Primary Care Providers and Health Professionals

The Guide is made for adults with intellectual disabilities, their families, staff from disability, health, and seniors’ organizations who provide support and services. 

It can help to support planning and preparation for the creation of community-based dementia-capable supports and services for adults with intellectual disabilities across Canada. 

Read the Canadian Guide for Community Care and Supports for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities affected by Dementia here.

This guide is meant to serve as a quick reference resource for clinicians to support the provision of care to adults with developmental disabilities. It includes:

• Tools to assist in screening patients for a potential developmental disability
• Samples of Health Check templates
• Quick reference assessment guides
• Health promotion and communication resources for your patients 

Find Caring for adult patients with developmental disabilities: Tools for completing a health check here.

The Curriculum of Caring, developed at McMaster University, is aimed at helping health care professionals effectively care for people with developmental disabilities. It has been developed for health care learners and practitioners through many partnerships and in collaboration with individuals with developmental disabilities. It features: 

• Voices of experience: People affected by disabilities and caregivers sharing their perspectives and wisdom 

• Clinical skills primer with video illustrations of how to interview with care 

• Links to resources 

Read the Curriculum of Caring here.

This page provides an overview of some key resources and tools that health-care providers can use for dementia screening, assessment and diagnosis. 

Find the Dementia Screening and Diagnosis – Tools for Health-Care Providers here.

The Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program at Surrey Place has brought together clinicians with expertise in the care of adults with developmental disabilities (DD) to improve primary care and quality of life for these persons. They developed tools for primary care providers, including physical health tools, health watch tables, a behavioral and mental health toolbox, and general information about caring for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Learn about the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program at Surrey Place (Toronto) here.

The DTC is available to individuals with any level of income, including patients receiving disability assistance, patients who work full time, and patients with no income. These guides support practitioners and physicians to support their clients in accessing the disability tax credit:  

• A practitioners guide to the Disability Tax Credit

• A physicians guide to the Disability Tax Credit

The H-CARDD program was developed to address disparities in health status and health care access faced by individuals with developmental disabilities. Individuals with developmental disabilities often have complex health care needs, experience difficulty in accessing appropriate services, and tend to encounter health care providers with little knowledge of how to support them. 

The overall goal of the H-CARDD program, led out of the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre at CAMH, is to monitor and improve the health and health care of people with developmental disabilities through engagement with researchers, policy makers, health care planners, clinicians, adults with developmental disabilities, and caregivers. 

Learn more about Health Care Access Research and Developmental Disabilities (HCARDD) here. 

This toolkit is a resource developed by H-CARDD in collaboration with three emergency care teams in Ontario. In this toolkit they share implementation tools with emergency providers who are interested in improving the care provided to patients with developmental disabilities. 

Find the Improving Emergency Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities Toolkit for Providers here.

The Nuts and Bolts of Health Care Toolkit is a great source of  important information for health care providers to help improve communication with patients and staff. The tools also help to identify all of the health issues to address, and generally improve the quality of the health care visit. 

Find the Nuts and Bolts of Health Care Toolkit here. 

Individuals with autism sometimes have trouble accessing health care due to behaviour challenges. Without access to medical screenings, health problems and underlying conditions can go undetected. But with a few simple modifications, your medical practice can create a positive experience for patients with autism. These changes have little impact on the practice, but they make a big difference for families who need support.

Read Planning a Successful Medical Visit: Tips for Physicians here.

This learning series is for health professionals, physicians, Community Living BC staff and community living sector providers who encounter dementia-related issues for aging individuals.  Learn more by exploring the full series below.  You can work through each module at your own pace. 

Learn about Prevention, Screening, Diagnosis and Support for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Who Develop Dementia here. 

This document aims to provide primary care providers with the basic tools and education to enhance their capacity to serve individuals with intellectual disabilities. 

Find the Tips for Primary Care Providers here. 

Surrey Place is a not-for-profit organization that helps people of all ages with autism-, developmental- and sensory-related concerns push the boundaries of what’s possible to achieve new victories.  

The 2018 Canadian consensus guidelines on primary care for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) outline standards of care to support clinical decision making. These guidelines are developed by family physicians, nurses, psychiatrists and other experts who are experienced in the care of people with IDD. 

Find the Surrey Place – Primary Care Guidelines and Resources here. 

The tools promote preventive care actions that might easily be overlooked in adults with IDD, such as, screening, immunizations, and medication reviews. Types of tools included are: 

• tip sheets that provide information on how to adjust healthcare practices to meet the specific needs of these patients 

• point-of-care forms providing guidance for healthcare decision making, health checks, and mental health assessments 

• monitoring charts for tracking various health issues that provide a basis for developing and evaluating protocols to interventions 

• patient and caregiver tools that facilitate healthcare interactions 

 Find the Surrey Place – Tools for the primary care of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities here. 

In close collaboration with the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Program, H-CARDD developed the Toolkit for Implementing Health Checks for Adults with Developmental Disabilities. This toolkit provides primary care providers with tools and resources to support the provision of health checks for patients with developmental disabilities.   

Find the Toolkit for Implementing Health Checks for Adults with Developmental Disabilities here.

Persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) are more likely to have physical disabilities, mental health problems, hearing impairments, vision impairments and communication disorders. These co-existing disabilities make this group of Canadians particularly vulnerable to health disparities.

The purpose of this synthesis article is to explore potential contributory factors to health vulnerabilities faced by persons with ID, reveal the extent and nature of health disparities in this population, and examine initiatives to address such differences. 

Read Addressing Health Disparities Through Promoting Equity for Individuals with Intellectual Disability here.

The aim of these guidelines is to give primary health care providers in Canada advice on how to address the health needs of adults with developmental disabilities.

Read the Canadian Consensus Guidelines for Primary Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities here. 

People with mild intellectual disability (ID) experience a higher prevalence of mental health (MH) problems in comparison to the general population, yet there is little consensus on the most appropriate type and nature of services for support and treatment for this specific group of individuals.  

The objective of this scoping review is to explore the current evidence for the organization, structure, and delivery of mental health services for people with mild ID. 

Read The Current Provision of Mental Health Services for Individuals with Mild Intellectual Disability: A Scoping Review here.

This curriculum resources is based on the Primary care of adults with developmental disabilities: Canadian consensus guidelines.

Read the Family Medicine Curriculum Resource: Adults with Developmental Disabilities here.

The H-CARDD team conducted a cross-sectoral project to define the principles and core components essential for successfully transitioning alternate level of care patients with a dual diagnosis from hospitals into community settings. Resources include a practice guidance report and a collection of stories from adults with dual diagnosis and their families about their experience of successfully transitioning to community after an ALC hospitalization. Learn more about this project. 

Find the Supporting alternate level of care (ALC) patients with a dual diagnosis to transition from hospital to home: Practice guidance here.