Jul 9, 2026 · 42 min · 9 segments
As part of the 2026 Developmental Disabilities Conference, moderator Megan Cvitanovic leads a discussion with panelists Zorahida Preciado, Colette Patt, and Mechelle Johnson about resources for people…
Colette PattGuest
Michelle JohnsonGuest
Zoraida PreciadoGuest
Clarissa KripkeHost
And when parenting a developmentally disabled kid, you have a lifetime of joy, just like parenting any other kid.
And you also encounter a lot of new challenges, challenges that are quite different than what you encounter with your typically developing kids.
Plus, from the time that you know, at least in my case, in my family's case, from the time that we knew that we would have a DD kid, we started to understand that there was a huge monster under the bed.
How will I care for my kid when they're an adult and I'm aging and my health does not enable me to do that? And how will they thrive or even survive after I die? given my role as a caregiver.
Many parents worry about their adult kid's future regardless of anything else about the kid.
But for the parents of DD kids, and I'm using DD developmentally disabled in the broad sense to also include intellectual disabilities and cognitive disabilities and so on.
But for the parents of a DD kid who becomes an adult, there are other considerations.
There are the ongoing things of everyday medication, specialized medicine, noticing behaviors or what's happening with your adult child that may not be instantly recognizable to someone else as not their normal, but something is wrong.
um dental care i don't even want to get into dental care today i'm so upset about dental care um the advocacy that's needed sometimes legal action what will happen with your um your dd kid as they become an adult in terms of their social well-being and isolation their work their creative life their contribution to society recreation and self-care and above all that monster under the bed who will do this who will ensure this happens who will monitor all of this next slide please And then there are other considerations that are not the typical considerations you might have for typically developing adult childlike housing.
Where will my kid live without me when they're an adult? How will I afford to set them up with what they need? What's the relationship between public benefits, which are quite limited, and whatever resources I may or may not have, which also might be quite limited? Familiarity, what will they need as they age and who will understand them? Safety, how do I ensure that, yes, we maybe can get caregivers, but will those caregivers treat them with dignity and kindness and not neglect, abuse or harm them? And who will watch out for them? Who will monitor this? Who will ensure this? Next slide, please.
We've heard a lot about different services and different availability of services and resources today.
And when parenting a developmentally disabled kid, you have a lifetime of joy, just like parenting any other kid.
And you also encounter a lot of new challenges, challenges that are quite different than what you encounter with your typically developing kids.
Plus, from the time that you know, at least in my case, in my family's case, from the time that we knew that we would have a DD kid, we started to understand that there was a huge monster under the bed.
How will I care for my kid when they're an adult and I'm aging and my health does not enable me to do that? And how will they thrive or even survive after I die? given my role as a caregiver.
Many parents worry about their adult kid's future regardless of anything else about the kid.
But for the parents of DD kids, and I'm using DD developmentally disabled in the broad sense to also include intellectual disabilities and cognitive disabilities and so on.
But for the parents of a DD kid who becomes an adult, there are other considerations.
There are the ongoing things of everyday medication, specialized medicine, noticing behaviors or what's happening with your adult child that may not be instantly recognizable to someone else as not their normal, but something is wrong.
um dental care i don't even want to get into dental care today i'm so upset about dental care um the advocacy that's needed sometimes legal action what will happen with your um your dd kid as they become an adult in terms of their social well-being and isolation their work their creative life their contribution to society recreation and self-care and above all that monster under the bed who will do this who will ensure this happens who will monitor all of this next slide please And then there are other considerations that are not the typical considerations you might have for typically developing adult childlike housing.
Where will my kid live without me when they're an adult? How will I afford to set them up with what they need? What's the relationship between public benefits, which are quite limited, and whatever resources I may or may not have, which also might be quite limited? Familiarity, what will they need as they age and who will understand them? Safety, how do I ensure that, yes, we maybe can get caregivers, but will those caregivers treat them with dignity and kindness and not neglect, abuse or harm them? And who will watch out for them? Who will monitor this? Who will ensure this? Next slide, please.
We've heard a lot about different services and different availability of services and resources today.
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