mid 1990s
How Did Taggie's Model of Care Evolve?
Taggie's care plan has evolved over many years. In the early and mid 1990s, Christine Chandler, herself a licensed psychologist, and her husband Robert, then Taggie's live-in caregivers, consulted with the late Edward Podvoll, MD, psychiatrist, author and first director of the Contemplative Psychotherapy Department at Naropa University, and Jeff Fortuna, a licensed psychologist and sangha member, to develop an appropriate care plan. Mr. Fortuna remains involved as a consultant. They both used their medical and psychological background, meditation practice, and many years of experience working with clients, including autistic adults, to establish a basis for a care model.
Taggie's care is what's called an "attendant model," which comes from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Shambhala teachings. This model informs the Windhorse model, which Dr. Podvoll and Mr. Fortuna developed. In consultation with the Chandlers, components of the plan were modified to meet Taggie's specific needs at the time; for example, his care required caregivers to establish tight boundaries because of his propensity for violence during those years. This provided the framework on which to continue to build a model that works for Taggie and his caregivers as he changes over time.
In 2003, Ed Glenn who was Taggie's caregiver for a decade from the mid 1990s to mid 2006, provided a brief historical perspective:
At the time Robert and Christine Chandler began to work with professional guidance from Jeff Fortuna and Ed Podvoll to develop the strong nucleus of a specific care plan, Taggie had several challenges demanding attention. Most basic was a major seizure disorder resulting in two to three seizures a month, which seemed to effectively 'erase' development progress, making it hard to work with the behavioral challenges Taggie presented. These included attacks on staff ranging from bruise-inducing pinching to more serious, potentially life-threatening, attacks. He was severely underweight (at 104 pounds at 5'10", you could count his ribs) because he refused to eat well, and exhibited other problems such as extreme introversion, minimal verbalization, autistic-like ticks, and a general disinterest in his world.
As Chris Chandler, long-term caregiver and advisor for Taggie's care from 1992 to 1996, remarked in 2003:
Taggie is becoming happier because caregivers are starting to "get it," and he is responding to that. People are working with him in a relaxed way, with no expectations. eliminating talk about "gain," or at least putting the gains in a context of Taggie unfolding. He can now relax around the social world around him because people understand him better, are more keyed into what he is trying to "say." That is what his precious teaching and manifestation is: expect nothing, relax, and everything is perfect, just as it is.
Taggie has benefited greatly from all the hard work of those who worked directly with him and those who provided advise and support over the years. Taggie is happy, healthy at a good weight and frequently at ease in a variety of situations, environments and during travel. There is much gratitude for the many who have helped to bring this about.