Parent-Mediated Responsive Feeding Therapy for Tube Weaning in Children with Neurodevelopmental Conditions: A Comparative Case Series

The purpose this program is to compare outcomes of a combined hunger-based and parent-mediated responsive feeding approach in three children with neurodevelopmental conditions and longstanding G-tube dependence.​

Person-Centered Service Planning Practices Supporting People with IDD Across the United States

Person-centered service planning (PCSP) is an integral component of Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) for individuals with IDD. This research project examines PCSP practices, as implemented by case managers, in IDD 1915(c) Medicaid waivers across the US. Results indicate a wide range of processes, offering a preliminary understanding of how PCSP practices differ across states. This presentation is relevant to professionals, disability advocates, and other attendees interested in HCBS.

• Download PCSP_Caughman & Crabb

Family-Professional Partnerships: Elevating Experience to Expertise

This session explores how lived experience becomes recognized as professional expertise. Two Family Faculty/Lived Experience Partners share strategies for building sustained roles in research, teaching, and program design – moving family partnership beyond a symbolic presence. Through interactive group discussion, attendees will leave with practical next steps for their own programs. Relevant to Family/Parent Leaders, LEND Directors and training faculty, and any program seeking to authentically include families.

?Neurodivergent people just get each other?: Navigating friendship and community in the transition to adulthood for autistic adults.

Qualitative interviews with transition-age autistic adults provide insight into their experiences building meaningful friendships and relationships during the journey into adulthood. Attendees will learn the barriers autistic adults encountered in forming meaningful connections and strategies for finding community in adulthood for autistic young adults.

From information silos to shared knowledge: Organizing information for communication, collaboration, and future technologies

The West Virginia University Center for Excellence in Disabilities has organized information using familiar tools such as Excel to develop resource directories, training databases, and other knowledge management tools. This process has improved alignment, reduced duplication, strengthened communication, and created a foundation for future technologies, including AI-assisted information retrieval and knowledge sharing. This 75-minute panel will showcase the process, development, and practical application of these tools.

The Student Behind the Mask: Self-Advocating After Years of Silent Struggles

Many students living with invisible disabilities come across as proficient in their academic work while silently struggling with executive functioning, anxious thoughts and feelings, and feelings of exhaustion, masking their challenges from others. This poster shows how late diagnosis, self-awareness, and advocacy help with your journey towards self-determination and thriving rather than surviving. This poster is relevant to people with lived experience, family advocates, and teaching professionals.

Strive to Thrive: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study of Aging Family Caregivers of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Strive to Thrive is a multi-phase research project that seeks to identify supports that facilitate thriving for people with IDD and their families. Integrated findings from the first two phases, an environmental scan and a national caregiver survey, along with key recommendations, will be presented. The results contribute to guiding practical strategies for providers and policy to enhance life quality, autonomy, and well-being for adults with IDD and their families.

• Download Strive to Thrive Poster

Designing the Family SHADE Leadership Network: Utilizing a Community of Practice Framework to Support Participation and Engagement Among Families

The Family SHADE Leadership Network (FSLN) is a community of parents and caregivers working to improve Delaware's system of care for children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN). The FSLN is a hallmark component of the Family SHADE project, which uses a collective impact approach to build state and local capacity to serve CYSHCN. This presentation overviews the FSLN and provides strategies for fostering family engagement across statewide initiatives.

• Download Clark & Mallory - FSLN Poster

From Digital Data to Program Scalability: A Trans-Institutional Partnership with Outpatient Brain Injury Clubhouse Members and Leaders

A team of brain injury survivors, clubhouse leaders, and researchers evaluated an outpatient community clubhouse to understand member experiences, barriers to participation, and the effects of participation on brain injury survivors. This poster will describe the methods taken to include brain injury survivor members in all areas of the study, measures taken to protect clubhouse members with cognitive disabilities, program evaluation findings, and clubhouse model recommendations.

Assets, Resources, and Adaptation: Mapping Parental Resilience in Developmental Disabilities Through the Resilience Portfolio Model

Moving beyond deficit models, this qualitative scoping review uses the Resilience Portfolio Model to explore protective factors among parents raising children with developmental disabilities. Findings synthesize four key resilience domains: meaning-making, interpersonal, regulatory, and environmental strengths. Implications for strength-based practice, policy, and family-centered care are discussed. Relevant to social work, psychology, public health, nursing, special education, occupational therapy, and anyone who identifies as a family ally.

• Download Yunzi-QSR parent resilience-AUCD2026.pdf