PERSONAL CARE

WHAT IS PERSONAL CARE ? Care for individuals with physical, functional, cognitive or

behavioral disabilities across different environments and activities that a person of the same age could complete without assistance

When personal support is needed to care for the student while completing the task, not instructional support for how to complete the task.

Care can range from assistance with bodily function and supervision of behavior or risks, to assistance with the moment-to-moment needs of individual students.

When a student needs a program that provides constant supervision throughout the day.

WHAT PERSONAL CARE IS NOT

Educating, teaching or instructing an individual to compete a task so that it will be attainable the next time they attempt it.

Teaching developmental milestones that are age appropriate and attainable in the near future. Example- Potty training a 3 year old who will be independent soon

Services that require physician's orders for a nurse to provide and/or nurse to supervise. This would be a nursing service. However, delegated nursing services provided by the teacher or a paraprofessional are considered personal care (and provided as a related service: Other Health Services)

EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL CARE • Eating – monitoring to prevent choking or aspiration based on physical

disability or documented anaphylactic shock risk; cuing or prompting to eat; supervision of what they are eating; physical assistance eating or needs to be fed; tube feeding;

• Dressing – when they are unaware or unable to dress independently; requires physical assistance (3 years – beyond fasteners)

• Diapering – don’t know/care they are soiled• Personal Hygiene – when a failure to help them will result in personal

difficulties/hygiene difficulties • Toileting – cuing and prompting them to go, monitoring due to

documented behavioral issues, or physical assistance required (for age 3 – beyond wiping)

• Transferring/Escorting- when they are unable to do it alone.

• Prompting/Cueing- can be in any area that is not academic instruction (to complete an activity, attention to task, stay on task, behavior cues, etc.)

• Redirecting/Monitoring- can be behavior/medical (seizures)

• Communication Assistance – reminders to follow through with multiple step tasks, does not follow any directions and requires personal assistance to do so

• Meal/Cooking/Money Management /Chores – activities of daily living that other students their age can complete independently

• Grocery Shopping- community based instruction personal assistance required for prompting and cueing/ monitoring and redirection due to disability.

• Vocational Activities- ACES program, job coaching/training

EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL CARE

THE PERSONAL CARE SUPPLEMENT • Always put personal care on the personal care supplement.

• Personal care can include a medical necessity, even if it is not disability related• Example: A student eligible as SI with only speech services, but has an Diabetes plan with the

nurse and the nurse spends 30 min. daily with the student checking sugar levels. This info goes in deliberations under “background information” and on personal care supplement.

• If “prompting and cueing” is a condition in an academic goal and refers to academic prompts, it is NOT personal care. • EX- With prompting and cueing, student will be able to complete the math worksheet 7 out of

10 times.

• If “prompting and cueing” is a condition in a behavioral goal, and refers to encouragement to stay on task, redirection to task, prompting of a behavioral strategy, etc., it is personal care, and should be identified on the personal care supplement as personal care. • EX- With visual and verbal prompts and cues, the student will remain on task for five minutes

on 4 out of 5 assignments in a day for consecutive five days.