Equipping States to Meet the Needs of People with IDD
Overview
States struggle to ensure adequate support services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Outdated policies, lack of coordination across programs, and limited workforce capacity and training are just a few of the barriers public health agencies face as they try to serve people with IDD.
Ready to overcome these challenges, Connecticut, Ohio, and Rhode Island turned to Altarum. Altarum provided the research, recommendations, best practices, and implementation support to help these states modernize their systems and improve outcomes.
Meeting the Challenge
At the project’s onset, each state faced a unique set of challenges.
- Connecticut needed to identify regulatory language that could inadvertently hinder the effective delivery of IDD services. This included developing and evaluating statutory definitions of IDD and evaluating level-of-need assessment tools.
- Rhode Island sought systemic changes to its direct care workforce system to meet required standards for providing integrated employment and day services for Rhode Islanders living with developmental disabilities. It needed strategic interventions to improve recruitment, training, and retention of certified IDD direct service workers.
- Ohio sought to create new training for supporting young people with IDDs, particularly in areas such financial literacy, to foster independence as they transition to adulthood.
Our Approach: Collaborative, Hands-on, Sustainable
We pride ourselves on our ability to partner effectively with state agencies, advocacy groups, and others to create holistic and person-centered support systems.
We helped states reframe their approach to IDD services, prioritizing individualized support, skill development, and self-sufficiency for impacted populations. At the same time, we strengthened their workforce. In short, we gave state agencies tools, guidance, and support to better serve their citizens with IDDs. Our hands-on collaborative approach led to sustainable improvements in each state.
Connecticut: Modernizing Policy for Inclusive Service Delivery
In Connecticut, we worked closely with state officials to evaluate their policies and ensure they aligned with best practices. By law, the Office of Policy Management had to refine statutory definitions and regulations related to IDD service eligibility. Our team provided critical research and recommendations about opportunities to change statutory definitions of IDD and potential impacts to the state and impacted populations to guide these reforms, ensuring alignment with best practices and improved access to services.
Rhode Island: Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce
Partnering with Sage Squirrel and other local organizations, we helped the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals develop a scalable and sustainable workforce strategy for recruiting, onboarding, training, and retaining direct support professionals to meet the needs of people with IDD across the state. This involved conducting a survey to understand gaps in current training available to direct service professionals employed by agencies and individuals who self-direct their services.
Our approach recognized and addressed both historical and current workforce challenges, helping ensure that people with IDD and their families receive the support they need to fully live their lives.
Ohio: Empowerment Through Training and Resources
In collaboration with the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, and in consultation with members of the IDD community, we designed financial and literacy training programs that could support skill building in youth with IDD who were transitioning to adulthood. We focused on equipping youth and students with tools they could use to navigate adulthood and financial independence. By doing so, we help them cultivate autonomy.
The trainings were well received by participating youth, and our team was able to share the training content and information with transition-supporting professionals across the state. Recordings of the trainings were built into Ohio’s Community Life Guide website to ensure access to even more youth and support professionals.
Our Impact: Stronger Support, More Autonomy
Our work delivered tangible, sustainable improvements:
- Connecticut: Our evaluation of potentially outdated policies lays the groundwork for the state to pursue innovative approaches to IDD policy and improve service delivery and access. Connecticut is on track to be one of the first states to remove standardized IQ testing from their IDD requirements.
- Rhode Island: We helped develop a strengthened workforce strategy to encourage direct service workforce retention, which led toward more stable and effective care. Our collaboration with local partners helped us identify feasible and sustainable approaches that will allow these support systems to continue even after Altarum’s direct involvement ends.
- Ohio: The training module we developed (Community Life Guide | Financial and Digital Literacy) has given young people with IDD the tools to manage their finances and make informed decisions about their future, supporting autonomy and independence. “The response from participants was overwhelmingly positive,” Helen Dawson, Project Manager, Altarum, says. “They appreciated having engaging and useful resources that they could access on their own.”
Looking Ahead
Altarum remains committed to helping these and other states modernize and expand services for people with IDD. Through advanced technology and innovative practices, we will continue to improve the quality of life for this population nationwide.
“It's encouraging to see this renewed commitment to improving IDD services,” says Bethany Houpt, LTSS Project Manager, Altarum. “States have long struggled to anticipate and meet the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Connecticut, Ohio, and Rhode Island are paving the way for broader transformation.”