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Current Initiatives
Current Initiatives
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Current Initiatives
IDS is proud to be involved in a number of programs that seek to provide assistance to individuals with intellectual disabilities. You can learn about the current initiatives below. Click the link to access each initiative’s web page with even more information.
Communication Champions
Well, of course everyone communicates . . .right? But as we know, not everyone communicates using words. Even then it’s hard to understand what someone is trying to communicate. And isn’t that really the definition of communication?
Learn more about the Communication Champions program
Employment 1st, Employment Now!
“Employment 1st, Employment NOW!” focuses on core values, beliefs, tools, strategies, tips, and techniques, that will move employment forward in our region. The emphasis is on current legislation and how they will impact employment services in Philadelphia and beyond.
Learn more about the Employment 1st, Employment Now! program
LifeSharing
LifeSharing is an alternative living arrangement that places individuals with intellectual disabilities in Philadelphia of all ages within a caring household designed to provide a supportive environment to facilitate community integration and individual enrichment. LifeSharing is recognized as both a close personal relationship and a place to live. LifeSharers offer individuals the opportunity to be part of a family, and to participate in community life.
Learn more about the LifeSharing program
Transition Services
Transition Services
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Early Intervention
The Philadelphia Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program is an entitlement program for infants and toddlers between the ages of birth to 3 years of age. Anyone can make a referral to Early Intervention. All referred children will receive a developmental assessment, and many will also receive a multidisciplinary evaluation. All eligible children will be assigned a service coordinator, and all Early Intervention Services are delivered at no cost to the family.
What You Need
The following information is needed in order to make a referral to the Infant Toddler Early Intervention program:
- child’s first and last name
- parent’s first and last name
- parent’s address and phone number,child’s date of birth
- child’s gender
- the medical assistance number (if receiving MA)
- and the child
- Social Security number (if known)
At-Risk Tracking
Children who are evaluated and determined not eligible for services may be eligible for at-risk tracking if they meet the following criteria:
- birth weight under 3.3 pounds
- NICU graduate
- elevated blood lead level
- substantial abuse or neglect
- born to chemically dependent mother
- experiencing homelessness
Children who are followed in the “at-risk” tracking program receive regular developmental screenings until age three. A case will be opened for every child who meets any of the at-risk criteria.
Children who are ages 3-5 that have developmental delays are served in the Preschool Early Intervention Program. In Philadelphia this program is called Elwyn SEEDS. To make a referral to the Elwyn SEEDS program call 215-222-8054.
Visit the IDS Resources Page to learn about the additional array of resources available for children with intellectual disabilities.
Children’s Services
Children’s Services
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Children’s Services
DBHIDS understands the earlier we provide supports, the faster we are able to provide professional care as a community, and assist children in participating in their communities. We do this by partnering with city agencies, including the criminal justice, housing, school, and child welfare systems, as well as the general public with behavioral health issues, the faster we are able to provide professional care as a community.
This requires paying attention to social determinants of health, which include the availability of support, experiences of trauma, access to behavioral health care, educational and economic opportunities, and the social and physical environment. We do this by partnering with city agencies including the criminal justice, housing, school, and child welfare systems, as well as the behavioral health treatment system and the general public.
Early Intervention Services
The Philadelphia Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program is an entitlement program for infants and toddlers between the ages of birth to 3 years of age who have or are at risk for having a developmental delay. IDS coordinates this program in Philadelphia County and reports to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Child Development and Early Learning who also provides the funding for this program. Anyone can make a referral to Early Intervention and all referred children will receive a developmental assessment and many will also receive a multidisciplinary evaluation. Eligible children will be assigned a service coordinator and all Early Intervention Services are delivered at no cost to the family.
Learn More About the Infant Toddler Early Intervention Program
Transition Planning
The purpose of Transition Planning for individuals with an intellectual disAbility, is to facilitate a successful transition for young people from school to adult life. While it is essential that transition planning occur for all students 14 and older, there are things families can do to prepare their child for a successful transition throughout the various stages of their lives.
Learn More About the Various Resources Available
Visit the IDS Resources Page to learn about the additional array of resources available for children with intellectual disabilities.
Eligibility
Eligibility
Getting Started
Getting Started
Adult Services
Adult Services
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Adult Services
Philadelphia Intellectual disAbility Services is an administrative entity under contract to Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to administer services in Philadelphia. IDS works with service providers to offer quality supports and services so individuals will have choices in their lives, meaningful relationships, and participation in their community as valued citizens.
Waiver Services
In addition to supports coordination, if determined eligible for the waiver, services include but are not limited to: home and community habilitation; adaptive equipment; behavior and other therapies; habilitation services; and residential, respite, employment, and day services. For further information you can access the complete list of service definitions available from the Pennsylvania Home and Community Services Information System. Services for individuals are reimbursed by the Pennsylvania state treasury, primarily through the Medicaid waiver, a provision of the Social Security Act. A limited amount of resources may be available to individuals not in the Waiver.
What You Need to Know
- There may be waiting lists for Waiver services, but all eligible individuals receive supports coordinator services at no charge.
- If you are not eligible for Medicaid waiver services, you will be helped to find other community services.
- If you are not registered to vote, you will be offered the opportunity to complete an application.
- It is important for all eligible individuals to register with Intellectual disAbility Services if he or she wants to receive services and supports.
Learn more about how to get started in accessing Adult Services.
Find out if you are eligible for IDS’ services.
Visit the IDS Resources page to learn about the array of resources available for adults with intellectual disabilities.
Calendar and Events
Calendar and Events
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My City, My Place
Philadelphia Intellectual disAbility Services (IDS) is an administrative entity under contract to Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to administer services in Philadelphia. IDS works with service providers to offer quality supports and services so individuals will have choices in their lives, meaningful relationships, and participation in their community as valued citizens.
We at IDS keep the emphasis on ability, rather than disability, and so we use the big “A” and little “d” on our letterhead, signage, and websites. As part of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Srvices, our acronym is DBHIDS.
Respect and dignity towards all our citizens is one of the ways a great nation will be judged. The Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services is pleased to support the growing movement to eliminate stigma, and stop using the r-word.
People and their family members want to have an everyday life that is typical of the general population, and Philadelphia DBHIDS supports these values. To learn more about the Values, Beliefs, and Guidelines of Philadelphia IDS, use the links below.
IDS Events
You can keep track of IDS events by following the link below. Be sure to keep up to date on everything that’s happening in the city and within the IDS community.
Our Services
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Our Initiatives
 Employment 1st, Employment Now! |
LifeSharing |
Everyone Communicates |
Resources
Connect with IDS
The 16th Employment Supports Symposium: Employment First, Employment Now! (Two-Day Event)
Networks for Training and Development, Inc., in conjunction with Philadelphia DBHIDS, proudly presents the 16th Employment Supports Symposium: “Employment First, Employment Now!”
The disability services system has changed by leaps and bounds since the days of hushed voices and institutions, but there is still a lot of work to do in order to make true community integration a reality for all, even those with the most significant disabilities. Come and hear about the exciting opportunities for systems change provided by Employment First policies, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), and recent final Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) rule. The opportunities for meaningful systems change are great, and community integration for all, no matter their level of need, is closer than ever.
Nominations Sought for Points of Transformation Awards
Nominations are now being accepted for the 16th annual Points of Transformation Awards to be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. We welcome nominations of those direct service professionals who have committed their careers to supporting people with intellectual disabilities and exemplify the Philadelphia Intellectual disAbility Services motto, “It’s all about community!” Consider the people you work with who are models of excellence, compassion, commitment, growth, and achievement.
To nominate an individual, simply fill out the nomination form and submit it to the address listed below. All nominations must be received by Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. No extensions will be given.
There will be one winner in each of the following categories:
- Residential: A person who is meets the individual needs of each resident and makes sure safe, healthy choices are provided to attain an “everyday life” in meaningful experiences and loving relationships.
- Employment: A person who assists in matching an individual with a job position that provides fair pay, benefits, positive relationships with co-workers and provisions for a rewarding environment.
- Life Sharing: A person or family who provides a loving home and environment that opens opportunities for life and loving family experiences.
- Support/Service Coordination This person helps identify, locate coordinate and monitor community and system supports of highest possible quality while respecting each person’s right to privacy and personal autonomy.
- Early Intervention: This individual works with families in meeting the developmental needs of their children by assisting them in use of community services, supports and addressing their concerns.
- Treatment Staff: This is a health care professional (nurse, behavior therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, nutritionist) who works with individuals and staff around first aid, healthy foods, weight loss, diabetes care, exercise, or behavioral triggers.
- Habilitation: A direct staff professional who supports and works with an individual in day community settings.
- Kathy Sykes “It’s all about community!” Award: This person exemplifies our mission to create, promote and enhance the supports and services available to individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Please return completed nominations to:
Wendy Williams, MSW
Public Awareness Coordinator
701 Market Street, Suite 5200
Philadelphia, PA 19106
For further information, please contact Wendy Williams at wendy.williams@phila.gov or 215-685-4680.
Village View: Brighter Futures Features Main Liners
March is National Disability Awareness Month, and several Main Liners were front and center last Friday at the Sheraton Downtown Philadelphia Hotel when more than 500 people gathered to honor the winners of the 2016 My City, My Place Brighter Futures awards. The awards day, sponsored by Philadelphia Intellectual disAbility Services, honors community members who go out of their way to enable citizens with disabilities to take their rightful place in the community.
The keynote speaker at the luncheon awards ceremony was Lower Merion native Ted Dallas, the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Department Human Services (DHS). He explained the impact of the budget impasse in Harrisburg and how having to cut $600 million from Governor Tom Wolf’s proposed budget, if the legislature gets its way, would impact negatively on the services for the people served by DHS. Dallas had served during the Rendell administration as a Deputy Secretary under Estelle Richman, and before joining the Wolf administration he had been for five years the chief executive of Maryland’s DHS.
He went on from Lower Merion to Penn for undergraduate work, and then to Temple for a graduate degree. Dallas was interrupted by applause at least a dozen times as he outlined his plans for more community participation, more employment opportunities, and better educational offerings for people with disabilities.
The morning plenary session featured a presentation to Daniel Schidlow, M.D., of Narberth, the Dean of Drexel University’s College of Medicine. Because the theme of the day’s celebration was “Inventive Paths to Brighter Futures,” Dr. Schidlow and his medical school students were right in step with the theme. They have created the Health Outreach Project, which sees the medical students, supervised by faculty physicians, doing weekly health assessments at clinics at facilities like The Arc of Philadelphia, people who often have difficulty expressing themselves. After assessing eyesight, hearing, blood pressure, etc., and learning how to communicate with adults who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, the students write up reports which are given to the people they met with to share with their families, support coordinators and ultimately their primary physicians for follow-up.
In accepting his award in the morning, Dr. Schidlow quoted someone who had said about the population served by his students’ clinics, “Their bodies and minds may not be perfect, but their souls are perfect.”
The perennial Mistress of Ceremonies for all of IDS’ awards ceremonies is Loraine Ballard Morrill, of IHeartMedia in Bala Cynwyd, the news director of the media giant. Loraine often ends up teary-eyed as she reads out the stories for each award-winner. She also makes it a point to interview providers and advocates on her public service programs.
You may have noticed that there has been a lot of publicity about autism, the increasing incidence of the diagnosis, and the public awareness about the need for more funding for programs. Councilman-at-large Derek Green, Esq., who presented a citation from the City Council at the luncheon awards, talked about his own son who was diagnosed with autism when he was a toddler. Green heads up the City Council committee on what he calls “Differences” — preferring that title to “Disabilities.”
Denise Taylor Patterson, the Director of IDS, and Commissioner Arthur C. Evans, Jr., Ph.D., who heads up the Department of Behavioral Health and IDS, did not select the speakers because of their having family members with autism or other intellectual disabilities, but it seems to have turned out that way. The moderator of the morning plenary session, Terri Matthews, is the CEO and founder of Jaden’s Voice, the nonprofit she founded after her son was diagnosed with autism.
And Sheila Hess, the City Representative who brought greetings from Mayor Jim Kenney, also told the audience about her own inspiring life story, how she was born with spinal bifida but insisted on going to the elementary school down the street from her home, even though it was an ancient building with lots of steps everywhere. But her parents believed in her, and she achieved her goals. She also credited Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities for their assistance when she was an undergraduate at Temple.
A new award was created this year, the Pioneer Award, and it was given to Marianne Roche, a recently retired staff person at IDS who earlier in her career had been director of the Montgomery County department which supervised services for citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She also had a sister with intellectual disability, and she has had a life-long passionate commitment to advocating for people who are, as Councilman Green says, “different.” She now has a new “career” as a Reiki instructor, and she donates her services to people at the Norcom Community Center.
Roche has marched on legislators more often than anyone can count, urging them to pass legislation — and to pass budgets — which include adequate funding for human services and programs.
Scott Stein, who chairs the Science Department at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (SCH), has had his students pairing off with people in the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) Partial Hospitalization Program since 2009. The inventions which his students and their “buddies” have created are amazing. Using levers and buttons for people with limited physical prowess, the collaboration has created ways for the UCP people to do things most of us take for granted.. Most important of all are the friendships which result from the interaction.
-Bonnie Squires, Communications Consultant, DBHIDS
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