Description

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty listed satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions unless this causes undue hardship to the agency.

DSP provide observations, evaluations, and reports to other team members to ensure and/or record an individual’s progress toward treatment/habilitation goals. In accordance with habilitative plans, they guide and teach individuals to develop skills required for a more independent lifestyle. Incumbents may take a lead role in one or more of the following duties within a work site. Duties may be performed in several or all of the following areas:

Personal Care

• Teaches and reinforces accepted infection control and personal grooming techniques; assists in bathing, dental care, hair and nail care, personal hygiene, toileting, incontinence care, menstrual care, and grooming routines as necessary.

• Teaches and assists individuals in dressing, clothing selection, storage, laundering and repair of clothing and accessories; helps them to shop for clothing.

• Teaches and assists in proper use and care of shavers and razors, eyeglasses, hearing aids, prostheses as prescribed by appropriate medical practitioner.

• Administers and teaches individuals first aid treatments; administers cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques and performs other health-related techniques as required.

• Takes, records, reports temperatures, blood pressures, pulse rate, weight, and other significant symptoms/health-related occurrences; aids developmentally disabled individuals in understanding, recording, and reporting such factors.

• Maintains confidentiality of information.

• Reports unusual incidents and physical or behavioral symptoms promptly and accurately to the supervisor.

• Applies valid and accepted limits for inappropriate behavior and helps control and restrain individuals with challenging behaviors in their care.

• Administers prescribed medications and treatments; teaches, observes, reports problems and progress in self-administration of medications programs; assists individuals in achieving more independence in administration of medications; teaches use of skin care lotions, topical ointments, eye and ear drops and assists in their use as needed.

• Accompanies individuals to medical, dental, and other health-related appointments; delivers prescriptions to pharmacy, takes medication to home site and logs same; and instructs and observes individuals in use of those substances.

Food Preparation, Mealtimes

• Assists individuals in eating who cannot feed themselves independently.

• Teaches individuals to eat in a family-style setting; models and teaches mealtime socialization skills.

• Teaches and assists individuals to plan, shop, store, prepare and serve meals using currently accepted nutritional standards; and to clean kitchen and dining areas, and dispose of leftover food safely.

Maintaining the Environment

Under the direction of the appropriate level supervisor, the DSP performs various tasks and duties to assure that the living environment is properly maintained and kept in a clean, neat and orderly condition.

• Performs/teaches developmentally disabled individuals routine housekeeping duties such as dusting, washing floors and walls, cleaning bathrooms, and vacuuming rugs.

• Assists developmentally disabled individuals in bed making.

• Follows safety procedures in living unit by mopping up spills, reporting unsafe conditions, teaches and reinforces fire safety procedures. Checks to see that fire exits are clear, night-lights and exit signs on, windows locked, etc.

• Stores supplies and assures that storage areas are kept in a neat and orderly condition.

• Responsible for storage and replacement of linens.

• May assist in various household inventories.

• Performs/teaches minor and routine maintenance tasks such as changing light bulbs, fuses, replacement of faucet washers; and obtains repair services for appliances.

• Performs/teaches routine removal of trash, cleaning of trash containers, ashtrays, etc.

• Teaches/performs outdoor maintenance tasks and repairs of residence, yard, garden, walks; reports need for or obtains repair services for automobiles, vans, mowers, etc.

• Checks fire equipment and reports any malfunction.

• Conducts fire drills following the fire evacuation plan.