Internship with the Developmentally Disabled
Zachary Lumpkin
Liberty University

Abstract

The object of this paper is to give the reader an idea of what it is like to work for an agency that houses, educates and reintegrates developmentally disabled and mentally retarded adults. The research and development of the paper was done over the course of a fourteen-week internship by a student seeking a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. It will delve in depth into the behaviors that the intern observed during his internship. It will connect those behaviors to theory. It will explain and educate as to the benefits of doing such work under the supervision and tutelage of trained experts. It will also recommend to anyone interested in getting into the field ways to be successful and get the most out of the time they spend and lastly it will chronicle the personal growth that the author experienced during his internship.

As stated in the abstract, the internship chronicled in this paper was done over a 14-week period at an agency that houses and educates developmentally disabled and mentally retarded adults with psychological disorders. Though most of the information in this paper was gathered over the 14-week period previously mentioned, the author has been employed with the agency for close to three years and has gathered even more information during this three-year tenure with the agency. The agency has in the neighborhood of sixty-five clients and has been open for over forty years. Currently the agency has eleven houses that house an average of six clients apiece, five all-male houses, 5 all-female houses and one co-ed house. The clients range from mild or no developmental disability to moderate developmental disability. There are no profoundly mentally disabled adults in the agency. All but two houses get behavior services from the agency; each client is