Delaware Modern Pediatrics Blog

Transition your Special-Needs Child into Adulthood

DuPont Hospital has posted a new series of videos on YouTube, for families of children with special needs. To learn about planning for the transition to adulthood, click below:

http://www.nemours.org/about/mediaroom/press/dv/transition-videos.html

Each of the four videos is about 10 minutes long. They are professionally produced, and very informative.

To watch, click each of the links below:

  1. Legal/Financial: Addressing health care power of attorney, health surrogacy laws and legal guardianship, estate and long-term planning, and special needs trusts.
  2. Residential: Discusses the variety of residential programming available to people with disabilities in the adult world and how to make sure young adults are registered with the right services in their state.
  3. Vocational: Offers guidance to make sure young adults get the most out of high school and are aware of their options, including post-secondary education, job training programs, day programs and competitive employment.  Vocational rehab services, adult disability resource centers and family-to-family information networks are also addressed.
  4. Medical Self-Management: Describes ways for young people to be more involved as they move from the pediatric to adult health care world, including what skills they will need to be successful and how being an adult patient will be different from their pediatric experience.

Effective planning for this transition takes as many years as it takes to plan for college!  Starting early will make the move easier for the child, and for the family as well.

—  David Epstein, MD


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