A Partnership Between SOAR Fox Cities and Fox Valley Memory Project

The Aging & IDD Program is a partnership focused on bringing more resources and support to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they age along with their care partners.

Our mission is to improve the quality and effectiveness of programs and services offered to people with IDD diagnoses as they age throughout the Fox Valley region of Wisconsin.

Did you know?

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities have similar risk of developing some form of dementia as the general population; however, they are at risk of developing dementia much earlier than the general population of aging adults, around 20-25 years earlier. When diagnosed, they are living longer with the disease and their symptoms do not present the same as the general population.

What will this program offer?

Screening Tools

The NTG-EDSD is an Early Detection and Screen for Dementia that was developed in response to requests by family caregivers and agencies for a tool useful to record observations of changes in function of the individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  The NTG-EDSD is meant to be completed by family caregivers and/or staff at agencies or organizations that know the individual with IDD well.  It is meant to first be completed when the individual is about 35-40 years old to get a baseline and then again, every year after thatFor this reason, yearly training sessions will be held to assist care partners in completing the NTG-EDSD, both virtually and in person.  The goal in doing this is to help treat the dementia symptoms as they arise and to meet the individual where they are at in the process, creating a more positive, dementia friendly environment as they age.