Personal Assistants

Cerebral palsy support plans may suggest the employment of personal assistant services (PAS) that offer healthy independent living for people with cerebral palsy as well as reinforcements for families and caregivers. These services are the necessary supports a person needs to achieve daily tasks and basic routines.

Depending on the extent of impairment and tasks individuals and caregivers are able to perform, the range of home and community-based personal assistant services vary from person-to-person. Services depend on an individual’s personal, medical, employment, communicative, cognitive, and emotional needs.

Direct care workers may include:

  • Attendants
  • Direct support professionals (DSP)
  • Home care aides
  • Personal aides
  • Personal assistants (PA)
  • Personal care assistants (PCA)

Depending on the extent of cerebral palsy, personal assistance services help provide the least restrictive environment (LRE) and an independent lifestyle. Individual well-being is an important component in an independent lifestyle. For individual well-being, two specific elements must exist. First, on his or her own or with assistance, a person should be able to accomplish activities of daily living (ADLs), such as moving around, bathing, and grooming. The other element is an ability to successfully achieve independent environmental skills, such as shopping, cooking, managing finances, and taking medications. These are referred to as instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).

Personalized assessments and evaluation tools for rehabilitation and support (such as Katz ADL scale and Lawton IADL scale) analyzes a person’s everyday tasks, accommodation services, and activities related to independent living. An individual’s unique needs will distinguish the types of services required of an assistant.

The analysis will also dictate the number of different settings the assistant may be needed to assist with, including in the home, at work, and out in the community. Many personal aides are under the direction of an agency supervisor, the patient, and/or the family. Services may include assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), paramedical assistance, communication, and social or emotional support services.

Personal assistance may include help in the following areas:

  • Activities of daily living (ADLs)
  • Communication supports
  • Continence management
  • Errands
  • Household tasks and chore assistance
  • Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)
  • Mealtime assistance
  • Medication assistance
  • Mobility support and transfer services
  • Money management assistance
  • Paramedical services
  • Personal hygiene
  • Shopping assistance
  • Social emotional support services
  • Technology assistance
  • Transportation

Service Dogs

Service dogs are specially trained canines that enhance the lives of individuals with cerebral palsy. They provide a variety of supports to help an individual achieve an optimal level of functioning in day-to-day activities.

Service dogs perform tasks the owner has difficulty completing. Many individuals with cerebral palsy rely on professionally trained dogs to help gain further independence with self-care, chores, mobility, health-related activities, and safety. Although service dogs perform a variety of supportive tasks, they must do so only with realistic human expectations; service dogs should never take the place of a primary caregiver, overseer, or respite care provider.

Individually trained service dogs perform at least one supporting task that helps with functional independence. The type of supportive tasks provided by a service dog varies. Although service dogs are most often a mobility tool for people with cerebral palsy, they assist with a variety of health conditions and impairments, and often make a big difference in a person’s daily life.

Some service dogs are specially trained to assist people with particular health conditions. For example, there are service dogs that are trained to predict the onset of seizures. Other dogs are trained to help the blind navigate within the community, while others are trained to assist an individual that lacks hearing to sense doorbells, incoming phone calls and traffic safety situations.

Emotional attachment to a service dog is quite common. Often the dog and its master become inseparable. Individuals with special needs often outlive their service dogs. When the dog passes away, the owner not only mourns their loss, but also experiences a change in ability to conduct their daily lives.

Examples of areas that service dogs may help to further independence include:

  • Activities of daily living (ADLs)
  • Chores
  • Community access, activities, and events
  • Employment
  • Health-related activities
  • Independent activities of daily living (IADLs)
  • Mobility assistance
  • Other major life activities
  • Recreational social interests
  • Safety and security
  • Self-care tasks

RESOURCES How MyChild™ Can Help

Knowing about resources and opportunities can make a difference, but knowing how to find and qualify for those resources is key.

MyChild™ recognizes that families touched by cerebral palsy are busy. Raising a child with mobility impairment requires doctor visits, treatments, therapies, and a host of responsibilities within the home, school, and community. MyChild™ hopes to help. Your time is precious.

Over the years, MyChild™ has expanded our database of contacts, information, and resources, which may be of assistance. We share general information online, but also offer a wealth of state and local information that may be more appropriate to particular circumstances and an individual child’s needs through our call center.

MyChild™ operates a call center to efficiently assist parents and others with questions and concerns. Call 1-800-MyChild (1-800-692-4453) for resources within your community, based on your family’s particular circumstances.