AUCD Central Office News

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AUCD Unleashed: The Power of Engagement

Ink your calendars for AUCD Unleashed: The Power of Engagement on November 9-12, 2014. The 2014 AUCD Conference theme reflects our goal of achieving an elevated level of engagement with our respective and collective communities, networks, and well beyond in order to better inform, enhance, and enrich the work we all do to improve the lives of people with disabilities and their families. Read more...

AUCD Strategic Map 2014

The AUCD Strategic Map is intended as a high level view of the vision, focus and priorities of our organization and network over the next 2-3 years. This map can serve as a guide for our collective work and mission as well as provide a clear and consistent message to the broader disability community and other key stakeholders. In the map, "AUCD" refers to the collective mission and efforts of both the Association and the network as a whole, which provides a solid communication tool as we seek to elevate our impact and visibility. Comments Welcome Through September 2. Read more...

July 26 marked the 24th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Celebrations will occur across the country, especially as the community gears up for the 25th anniversary next year. The Six by '15 campaign is certainly looking forward to these years' celebrations and the exciting work we have to do in the coming year to achieve our goals. Read more...

"[Taryn] is brilliant, passionate, and outcome-oriented. I cannot imagine a better person to help the White House engage with the disability community as they pursue President Obama's robust agenda," said Andy Imparato, AUCD's Executive Director. Read more...

AUCD warmly welcomes Melody Imoh to our staff as a Program Assistant! Melody brings a wealth of experience and will provide programmatic and operations support across all of AUCD's programs and departments. Read more...

Kurtz has previously served as the Center's Clinical Operations director, Autism Spectrum Disorders Program director, Discipline Head for Autism and Related Disorders with LEND, and is assistant professor of pediatrics. He has several years of clinical experience providing specialized psychological services in clinical, school, and forensic settings. Read more...

New Psychologists Join Indiana LEND Program

Elesia Hines, PsyD, HSPP, has been appointed an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics in the Indiana University School of Medicine at the Riley Child Development Center-LEND Program at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Lani Jones, PsyD, HSPP, has been appointed an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics in the Indiana University School of Medicine at the Riley Child Development Center at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Read more...

Psychology Trainee at Mailman Center (FL UCEDD) selected to join Prevention Science Early Career Reviewer Program

Sara M. St. George, M.A., a pediatric psychology resident at the Mailman Center for Child Development who will join the Miller School as a post-doctoral fellow in public health this fall, was selected to join the Prevention Science Early Career Reviewer Program. Read more...

Network News - Activities & Resources

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UCEDDs Take Part in a Thank You Video for Senator Harkin for his Dedication of People with Disabilities

On July 16, 2014, the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP) presented this " Thank You to Senator Harkin! " video in recognition of the Senator's work on the developing and sustaining this national network. More than a dozen UCEDDs are lead entities on the implementation of the AT Act in their state. Read more...

Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities Hosts an Education Policy and Management Trainee

The Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD) at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland is pleased to host an education policy and management trainee this summer. Ashley Manning Foxworth has a bachelor's degree in English, a master's degree in teaching, and a law degree, as well as two years of teaching experience in the District of Columbia Public Schools. Read more...

Secret Agent Society: Establishing an Innovative Social Skills Intervention within a Community Mental Health Setting: Implementation and Necessary Adaptions (USC CA UCEDD)

Currently, post-doctoral trainees from Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) outpatient mental health clinic associated with the USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) are engaged in implementing the second round of pilot groups of The Secret Agent Society (SAS). SAS is a social skill group intervention for children with High Functioning Autism from the ages of 8 to 12 years old, shown to be effective in Australia, and developed by Renae Beaumont Ph.D. of the University of Queensland and other researchers in Australia. Read more...

Mothers of Children With Disabilities Benefit From Peer-led Intervention (TN UCEDD/LEND)

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD/LEND) examined two treatment programs in a large number of primary caregivers of a child with a disability. Participants in both groups experienced improvements in mental health, sleep and overall life satisfaction and showed less dysfunctional parent-child interactions. The findings have been released in the journal Pediatrics. Read more...

Dr. Trina Spencer of the Institute for Human Development was recently awarded a three year research grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences. The long-term goal of the grant entitled, "Development of a Dual Language Narrative Curriculum" will be to promote academic success among young Spanish-speaking English learners. This is the first grant received by the university from this funding agency. Read More...

This collection thus seeks to explore the richness of disability disclosure. Building on and extending the work of the "Disability Disclosure in/and Higher Education" conference, this work will explore questions about disability disclosures in all corners of higher education, from a variety of theoretical, methodological, conceptual, and (multi)(inter)disciplinary perspectives. Deadline for Submissions: October 15, 2014. Read More...

A free resource, Increasing Access and Success in the STEM Disciplines: A Model for Supporting the Transition of High School Students with Disabilities into STEM-Related Postsecondary Education, is now available online courtesy of the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies (ME UCEDD) and Maine EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research). Read More...

Please check out a series of new videos on the Department of Disability and Human Development's Undergraduate Minor coursework website   Read More...

There's greater awareness of the dangers of head injuries in sports activities, but traumatic brain injury can happen off the field as well. n fact, Jennifer Tenney, program manager for the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Implementation Partnership Grant Program at the West Virginia University Center for Excellence in Disabilities (CED), said the prevalence of TBIs in West Virginia is much greater than realized. Tenney, a certified brain injury specialist with the CED, said that is why the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration is funding grants to better serve this population. Read More...

Nine Tennessee-based congressional staff members representing eight offices visited the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD/LEND) on June 25 to get a firsthand look at the breadth of services the Center offers to the congressional members' constituents, regardless of where they live in the state. Read More...

Submissions

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News items may be submitted for consideration via the
AUCDigest Submission page.

Updates from IHDD (GA UCEDD) Olmstead & Ending Segregation

To encourage law students to become the next "Sue Jamieson's", IHDD began hosting panels at Law School around the country. Olmstead is commonly referred to as the Brown v. Board of Education of disability rights cases - yet few people outside of the disability community know much about the history, outcome, and positive effect on society. Sue joined IHDD as a staff member to help lead lead this effort. Along with Rebecca Brightwell at IHDD, they have been initiating a series of events. Read more...

Upcoming AUCD Webinars

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Whats in it for People with Disabilities and the AUCD Network
August 20 | 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET

The Multicultural Council Presents: Supporting Former Refugee Families with Children with Disabilities in LEND Programs
August 26 | 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET

Read more about our webinars and register.

August 7-9, 2014
Sacramento, CA

September 30-October 2,  2014
 New Orleans, LA

September 30-October 2,  2014
 Indianapolis, IN

October 2 - 3, 2014
 Online Broadcast Live & Houston, TX

October 7 - 10, 2014
 Albuquerque, NM

October 16 - 17, 2014
 Baltimore, MD

November 9-12, 2014
 Washington, DC

December 3, 2014
 Washington, DC