Placement Program
The placement process begins while a monkey is still in training. Our placement staff closely monitors each monkey’s progress, paying special attention to each individual’s strongest skills and talents while gaining a full understanding of each monkey’s personality and preferences.
Staff members review the pool of approved monkey helper applicants to select the person and living situation that best matches each particular monkey. In some cases, where a monkey has special health care needs, these needs are taken into consideration to find the home that can provide for him or her. We do not place a monkey until we are sure we have just the right home.
Once a monkey has learned a repertoire of basic helping tasks and has been matched to an ideal candidate, the monkey is then custom trained in special skills that are important to that individual.
Finally, the day comes to begin the actual placement. A Helping Hands placement specialist travels to the recipient’s home to teach the new partners how to care for and work with each other and to install the new adaptive equipment they will use in their life together. During this intense process, the monkey and human partners learn each other’s capabilities and practice their communication skills. Creating and solidifying a new placement is usually a 6-8 day process.
When a Helping Hands monkey is introduced into a home, the recipient once again knows some freedom and a sense of independence. The monkey can help a person to eat at will, scratch an itch, reposition a hand or a foot after a muscle spasm, assist with use of a telephone and computer, or handle a DVD. The accomplishment of seemingly simple tasks establishes a foundation for a trusting relationship between a monkey and his companion.
After the initial placement week, the Helping Hands placement specialist provides daily telephone support to ensure that the monkey and human partners continue develop their working and emotional partnership. Ongoing placement support continues throughout the lifetime of the placement.
The expenses of the placement week, the adaptive equipment provided at the time of the placement, and the ongoing lifetime support cost approximately $15,000 per placement.
All together, the cost for a monkey placement - from birth to death - represents a $35,000 investment.
Monkey Helper Recipient Guidelines
Initiating The Application Process
- AT LEAST ONE YEAR POST-INJURY
A quadriplegic individual should have sufficient time for his/her life to stabilize after an injury. Home environment, attendant care, vocational training/plans, etc. should all be in place before an individual can be considered for a monkey helper. - A RELIABLE ATTENDANT SITUATION
Since the attendant will be the primary caregiver to the monkey, it is critically important that the attendant also be involved in the decision to receive a monkey helper. - MAJORITY OF TIME SPENT AT HOME
A monkey is trained to work in the home environment and it is unfair to leave the monkey alone on a regular basis. As such, individuals who are not in school and do not work full-time outside of the home are ideally suited to having a monkey helper. - SUFFICIENT MOTOR ABILITY TO CONTROL AN ELECTRIC WHEELCHAIR
In order to perform tasks with a monkey helper, an individual must be capable of independent wheelchair mobility to move about the home environment. The same motor ability used to activate a puff-sip, hand, or chin control unit will be utilized to control monkey communication equipment. - FUNCTIONING ELECTRIC WHEELCHAIR
Much of the equipment used to communicate with a monkey is attached to a wheelchair. For this reason, the wheelchair that will be used on a daily basis must be fully functioning before an individual can be selected to receive a monkey helper. - UNIMPAIRED COGNITIVE FUNCTION
Individuals who receive monkeys must have good decision-making skills, especially in situations when monkeys, like children, occasionally “test the rules.” Individuals who are expected to benefit from monkey assistance and companionship must also be able to coordinate and monitor daily care and health of their monkeys. - DEMONSTRATED RESPONSIBILITY AND MATURITY
Since the responsibility of having a monkey is comparable to the responsibility of having a young child, individuals who apply for monkey helpers should be at an adult age and stage in life when they would be appropriate for taking on the responsibility of having a child. - ADEQUATE VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Individuals must be able to speak clearly with their monkeys. This increases a monkey’s ability to understand requests and respond successfully. - NO SMALL CHILDREN IN THE HOUSEHOLD
Monkeys require a stable, uncluttered home environment in order to perform their tasks accurately and reliably. Young children under the age of 10 make it difficult to maintain the structure needed by monkeys. - A NEED FOR INDEPENDENCE
Monkey helper recipients are selected based on a monkey’s ability to help them become more independent. Monkeys enjoy manipulating objects during helping activities, and these activities form the basis of the mutually rewarding relationship that is so important to both the monkey and his or her companion. - A DESIRE FOR COMPANIONSHIP
Monkeys rely on the relationship and affection that develops with their human companions. This relationship must be as important to the monkey helper recipient as it is to the monkey. - ENTHUSIASM
Enthusiasm comes in many forms. Whether it’s taking control of one’s application process, showing the desire to become more independent, demonstrating the willingness to adapt one’s home environment to accommodate a monkey, or having the motivation to drill with the monkey in his or her tasks on a daily basis during the adjustment period after placement all show that the individual is eager to take an active part in the program.
As a final note, although the cost to train, place, and equip a monkey is considerable, Helping Hands does not charge for either its services or its monkey helpers.
Individuals who meet the above criteria should write a letter describing themselves in terms of each of these criteria. Letters should also include:
- a brief description of one’s disability, including any changes in physical ability over the last ten years
- a description of one’s pet history
Send letters to:
Megan TalbertDirector of Placements
Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled
541 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02134