If you are not redirected automatically to a newly developed National Gateway to Self-Determination website within an 3 to 5 seconds, then please go to HTTP://NGSD.ORGNomination Letter for Resource Guide Materials
June 23, 2010
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Nomination Letter for Resource Guide Materials
As part of a National Training Initiative on Self-Determination (SD) recently funded by the U.S. Administration on Developmental Disabilities, we are developing a Resource Guide of approaches, strategies, resources, and curricula in self-determination.
We hope to make this Resource Guide a valuable tool for use by a broad audience of individuals including people with developmental disabilities, professionals, direct support personnel, parents and siblings, educators, and self-advocates. We plan to develop a web-accessible, national listing of recommended programs and resources in self-determination that can be utilized by all constituencies.
To select and organize the contents of the Resource Guide, we need to adopt a clear operational definition of SD so that we can decide what belongs in the Guide and what does not.
We understand self-determination to refer to the characteristics of a person that lead them to make choices and decisions based on their own preferences and interests, to monitor and regulate their own actions, and to be goal-oriented and self-directing. The DD Act states the actions of an individual with developmental disabilities are self-determined when the person, with assistance: (a) has the ability and opportunity to make choices and decisions, (b) has the ability and opportunity to exercise control over services, supports, and other assistance, (c) has the authority to control resources and obtain needed services, (d) has the opportunity to participate and contribute to their communities, and (e) has the support, including financial, to advocate, develop leadership skills, become trained as a self-advocate, and participate in coalitions and policy-making.
These definitions suggest that both the abilities of the person and the opportunities presented by the environment contribute to the degree of self-determination that can be expressed. Therefore we have adopted a social-ecological approach by which we consider self-determination to reflect the interaction of within-person and environmental factors.
In order to be considered for inclusion in this Resource Guide, your training program, curriculum, or approach should:
- Address one or more of the person-specific elements of self-determination and/or enhance the social or physical environment so that it is likely to support a person to be more self-determining;
- Be likely to result in personal outcomes and quality of life improvement consistent with self-determination (e.g., opportunities for supported living, employment, community participation and membership, and personal relationships);
- Have been used successfully by or with people having developmental disabilities, their families, or their support professionals;
- Have some formative or summative evaluation data associated with it; and
- Be consistent with prevailing approaches and values in the field of developmental disabilities.
The resource you are submitting should ideally meet each one of the above criteria, as demonstrated by your responses to the on-line or paper questionnaire.
If you would like to submit a resource for consideration in the Guide, please visit http://www.ngsd.org/sites/default/files/attachments/resource_nomination_form.pdf and complete the on-line nomination questionnaire. (A paper version is available as well, but online submissions are preferred. You can request a paper version by calling the number below). The questionnaire identifies person-specific and environmental elements of SD, at least one of which your resource should address. In addition, your submission should enhance quality of life, have some degree of measured effectiveness, and be consistent with prevailing approaches and values in the field of I/DD. Whether completing the online or paper nomination questionnaire, be sure to provide either a copy of your curriculum/materials/or training or a link to an electronic copy of the relevant materials (curriculum, trainer's manual, etc.). Submit hard copies to:
George Gotto, Ph.D.
National Gateway to Self Determination Project
UMKC Institute for Human Development (UCEDD)
215 W. Pershing, 6th Floor
Kansas City, MO 64108
816-235-5334 [email protected]
Please help us achieve this important goal by submitting your materials for review and possible inclusion as soon as possible. Also, if you know of others who have developed similar materials in self determination, would you pass this information and accompanying nomination form along? Thank you very much for your assistance.
Sincerely,
UCEDD Leadership Consortium - National Gateway to Self-Determination
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Carl Calkins, Ph.D., Co-PI |
Michel L. Wehmeyer, Ph.D., Co-PI Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) |
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Andy Bacon, Ph.D. |
Tamar Heller, Ph.D. |
Hill Walker, Ph.D. |
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