Sensory Deprived Care

Presidio Home Care has significant experience caring for individuals who are able and disabled. Caring for clients who are sensory deprived (blind or deaf, usually) can be challenging for caregivers who do not have special training. Presidio Home Care trains their caregivers to be sensitive to the unique needs of someone who is sensory deprived. Here are just some of the ways our caregivers make sensory deprived individuals safe and comfortable in their homes:

For clients who are blind:

•    Keep items neatly organized and in the same position as they were found (especially critical items like medicine). Often, our client’s who are visually impaired will use familiarity to locate their most often needed items. Medicines are often kept in a certain location and in a certain order. Presidio Home Care’s caregivers are trained to be cognizant of how our clients organize their homes.

•    Make sure that cabinets, drawers and doors are shut. If it is necessary to keep a cabinet or drawer open for longer than a few seconds, our caregivers will warn the client so that they don’t hurt themselves.

•    Be cognizant of turning off appliances. Most modern electrical appliances have an LED indicator that lets the user know if the item is on or off. People with impaired vision cannot, for instance, see that the oven is on. Our caregivers are trained to put themselves in the client’s shoes and be aware of all the visual cues that a non-sighted person cannot pick up on.

For clients who are deaf:

•    Assess which method of communication is preferred. If our caregivers are not proficient in American Sign Language, it can be difficult to communicate beyond basic signs. Some clients prefer writing, lip reading, or gesticulating. We train our caregivers to do whatever makes the client most comfortable.

•    Exaggerate visual emotional cues (to a slight degree). Hearing impaired individuals cannot hear the “music of the voice” and cannot hear the sarcasm, happiness, sadness, etc. in your voice. We train our caregivers to express themselves more physically around hearing impaired clients.

•    Don’t be afraid to make physical contact! (That is, if your client is ok with it.) Hearing able individuals are usually very unaware of how much they rely on non-verbal sounds to communicate. The sounds of footsteps or rustling can often serve to let someone know where we are. We are used to hearing people approach us and it’s rare to be startled by someone moving in complete silence. For a hearing impaired person, it can be a regular occurrence to turn around and be startled by someone who has approached them from behind. We train our caregivers to be aware of this and use light touch to telegraph their intentions or announce their presence.