Long at the national forefront of providing human services to the disabled, the government entity recently described by the New York Times as “among the most innovative in the country,” the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, or OMRDD, has sprouted another innovation: its new Intensive Behavioral Services, or IBS, pilot program.

“The point of IBS is this: There are some consumers who live with families and present with severe behavioral challenges and they can’t keep them in the home,” explains Dr. Alan Blau, PhD, Hamaspik’s staff psychologist.

The new program will aid the families of individuals residing in non-certified settings or Family Care homes, Dr. Blau elaborates, allowing parents or caregivers at home to “take a situation that’s not viable and make it viable.”

“Waiving” away special difficulties

The IBS program is the OMRDD’s newest entry in its existing suite of Home/Community-Based Services, or HCBS, Waiver programs, many of which have been offered by Hamaspik for over two decades.

Moreover, because IBS is a pilot program in field-testing phase for at least the next six months, OMRDD was highly selective in accepting initial program providers. Applicants of the notably competitive Request for Proposals, RFP in industry jargon, were carefully scrutinized for sufficient expertise, capability and staff credentials.

In its Hudson Valley DDSO region, the state agency eventually awarded approvals to a mere four agencies, opening only 60 consumer slots. Hamaspik of Rockland County was one of the four.

The demographically concentrated Brooklyn DDSO, with its high percentage of special-needs consumers, likewise was given 60 slots to be divided among four qualifying agencies—one of which was Hamaspik of Kings County.

Training and gaining

In late May, the OMRDD conducted several IBS training sessions throughout the state, allowing qualifying agencies from every DDSO region to become fully acquainted with the new program.

To assure the best possible practices and outcomes for future IBS consumers, four Hamaspik Supervisors found themselves on May 25 in the company of nearly three dozen peers from several upstate DDSO regions at a major full-day training conference. That conference was hosted by the Taconic DDSO office in upstate Poughkeepsie.

The following day, Hamaspik of Kings County At Home Services Director Joel Brecher and Dr. Blau attended an IBS training session for the OMRDD’s several downstate DDSO regions, including Kings County. The day-long training, held at the Bernard Fineson DDSO offices in Queens, drew between 30 to 40 participants from qualifying agencies, according to Mr. Brecher.

Led by the OMRDD’s Anne Swartwout and Jill Pettinger, PhD, both trainings had voluntary
agency staffers getting up to speed on the program’s ins and outs, learning about service documentation, qualitative guidance, individual authorization and billing and fees.

The day-long training sessions, which revolved around several PowerPoint presentations, also allowed industry peers and acquaintances to meet, socialize, connect and share experiences.

The two OMRDD leaders have shared professional relationships with several Hamaspik personnel over the years. In a lighter moment at the New York City-area training, that background came to light as Dr. Pettinger, fielding questions after a PowerPoint display, called upon Hamaspik’s Dr. Blau by asking, “So, Alan, what do you say?” as smiles broke out all around.

Coming away from the training, Hamaspik MSC Supervisor Moshe Sabel felt that the new IBS program will indeed empower Hamaspik to do things that until now it could only hope for. “It will allow for us to help the parents learn how to deal with a behaviorally-challenged kid,” he noted.

In that light, Mr. Sabel added, the program specifically requires administrating agencies like Hamaspik to demonstrate that the consumer’s home situation is approaching the point of unmanageability.

Holding down the fort

The Intensive Behavior Services program will provide up to 25 hours of professional behavioral support services over a six-month period to the family members or Home Family Care providers of qualifying individuals with severe behavioral challenges.

Beginning with an initial meeting with consumer families and the subsequent creation of a Behavioral Management Plan (BMP), Hamaspik’s staffers will instruct families and providers in parenting and behavioral management skills and will provide ongoing coaching as necessary.

Management skills to be provided to caregivers depend on what the problem is. They may include encouraging positive behavior, extinguishing negative behavior and meeting consumers’ various needs in adaptive ways.

Dr. Blau points out that negative behavior on consumers’ parts may be purposeful. “They may not be getting their emotional needs in the right way,” he says. “For instance, consumers do a lot of things for attention.” That’s why the program will fortify caregivers with concrete plans to understand underlying motives behind problems, and how to effectively and positively counteract them.

Most importantly, the IBS program’s assessment and behavioral plan will equip caregivers with all the tools necessary to keep consumers where they most belong: at home.

The program, which will be officially kicking off July 1, is expected to help the budget-conscious state trim social-services expenses by keeping consumers in private homes, not placing them in state-funded IRAs.

The approval was secured through the noteworthy efforts of Hamaspik Special Projects Coordinator Mrs. Brenda Katina, staff psychologist Dr. Blau, Hamaspik of Rockland County Director of Operations Yoel Bernath and Hamaspik of Kings County Executive Director Joel Freund.