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Program Type:

Eldridge Community Services

Program Goals:

The CPS Program goals are to provide a wide and varied array of services that are beyond the resources of individual residential programs. These include opportunities for people to make independent life choices in areas that include recreation, self-advocacy, religious services, and companionship through the Foster Grandparent/Senior Companion Program. Personal expression is supported through library and computer activities, access to supplies for individual activities, as well as individual grooming choices through the Barber/Beauty Shop. Also included is access to the most up-to-date therapeutic and educational innovations through the Special Rehabilitation Services, Educational Services, and clinic-based assessment services. Lives are enriched with special recreational events that are enjoyed by the individuals who live at SDC, the staff, and the community as a whole.

Education Services:

Services are provided to all adolescents residing at SDC. Services range from individual, to SDC classroom, to community classroom instruction, provided by either credentialed Sonoma County Office of Education staff or credentialed SDC educational staff. Services include, but are not limited to: the development of communication, cognition, social, computer, leisure, and other life skills; the use of adaptive technology; and sensory integration and stimulation. All services are provided in accordance with the Individual Education Plan.

Specialized Rehabilitation Services:

Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Speech Therapy provide assessment, treatment, care planning, and staff training in order to improve or restore the functional capacity of individuals affected by developmental disabilities, illness, or injury.

In addition to providing traditional therapeutic services, the Physical Therapy department is developing a hippotherapy program that will incorporate the movement of the horse as a therapeutic agent to enhance clients' lives. The Therapist directs the horse's movements and the movement of the horse promotes active responses in the client. This therapy should lead to improved functional abilities in the client's daily living.

Speech/Language Pathologists provide communication assessments for all clients; development of communication systems; and consultation, collaboration, and training for staff. They meet with interdisciplinary teams, Adaptive Engineering Services, and Occupational Therapy Services to develop individualized adaptive communication devices. In addition, the Speech/Language Pathologists provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of dysphagia, including both disorders of swallowing and oral function for dining.

The Occupational Therapists administer physician-ordered treatments to recover physical function and develop individualized plans for accessing and manipulating the environment. Their primary areas include physical development, dysphagia management, adaptive strategies, and use of assistive technology. In the area of assistive technology, Occupational Therapists assess for and assign equipment based on an individual's need. They then direct the purchase, design, fabrication, and modification of specialized equipment, such as custom seating systems, orthotics, wheelchairs, adaptive dining equipment, and other types of assistive devices.

Adaptive Technology Services:

Adaptive Engineering Services (AES) has responsibility for the design, fabrication, and delivery of custom-made seating systems, helmets, orthotics, and other items of adaptive equipment and assistive devices which either cannot be purchased or which, when purchased, need modification to meet consumer needs.

Assistive Technology Resources Service (ATRS) has responsibility for other assistive devices used to increase independence in accessing and interacting with the environment. In addition to providing these assistive devices, they also fabricate special adaptations, and develop individual strategies for using the devices. Some of the environments they address are education, activities of daily living, recreation, vacation, and communication.

The Shoe Department provides a variety of customized footwear, ranging from shoes fabricated in the shop to modifications of commercially available shoes. The department also obtains specialized shoes from specific vendors, enhancing the services available.

Other Centralized Services:

Activities are provided center-wide and include: Audiological Services, Volunteer Services, the Donation Center, Foster Grandparent/Senior Companion Services, Chaplaincy Services, Client Libraries, the Clinical Computer Lab, Animal Assisted Therapy, Interpreter Services, FUNdamentals (which provides activity supplies to all programs), the Advocacy Project, Barber/Beautician Services, and the Summer Youth Aide Program. CPS also provides the MOVE program (Mobility Opportunities Via Education); using a specially designed curriculum, movement techniques taught by MOVE staff increase clients' abilities to sit, stand, or walk-often using specialized equipment specifically designed for the MOVE program. In addition, CPS provides the REACH program (Recreation experiences, Exercise and movement, Advocacy, Computer access, Holiday awareness); REACH offers a multi-use recreational center that offers a wide variety of meaningful activities to the individuals residing at SDC. Finally, CPS Recreation Services are provided through Camp Via, Fitness Center, Special Recreational Events, the Equestrian Program, and the Eldridge Farm, as well as the swimming pool, gymnasium, and athletic fields.