Human Development Across the Life Span
People’s needs, abilities, and relationships evolve throughout life in familiar patterns. While each person is unique, there are common experiences and themes associated with different stages of life. This is true whether a person has intellectual and developmental disabilities, also known as IDD, or not. People with IDD may meet some developmental milestones “on time,” later than average, or not at all. Milestones are important, but they do not tell us the whole story of human development.
This course provides an overview of human development across the life span. How does the presence of IDD shape a person’s growth through life? What factors influence how a person develops? No matter the extent of a person’s disability, individuals tend to do better when you provide supports that are relevant to and appropriate for their current phase of life.
The goal of this course is to educate direct support professionals (DSPs) in IDD service settings about human growth and development.
People’s needs, abilities, and relationships evolve throughout life in familiar patterns. While each person is unique, there are common experiences and themes associated with different stages of life. This is true whether a person has intellectual and developmental disabilities, also known as IDD, or not. People with IDD may meet some developmental milestones “on time,” later than average, or not at all. Milestones are important, but they do not tell us the whole story of human development. This course provides an overview of human development across the life span. How does the presence of IDD shape a person’s growth through life? What factors influence how a person develops? No matter the extent of a person’s disability, individuals tend to do better when you provide supports that are relevant to and appropriate for their current phase of life. The goal of this course is to educate direct support professionals (DSPs) in IDD service settings about human growth and development.
