Successful establishment of an ICF/DD-H: Description of background, manual, and author's journal

This project consists of three separate sections: a dissertation, a care provider's manual, and a journal/diary. The dissertation describes the history of and necessity for residential services for the developmentally disabled population. It also explains the rationale for a care provider's manual to be written at this time which facilitates the start-up and operation of an Intermediate Care Facility/Developmentally Disabled-Habilitative (ICF/DD-H), a particular type of residential facility that appears to be guaranteed federal funding for some years to come. The dissertation also describes the procedures involved in writing the care provider's manual and a journal/diary.; The care provider's manual is designed to provide care providers of residential services for developmentally disabled children and adolescents with all the information they need but do not have to start up and operate an ICF/DD-H facility effectively, economically, and therapeutically. The journal/diary consists of a personal account of the professional growth and development of the writer throughout the process of starting up and ICF/DD-H group home and the process of writing a manual for care providers regarding how to set up and operate such a facility.