

or advocate An incident report was lodged by a worker in regards

to a hazard or risk Concerns by a worker who has observed changes in

the client’s emotional state, behaviour or skill level The request comes from other health professionals It is a requirement of the funding body paying for

services

IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES TO MAINTAIN AND ENHANCE SKILLS

Continuous practice of skills Ongoing support to continue skills Self-motivation and self-concept e.g. Life

skills, vocational skills etcWhen identifying learning opportunities the

best source of information may be the client themselves. In addition you could consult with other health professionals, clubs, associations, education institutes or employment agencies.

ACTIVITYCase studyPenny is 24 and has a mild intellectual disability. She

lives in a shared house and is competent with the use of money and with basic literacy skills. Penny catches public transport around the city and enjoys using trains, but has never been on a plane.

Penny decides that one of her goals is to go on a holiday to Tasmania to stay with her sister who now lives in Hobart. Penny says she wants to be able to learn to do this on her own so she can visit her sister every year and get to know her and her young family better.

ACTIVITY (cont)

In the plan provided, record the following aspects of Penny’s person-centred plan:

Learning objectives Performance expectations Criteria for achievement When formal training occurs Resources and equipment required Baseline assessment

In documenting these aspects of the plan for Penny you may choose to incorporate pictures, drawings or photos as well as using words.

INCIDENTAL LEARNING

Incidental learning is some form of indirect / additional / unplanned learning within an informal or formal learning situation. Dictionary Meaning

Incidental learning – occurs outside of the restraints of studying a structured program.

It is not separated from life experiences.

› Clients learn from you by observing what you do & how you do it

› They may ask questions › Or ask you to show them how something is done› Often they learn just through imitation

You may be the only person the client sees some days – major influence on what they see to be normal.

Using every possible moment as a potential learning experience, will benefit the person to whom you are providing a service

You may also need to contribute to the delivery or deliver a formal skills training session. However, even in a formal training session it is very important that you use your skills to engage others.

Many learning opportunities happen in informal settings and aren’t formally planned for.

You should take every opportunity offered to engage and contribute towards skill development that leads to greater independence and self determination.

 

Many of the services you provide for your client offer opportunities for Incidental learning. These include:

Personal Care Home care Recreation Vocational Employment Make a list of 2-3 incidental learning

opportunities that may occur from each of these experiences

STRATEGIES FOR INCIDENTAL LEARNING

Role Modelling Demonstration Skills Component Mastery –(breaking down

tasks) Contextualisation – (context in which skill is

applied e.g. Crossing with the lights – while on a main road. Washing your hands – when they are about to prepare food etc)

Drama and Role-play Peer Education

EXAMPLE

Patrick takes Bob to the football most Saturdays to watch his team play. Bob looks forward to the outing and knows many of the people in the cheer squad. Patrick and Bob always catch the train and Bob always watched Patrick buy the tickets and hand over the money.

One Saturday, while they are waiting on the platform, Patrick notices Bob is staring at the timetable on the wall. Patrick explains you use it to look up what time a train is coming. He demonstrates several times, moving his finger across the chart to follow the times. Patrick then shows Bob that the timetable for weekdays is different to weekends. Bob practices several times and is then able to show Patrick how to use the timetable.

TASK

In pairs, make a list of the other opportunities there would be for incidental learning when Patrick takes Bob to the football. Think about life skills and social skills.