Aging People with Intellectual Disabilities: Current Challenges and Effective Interventions

Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders September 2016, Volume 3, Issue 3, pp 266–272 | Cite as Aging People with Intellectual Disabilities: Current Challenges and Effective Interventions AuthorsAuthors and affiliations Jin-Ding LinLan-Ping LinShang-Wei Hsu Review Paper First Online: 10 June 2016 Received: 06 June 2015 Accepted: 03 June 2016 1 Shares 859 Downloads 1 Citations Abstract Life expectancy of adults with intellectual disabilities is lengthening toward that of adults without intellectual disabilities, but daily practice indicates that this aging is relatively often not a healthy aging compared with the general population. There is a lack of a concerted response to ensure that the best possible health and social care is provided for persons with intellectual disabilities in later life. Based on current literature reviews, this paper aims to present information regarding challenging issues in aging people with intellectual disabilities such as demographic characteristics in their aging, physical and mental health problems, and their aging health and social service needs. Finally, this paper reviews integrative service interventions for aging people with intellectual disabilities, which include the people-centered and personal choices approach and caregiver and care professional training, and suggests an integrative health promotion approach as future planning to eliminate the health disparities for aging adults with intellectual disabilities. KeywordsAging Intellectual disability Health disparity Integrative health promotion  This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Notes Acknowledgments This work has been financially supported in part by the Ministry of Sciences and Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China, under the research title “Healthy Aging Initiatives for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Taiwan: A Social Ecological Approach (grant no. NSC 101-2314-B-016-026-MY3).” Compliance with Ethical Standards Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. References Aman, M. G., Benson, B. A., Farmer, C. A., Hall, K. L., & Malone, K. M. (2007). Project MED: effects of a medication education booklet series for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 45, 33–45.CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar Anderson, L. L., Humphries, K., McDermott, S., Marks, B., Sisirak, J., & Larson, S. (2013). The state of the science of health and wellness for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 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