Decision Making Help

There are five key areas that a court will look at to determine if someone is able to make important life decisions for themselves.  In order to determine the best option for your situation, we need to know if the adult with developmental disabilities can make independent decisions in any of these areas.

How to determine if someone is capable of making independent decisions?

Generally a person capable of making decisions for themselves in an area consistently exhibits the following behaviors:
  • ​Can understand and explain the decisions they need to make
  • Is able to listen to an opinion that is different from their own and compare it against their ideas to make the best decision
  • Consistently makes decisions that are in their best interest and does not put their body or property at risk

Next: Areas of independent decision making