The Conway Human Development Center opened its doors to admit the first client in 1959. The former name was the Arkansas Children’s Colony. CHDC is the first and largest of the five Arkansas residential facilities for people with developmental disabilities.
Approximately 900 staff support 450 individuals with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, many of whom also have physical disabilities. The majority of individuals we serve are adults. The Center is divided into five developmental teams and individuals are placed according to their skills and abilities:
· The Total Care Team works with people who are medically fragile and w ho require 24-hour nursing services. Most of the individuals are non-ambulatory, non-verbal, and lack basic self-help skills.
· The Intensive Training Team serves people who have few self-care skills, some are ambulatory and many have visual and/or hearing impairments.
· The Individual Assistance Team works with people who are mostly ambulatory, have developed some self-help skills, and some have communication ability.
· The Sheltered Living Team provides training in functional academics, social skills, and work training.
· The Habilitation and Training Team works with individuals toward functional academics, habilitation and in work training to prepare them for employment and small group living arrangements. Many individuals have jobs at CHDC or in the community.
Each team provides speech, physical and occupational therapy, psychological and social services, music therapy, and dietary evaluations. Medical care is provided around-the-clock by a staff of doctors, nurses, and other professionals. Dental, pharmaceutical, audiological, laboratory, and x-ray services are available on-site with referrals to community services made routinely.
All school-age residents attend special education classes monitored by the State Department of Education.
Services go beyond the Center with several CHDC community outreach programs:
· Conway Human Development Center offers a continuum of support services to emotionally and physically challenged people across the state of Arkansas.
· Originally developed for individuals residing at CHDC, the Seating Clinic/Orthotic Services now provides assessments for proper body alignment and comfortable seating in wheelchairs to persons statewide.
· Diagnostic Evaluations are conducted for consumers statewide to augment services and admission requirements to various residential programs.