Adaptive Functioning and Communication

This fact sheet explains the different levels of intellectual functioning within IDD. Awareness of the intellectual abilities and corresponding adaptive functioning of persons with IDD helps health care clinicians to understand and accommodate for their patient’s conceptual, social, practical, and communication skills, optimizing the clinical encounter. These are broad guidelines, and individuals’ abilities may not fall neatly into these levels.

Cheetham’s Checklist

This tool was created by Dr. Tom Cheetham, MD, a family physician who helped created the original Canadian consensus guidelines, as a brief guide to possible physical health issues that might cause behavioral concerns for adults with IDD. Dr. Cheetham based this list on more than 30 years of experience as a family physician treating individuals with IDD.

Communicate CARE—Be Clear, Attentive, Responsive, and Engaging

This tip sheet offers guidance to physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other health care professionals for a person-centered health assessment of adults with IDD. It provides information on best practices to prepare for appointments and to communicate and plan interventions using a person-centered approach to shared decision- making.

Decision-Making: Promoting Capabilities

Provides practical steps to help clinicians respect the decision-making rights of people with IDD.

Emergency Room Stabilization Protocol

This communication tool is to give ER staff a quick reference guide and resources to consider when they are providing treatment to someone with IDD.  Please feel free to share this tool with your ER department.

Genetic Assessment Frequently Asked Questions

This tip sheet provides information as to why a genetic assessment might be useful for an adult with an IDD, how to find the nearest genetic testing center, indications for referral, and how to make a referral. It also outlines information to give the patient and their family/support persons regarding the referral process.

Health Check

The Health Check is a tool to organize a comprehensive health assessment, including physical exam, for adults with IDD. The tool identifies health problems common in adults with IDD that are different from the general population, and it provides tips and resources to facilitate diagnosis and management. The Health Check provides an IDD perspective on a task that is familiar to primary care clinicians. The Expanded Explanations offer additional guidance on specific questions to ask and particular issues more prevalent in this population.

Health Watch Tables

These syndrome specific tables were developed to complement the 2011 version of the Canadian consensus guidelines on the primary care of adults with developmental disabilities and the Preventive Care Checklist for adults with IDD.

The Health Watch Tables highlight particular health problems that occur more frequently among adults with IDD.

Identifying Symptoms and Signs of Mental Distress

Emotional distress is common in adults with IDD and can be associated with medical conditions, unmet social-emotional developmental needs, life events, adversity, sensory issues, or trauma. It frequently presents as distressing behaviors. This tool supports the primary care clinician in determining whether the patient’s distress and concerning behaviors are likely caused by emotional distress from current or past life circumstances or by psychiatric disorder.

Informed Consent

These resources provide information about the informed consent process and determining a patient’s medical decision-making capacity.

Initial Management of a Behavioral Crisis

This tool presents a systematic and sequential assessment of contributing factors, such as Health issues, Environment and supports, Lived experiences and emotional issues, and Psychiatric disorders (HELP). It points to practice tips and tools for clinicians to ensure the patient’s safety while assessing and managing the crisis situation. Observation and information collected during this process is a first step in finding what might have contributed to the crisis; this, in turn, offers opportunities for prevention of further crises.

Mental Health Interventions

This resource provides an overview of supports and interventions for adults with IDD presenting with emotional and behavioral concerns. It guides primary care providers through general considerations and practice recommendations for therapeutic interventions for mental health distress, including: therapeutic engagement, trauma-informed care, prevention, psychological therapies, pharmacological and other therapies.

Psychological Assessment

This tip sheet answers commonly asked questions about obtaining a psychological assessment when there is a suspected or confirmed IDD. Topics covered include reasons to consider a referral for psychological testing, types of psychological testing available, and information on the psychological testing process.

Psychotropic Medication Review

This tool assists primary care clinicians in systematic and timely reviews of psychotropic medication prescribed to adults with IDD. Psychotropic medications can be inappropriately or overprescribed in adults with IDD. This tool helps identify the benefits of these medications, atypical responses, side effects, adverse reactions, potentially unnecessary medications, or unwanted effects even at low doses.

Risk Assessment

This tool helps primary care clinicians determine whether a patient with IDD who is experiencing an emotional or behavioral crisis can manage safely in their current living or work environment or should be referred to the emergency department or possible crisis care options. It considers the risk to the patient and to others (e.g., peers, family or support staff) during an escalation in the context of available supports. It helps identify unique risk and protective factors.