Hinkle, Prior & Fischer provided support and commentary for the following article that appeared in the recent Summer 2018 edition of People and Families Magazine, a publication of the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilties (NJCDD).
Striving for Fairness in Funding
A Closer Look at the NJ Comprehensive Assessment Tool
The New Jersey Comprehensive Assessment Tool (NJCAT) is a mandatory assessment tool used to determine eligibility for DDD-funded services, and to allot funds for an individual’s support services budget. It assesses an individual’s support needs in three main ways: self-care, behavioral, and medical. While some experts and consumers praise it as a useful method for determining the support needs for individuals and families, others criticize it for being challenging to complete and sometimes ineffective at allocating appropriate funding.
>> Download a PDF of the full article text
Below is the TIPS section that the firm provided for the article as well…
Tips on Completing the NJCAT
Imagine your child lives in his or her own apartment where you visit once a week. During your visit you ensure your child showers, brushes his or her teeth, and puts on clean clothes. You also make sure the laundry is done, meals are prepared, and the apartment is clean. You leave and return one week later—What do you find?
- Has your child showered?
- Brushed his or her teeth?
- Is he or she wearing clean clothes?
- What does the apartment look like? Is it clean?
- What has your child eaten? Is there food in the refrigerator?
- What has your child been doing?
The answers to these questions will help you assess your child’s self-care, independent living, and self-direction skills. If your child cannot perform these tasks without your intervention, prompting, directions, and assistance; then your child needs lots of assistance with these tasks.
Be sure your responses on the questionnaire make this clear.
- Think of your child on their worst day.
- Do not take into account the growth your child may have experienced over the last few years.
- Compare your child to a typically developing person of the same age. This form is often completed when your child is 21 years old. A typically developing 21-year-old may be living completely on their own or living in a dorm at college.
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