March is National Developmental Disabilities
Awareness Month! This month, we encourage you to learn more about the local DD community and to think about how you might personally or professionally join us in making Cuyahoga County a place that truly celebrates, welcomes and accommodates people of all abilities.
Since 1967, the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Cuyahoga DD) has proudly supported Cuyahoga County residents with developmental disabilities (DD) as they live, learn, work and play in the community. Over the last 56 years, Cuyahoga DD’s work has grown to include a robust set of supports and services, two-thirds of which are funded by Cuyahoga County taxpayers through a continuous levy that was last passed in 2005.
Today, with services that support people and families from birth through adulthood, Cuyahoga DD serves more than 13,000 county residents with DD annually with one primary goal in mind: helping them live their best possible lives.
Whether working with our county’s youngest residents through early intervention or connecting adults to the community through employment and innovative housing, Cuyahoga DD works with each person and family to create a plan that tailors programs and services to meet their needs.
With physical and occupational therapy, speech language pathology and assistive technology offerings, Cuyahoga DD addresses a wide range of mobility, daily living and communications needs.
Cuyahoga DD is one of the only county boards in Ohio with a comprehensive behavioral health team that includes nurses and psychologists, as well as a human sexuality specialist who provides consultative clinical support to families.
In the community, Cuyahoga DD partners with school districts to support students with DD and helps them prepare for life after high school, including postsecondary education and employment. Cuyahoga DD actively prepares young people for competitive employment opportunities that are created through its partnership with the Employment Collaborative of Cuyahoga County.
With a goal of inclusion for all, Cuyahoga DD’s community outreach team develops relationships with businesses and organizations in the community, consulting on ways they can be more accessible and inclusive in terms of physical spaces and programming and providing grants to organizations as they make changes that support community inclusion.
Cuyahoga DD does not do this important work alone, though. A network of 1,700 agency and independent service providers that is vital to supporting people with DD has experienced the same unprecedented staffing shortages seen in other sectors over the past few years. Cuyahoga DD works closely with the providers in Cuyahoga County, supporting them through grants that help them attract and retain high-quality, professional caregivers.
The pages that follow introduce you to some of the services and supports Cuyahoga DD provides and the impact they have on families.
For more information about Cuyahoga DD, visit cuyahogabdd.org.
For 2-year-old Rosie Utrata and her parents, Meghann and Nick, Cuyahoga DD’s early intervention services, delivered in partnership with Bright Beginnings, have been vital for the toddler’s development. Connecting with Cuyahoga DD as soon as Rosie got home from the neonatal intensive care unit, the Utratas have been supported every step of the way.
Cuyahoga DD Physical Therapist Paula Clark has spent the past year working with the family to develop and work toward Rosie’s goals in several areas, including transitioning from crawling to walking, eating solid foods and improving her communication skills.
Cuyahoga DD’s early intervention philosophy is that children learn best in a natural environment: in places and with people
Joseph Rowe, 16, has worked with Cuyahoga DD since he was 3 years old. His family took advantage of every Cuyahoga DD opportunity, from occupational therapy, speech language pathology and assistive technology to Family Supports Program funding for specialized equipment. For his mom, Christine, “It is a pleasure and a joy” to have Joseph “engage in services that are beneficial to him.”
These days, he works with Behavior Curriculum Intervention Specialist Laurene Sweet to help him improve social interactions and be safe in the community. To help Joseph, Sweet uses a virtual reality program called Floreo, which allows him to practice skills from the comfort and safety of his own home. Floreo moves Joseph through situations he might encounter in real life using prompts, and Sweet guides the process, indicating to the program when he has responded correctly and redirecting him when necessary.
With an interest in computers and technology, Joseph thinks Floreo is “pretty cool,” and his favorite modules allow him
and things that are familiar to them. Clark spent time with the Utratas in their home, demonstrating daily movement exercises that taught Rosie to sit, roll, stretch and crawl — exercises that eventually helped her begin walking at 18 months.
Clark has also supported Rosie’s speech and language skills. Her parents and grandparents were given the tools they needed to continue the work between their weekly appointments, and her communication has improved dramatically in the last six months.
Also in the last few months, Clark’s work with Rosie has resulted in the toddler transitioning to solid foods and drinking from a cup. Rosie’s development, thanks to Cuyahoga DD’s services, is evident. “It is like night and day,” Meghann says.
to practice moving through an airport and practice having conversations.
Outside of school, Joseph is an avid rower at the Foundry, plays keyboard at PNC Fairfax Connection and enjoys art. His work with Sweet and Floreo — specifically in the areas of social interaction and safety — will be key as he works toward his goal of getting a job after he graduates from high school.
For families who are not eligible for a Medicaid waiver, it is challenging to manage expenses for things like specialized equipment, nutrition, respite care, and recreation and leisure for their loved ones with developmental disabilities. The Cuyahoga DD Family Supports Program uses local tax revenue to provide more than 3,800 families each year with funding to help them purchase the goods and services they need to help their loved ones live their best lives.
For Carla and Louis Smilanich, however, the Family Supports program is about so much more than the money and what it buys. For them, it’s about opportunities to feel included in the community. Their 15-year-old son, Michael, is a student at Westlake High School and works at
A Support Administrator is an important partner in goal-setting and planning for someone with a disability, connecting them to services and supports that help them live how they want. Grace Gorton, a Deaf woman, wanted to live independently but had some reservations. She had lived in a group home and was living with her aunt when her Support Administrator, Neil Lipschutz, told her about TryTech.
TryTech, Cuyahoga DD’s short-term rental apartments furnished with assistive technology and services, gives adults served by Cuyahoga DD a space to build confidence in living on their own. Knowing Gorton’s goals, Lipschutz approached her with the opportunity. “Neil said it could be a good fit and I said, ‘yes, of course!’” Gorton says.
Lipschutz and Gorton made a plan, and Gorton lived at TryTech for two months. Once her stay concluded, she took time to consider her next living arrangement. She credits Lipschutz, as well as her parents and her aunt, for helping her decide.
“Neil helped me navigate how I felt about living independently. He gave me the space to take a step back and figure out what help I needed. He gave me a bridge to be more independent,” Gorton says.
Winking Lizard as part of a vocational program there. The Smilanichs have used Family Supports funding to purchase an iPad, which helps Michael communicate with school peers and work colleagues. They have also used the Family Supports Program to purchase memberships to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Lake Metroparks Farm Park and their local recreation center and outdoor community pool.
“It doesn’t make your challenges go away, but you feel like you’re supported,” Louis says of the Family Supports Program. “You’re not forgotten. You’re not left alone.”
“It’s about making him feel a part of the community, just like any other kid,” Carla adds.
After finding a sunny, newly renovated unit in Lakewood, she moved into her own apartment in October 2022. “Now, I’m able to use my paycheck [from Mitchell’s Ice Cream, where she has worked since 2018] to pay for my apartment; I have something to go to work for,” she says.
Would she be living on her own now if she hadn’t stayed at TryTech? “Probably not, no,” she says. “It would have taken me a lot longer.”