
	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY The commercial or custom-designed devices, modifications, accommodation strategies, and/or related technical services that help persons with disabilities increase, maintain, or improve their functional capabilities.


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."

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PA-SDD 5: Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is available to help persons served make full use of the agency's services and live independently in the community.

PA-SDD 5.01

The agency provides assistive technology, or helps the individual access resources, as needed, and the individual is:

involved in the selection of specific technologies;
afforded the opportunity to try the device prior to purchase or assignment; and
trained on the use of specific assistive devices being provided.

PA-SDD 5.02

The agency works with community resources to help the individual and family:

purchase or gain access to assistive technology, auxiliary aids, and other assistive devices; and
make necessary physical adaptations to the person's home.

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	PURPOSE: Children, youth, and adults who participate in developmental disabilities programs achieve full integration and inclusion in the mainstream, make choices, exert control over their lives, and fully participate in, and contribute to, their communities.

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