Arthur E. Jongsma Jr. - The Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability Treatment Planner

To Jeff, Tyler, Casey, Mitchell, and Danielle for their unyielding and constant support while I spent countless hours in front of the computer. This book truly was a family effort.

-Kellye Slaggert

To all those parents and family members who have advocated for, loved, and supported their fellow family member who is developmentally disabled. They have taught us selfless service.

-Arthur E. Jongsma, Jr.

The practice of psychotherapy has a dimension that did not exist 30, 20, or even 15 years ago-accountability. Treatment programs, public agencies, clinics, and even group and solo practitioners must now justify the treatment of patients to outside review entities that control the payment of fees. This development has resulted in an explosion of paperwork.

Clinicians must now document what has been done in treatment, what is planned for the future, and what the anticipated outcomes of the interventions are. The books and software in this Practice Planners series are designed to help practitioners fulfill these documentation requirements efficiently and professionally.

The Practice Planners series is growing rapidly. It now includes not only the second editions of the Complete Adult Psychotherapy Teatment Planner, the Child Psychotherapy Teatment Planner, and the Adolescent Psychotherapy 2}-eatment Planner, but also Treatment Planners targeted to specialty areas of practice, including chemical dependency, the continuum of care, couples therapy, employee assistance, behavioral medicine, therapy with older adults, pastoral counseling, family therapy, group therapy, neuropsychology, therapy with gays and lesbians, and more.

In addition to the Treatment Planners, the series also includes TheraScribe, the latest version of the popular treatment-planning, patient record-keeping software, as well as adjunctive books, such as the Brief, Chemical Dependence, Couple, Child, and Adolescent Therapy Homework Planners; the Psychotherapy Documentation Primer; and the Clinical, Forensic, Child, Couple and Family, Continuum of Care, and Chemical Dependence Documentation Sourcebooks-containing forms and resources to aid in mental health practice management. The most recent addition to this series is Progress Note Planners for adolescents, children, and adults, respectively. The goal of the series is to provide practitioners with the resources they need in order to provide high-quality care in the era of accountability-or, to put it simply, we seek to help you spend more time on patients, and less on paperwork.

Arthur E. Jongsma, Jr.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Many powerful lessons have been learned in working with clients with developmental disabilities, some lessons far more powerful than any formal education. This book is enhanced by our having learned these lessons and by our having had the privilege of working with developmentally disabled clients. It is our hope that this Planner will make a significant contribution to improving the quality and consistency of care provided to people with developmental disabilities.