Co-Occurring IDD and Mental Health Program for Males

New Choices for Young Men with Intellectual Disabilities, Emotional, and Behavioral Challenges

New Choices is designed for intellectually and or developmentally disabled youth and encourages development of pro-social behavior and adaptive living skills. All services are specifically designed, or adapted for youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities, and programming includes an array of behavior-modification techniques that promote optimal functioning. New Choices modifies individual and group interventions to maximize experiential learning and behavioral rehearsal which research indicates is more helpful for these young men.

Information is presented in smaller increments, usually at a slower pace, to reinforce learning and increase competency development. Communication and social skills, along with other adaptive behaviors, are taught through modeling, role-playing, prompting, contingent reward systems, and other recognized reinforcement techniques.
Moral reasoning, or making the right decision for the right reason, is a component of abstract reasoning that young people seldom understand until their brain reaches full maturity in their early 20’s. Youth with intellectual disabilities can be limited by concrete thinking and their brains may never fully develop more sophisticated thought processes. New Choices strives to help these young men develop sufficient understanding of cause and effect so they can weigh potential consequences associated with harmful behavior. Such limitations make it difficult for some adolescents to generalize information across different settings and situations. Therefore, specific training in transitional community settings is available to help youth practice newly learned skills as they leave the program and return home or transition to a less restrictive environment.

New Hope…Our Name…Our Promise