Residential Services
Individual Designed Living Arrangements (IDLA) are living arrangements where more independent individuals can live in their very own home with staff support. This habilitation service is an alternative, non-licensed residential living situation where the clients can choose where and with whom they will live, learn independent life skills, and assume a higher degree of responsibility for their own residence and lives. Even if your special one cannot live totally independently, they will at least feel like they are.
Pamela Karp’s daughter, Jennifer, started in an IDLA with another agency, but Pamela and Dennis felt that the quality of care was not acceptable. Jennifer was not learning basic life skills that would make her more self-reliant and independent. This was the primary factor that motivated Pamela and Dennis to start their own agency, TRANSITIONS for the Developmentally Disabled. TRANSITIONS opened their first Individual Designed Living Arrangement (IDLA) on October 1, 2004 for Jennifer and two other consumers to learn the life skills to live more independently. Since then, TRANSITIONS has continued to grow and now has numerous IDLA homes, among a myriad of other programs, in the East Valley. All of our IDLA homes are a catalog of success stories that have accumulated over the years.
As our consumers get older, they continue to mature and some are ready to move out into their own homes. TRANSITIONS’ IDLA’s gives them the opportunity to live on their own with supervision and other supports. The caregivers who work at the houses are there to support the consumers with their habilitation goals, such as planning a schedule, going grocery shopping, cleaning their house and rooms, shopping and cooking, doing laundry, etc. Their goal is to promote self independence so that our consumers can reach their full potential. The growth and changes that TRANSITIONS and our families have seen from these individuals in the IDLA’s has been phenomenal!
As a parent, you may be wondering where your place is in this whole process. TRANSITIONS loves it when families are involved in the lives of their special ones. We highly encourage parental participation in everything from choosing staff who will be working at their home, to visiting, to making your child’s schedule including their daily routine and diets. We feel that it is very important that the parents and guardians are involved in this exciting new adventure in your child’s life.