Clinical Innovations and Tools

Nuts and Bolts of Healthcare

Through a partnership with Vita Community Living Services, this toolkit was developed for direct support professionals to better support people with intellectual or developmental disabilities when it comes to their health and health care. The resources include tools developed by the H-CARDD program as well as curated resources from Surrey Place's Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program and others. 

Purpose: To increase knowledge about the health care needs of adults with developmental disabilities and help direct support professionals to effectively communicate with health care professionals.
Audience: Direct support professionals in the developmental services sector
Resource type: Toolkit and videos

AM HeLP Guide (Autism Mental Health Literacy Project)

York University and CAMH, together with autistic and family caregiver advisors created the Mental Health Literacy Guide for Autism to increase awareness and share knowledge around issues related to autistic mental health. The guide highlights how individual experiences and contexts play roles in the mental health of autistic adults and how societal acceptance and appreciation of autism is critical for better support and well-being.

En Français

Purpose: To provide knowledge about the different factors that can impact autistic mental health.
Audience: Autistic adults, family caregivers, health care professionals, policy-makers and leaders
Resource type: Guide and videos

Family Matters Toolkit

This toolkit is for family caregivers who are interested in improving the health and health care of a family member with intellectual or developmental disabilities . It was adapted from the Nuts and Bolts of Healthcare toolkit and includes caregiver-focused tools developed by the H-CARDD program as well as curated resources from Surrey Place's Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program and others. 

Purpose: To help families improve the health and health care of a family member with developmental disabilities.
Audience: Family caregivers
Resource type: Website and toolkit

Self-Help Booklet Series

Developed by the University of Glasgow, the self-help booklet series was adapted to be used during the pandemic by people with intellectual disabilities and can be used with the support of family members, friends, staff, and health care professionals. The booklets also include guides on how to use them. The booklets available are: 

• COVID-19 Introduction booklet | Guide on how to use booklet
• Feeling Anxious | Guide
• Feeling Down | Guide
• Good Night’s Sleep | Guide
• Sort it out | Guide
• You can do it | Guide
• Feeling Angry and Staying Calm | Guide
• Relaxation video 1 | Relaxation Guide
• Relaxation video 2 | Relaxation Guide
  
  En Français

Purpose: To give people with intellectual disabilities an opportunity to talk through their feelings and make plans for staying well during the pandemic (but also relevant beyond the pandemic).

Audience: Adults with intellectual disabilities

Resource type: Booklets and videos

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice we can do regularly to assist with our well-being in life. It is a set of tools and ways of being present by connecting with ourselves through different sense-awareness strategies. These videos were developed with neurodivergent people to illustrate how mindfulness practices can be integrated into daily life.

Purpose: To show some creative ways that neurodivergent and autistic adults can practice mindfulness in a way that aims to meet their needs.
Audience: Neurodivergent adults, family caregivers, support staff
Resource type: Videos, New mindfulness page coming soon

Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program of Surrey Place (Toronto) Clinical Guidelines

The 2018 Canadian consensus guidelines on primary care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities outline standards of care to support clinical decision-making. These guidelines were developed by family physicians, nurses, psychiatrists and other experts who are experienced in the care of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Purpose: To support clinical decision-making for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Audience: Health care professionals
Resource type: Guidelines

Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program of Surrey Place (Toronto) Clinical Tools

These tools promote preventive care actions that might easily be overlooked in adults with intellectual and development disabilities, such as health screening, immunizations, and medication reviews. Types of tools included are:

• tip sheets on how to adjust health care practices to meet the specific needs of these patients
• point-of-care forms providing guidance for health care decision-making, health checks, and mental health assessments
• monitoring charts for tracking various health issues that provide a basis for developing and evaluating protocols to interventions
• patient and caregiver tools that facilitate health care interactions

Purpose: Clinical tools and resources for primary care providers, caregivers, and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to improve health care.
Audience: Health care professionals, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and family caregivers
Resource type: Website and toolkit

About My Health

This tool helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities share important information (e.g. how they communicate, their likes and dislikes), with health care providers to improve the quality of their care. 

Purpose: To help health care providers understand the needs and preferences of patients with IDD, improving communication and quality of care during medical visits.
Audience: Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their caregivers, and health care providers.
Resource type: Health communication worksheet (paper or electronic form) that can be integrated with electronic medical records.

My Health Care Visit

This tool helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities prepare for a health visit and write down what the visit is about. It can also be used to remember what happened at the visit.

Purpose: To support communication and understanding during health care visits for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and to provide a record of the visit’s purpose and outcomes.
Audience: Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their caregivers, and health care providers.
Resource type: Interactive communication tool (paper or electronic form) that can be integrated with electronic medical records.

My Health Check-in

This tool helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities prepare for a doctor's visit by selecting what health topics they want to talk about and write down their questions ahead of time. Available in multiple formats, including long, short, picture-based, and caregiver versions.

Purpose: To help adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities prepare for health care visits by selecting health topics and questions, making it easier to communicate with health care providers.
Audience: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities, caregivers, and health care providers.
Resource type: Health visit preparation tool (printable forms in multiple formats, including caregiver guide).

My Hospital Form

This form helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, family members and caregivers share important health and support information with hospital staff. It helps the hospital team understand how to give the best care when an adult with intellectual and developmental disabilities is admitted.

Purpose: To provide medical, contact, and support information to hospital staff to ensure appropriate care and accommodations during a hospital admission.
Audience: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Family members, caregivers, and hospital staff.
Resource type: Emergency hospital information form (prepared in advance and used during transfers or admissions).

My Coping Tool: How I Deal With Stress

This worksheet helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities identify what helps them feel calm during difficult moments and share that with others.

Purpose: To create a plan for managing emotional distress and helping others understand how to provide support during stressful situations.
Audience: Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their caregivers, health care providers, or support staff.
Resource type: Printable coping and crisis support worksheet.

Health Check Toolkit

This toolkit aims to equip primary care providers with tools and resources to support the provision of health checks for patients with developmental disabilities.

Purpose: To support primary care providers to implement health checks with their adult patients with developmental disabilities.
Audience: Health care professionals
Resource type: Health care toolkit

Emergency Toolkit

This toolkit covers implementation tools for emergency providers who are interested in improving the care provided to patients with developmental disabilities.

Purpose: To support Emergency Department care providers to adapt their care when treating adult patients with developmental disabilities.
Audience: Health care professionals
Resource type: Health care toolkit

Download Toolkit

Depression and Autism Guide for Youth (Cundill)

This tip sheet package is a resource to support the mental health and well-being of autistic individuals. Autistic youth designed it with the support of family caregivers, clinicians, and researchers with experience in providing care and conducting research with autistic youth. The package covers six topics:

• Why We Created this Tool
• Autism and Depression: What Can It Look Like?
• Coping Strategies
• Getting Help
• A Note to Caregivers
• A Note to Mental Health Professionals

This work was made possible through funding and support from the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, and Autism Speaks Canada.

Purpose: To help support the mental health and overall well-being of autistic people; Psychoeducation
Audience: Autistic youth, family caregivers, health care professionals
Resource type: Information sheets

Family Guide to Dual Diagnosis

This guide was developed for families of people with developmental disabilities and is divided into three parts:

• Part I: Understanding dual diagnosis of developmental disabilities and mental health problems and how they interact.
• Part II: Supporting family members.
• Part III: Working with health care and other support services explores treatment and support for people affected by dual diagnosis.

Purpose: Psychoeducation to help family caregivers
Audience: Family caregivers
Resource type: Guide

Dual Diagnosis Information Guide

This brief guide was developed for the families of people with developmental disabilities. It provides basic information about dual diagnosis and explains what we know about services and supports and how to best access them. It also suggests ways to take care of oneself while being a caregiver. It is based on the Family Guide to Dual Diagnosis.

Purpose: Psychoeducation to help family caregivers.
Audience: Family caregivers
Resource type: Guide

Understanding My Strong Mind

This tool was developed with and for Special Olympics athletes to help them and the people around them (i.e. coaches, family) know what they are like when they are feeling okay. This can help people to recognize how someone might act when they are not feeling okay. It is adapted from the Know Your Normal resource and was developed with funding from Special Olympics Canada.

Purpose: To help adults with intellectual disabilities and the people around them to know what they are like when they are feeling okay and when they are not feeling okay.
Audience: Adults with intellectual disabilities, family caregivers
Resource type: Worksheet

Successful Housing Elements and Developmental Disabilities (SHEDD)

The SHEDD Housing Design Tool is a guide for helping people plan homes that are comfortable and safe, and to feel included in their community. It's a list of personal preferences with ideas for how to match a person’s wants and needs with the home design and physical space. This guide comes from a research project that looked at what makes homes comfortable and safe for adults with developmental disabilities.

Purpose: Guide to help design homes for adults with developmental disabilities.
Audience: Adults with developmental disabilities, family caregivers, support staff, administrators, housing planning consultants and navigators
Resource type: Resource, Worksheet