Fillable Short Term Care Guide

The “Short Term Care Guide” is designed to help individuals, families, and other caregivers to prepare for temporary, permanent, or unanticipated changes in care for people with disabilities. It was initially developed during the COVID-19 crisis, but it can be a useful document for planned changes in care or those that unexpectedly arise due to disaster, illness, caregiver loss, or other change in care. The guide outlines important information about the person’s medical, personal, and daily schedule information.

The guide is designed to be completed along with the transition “Snapshot.” The Student Snapshot was developed by our collaborators within the Autism Intervention Network on Behavioral Health (AIR-B) Network. This product was funded by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) award number UA3 MC11055 HRSA PI: Kasari. The snapshot includes important information about the person’s preferences, communication styles, and interests.

Both documents are intended to be completed by the person themselves (i.e., the person who is experiencing the shift in care) and their current caregiver(s). Once completed, the document can be a document to provide to a new or temporary caregiver, to help them understand how to best support the transition.

Guidelines to prepare with these documents:

• Complete BOTH the Guide and the Snapshot. Complete using the fillable function in PDF or you can print and write in the boxes.
• Ensure that the person themselves are involved as much as possible in the development of both documents
• Share the completed document with potential temporary caregivers ahead of time and walk them through it in person, if possible, ensuring comprehension of instructions
• Revisit the document every year to update and every time there is a major change in the content
• Maintain an electronic version, in addition to printed copies
• Keep a copy in the person’s care binder or in a location along with other important family documents
• Involve an extended group to help provide input to the document as necessary (e.g., educators, extended family, siblings)
• Consider additional uses of the guide (e.g., when primary caregivers go on vacation)