Contact Anu Prabhala at 202-387-1968, ext. 212 or annap@aamr.org

The American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) announces the publication of Guidelines for Interview People with Disabilities: Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), a guide meant to help professionals understand how to best conduct interviews with people with disabilities and self-advocates and make the supports assessment and planning process more inclusive. While the Guidelines contains principles that are applicable to the supports assessment process in general, the publication is intended as a companion guide for users of SIS, a planning tool published by AAMR in January 2004.

The Supports Intensity Scale evaluates practical support requirements of persons with intellectual disabilities in 85 life activities and medical and behavioral areas. The SIS is the only Scale to take the needs—as opposed to deficits—of a person with an intellectual disability as the basis for planning supports and services.

“People with cognitive disabilities have unique perspectives that may be missed by professionals if not included appropriately in the supports planning process,” says Dr. Marc J. Tassé, lead author of the Guidelines and also co-author of the Supports Intensity Scale. Based on feedback from end users of SIS, in particular self-advocates, AAMR published the Guidelines in an effort to engage people with disabilities in a more comprehensive and respectful manner in the SIS interview process.

A copy of the Guidelines can be downloaded free of cost at http://www.aamr.org/Reading_Room/pdf/SISGuidelines.pdf

To learn more about the Supports Intensity Scale, visit http://www.siswebsite.org/page.ww?section=Product+Info&name=Product+Info

Click here to learn how to order SIS.

The Guidelines will be mailed at no cost to all buyers of SIS.

Founded in 1876, the mission of AAMR is to promote progressive policies, sound research, effective practices, and universal human rights for people with intellectual disabilities.