AUCD, ICI-UMass Boston, and Humanity & Inclusion (HI) invite you to join a Professional Fellows alumni webinar on how university centers, DPOs, and other disability rights groups in the United States and East Africa can create independent, sustainable partnerships that promote inclusive employment and education in lasting ways.

Please join us to hear about national work and discuss issues pertinent to the topic of supporting autistic individuals as they transition to adulthood. Dr. Eric Moody from Wyoming Institute for Disabilities will moderate a three expert panel presentation and facilitate questions and comments from webinar participants.

Staff from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will discuss DS-Connect: The Down Syndrome Registry (https://DSConnect.nih.gov) and what it can offer families. They will describe how families can fill out surveys, participate in research, and view the aggregate de-identified data. NIH staff will also show how a researcher or clinician interested in any aspect of Down syndrome can use the registry for learning about Down syndrome and recruiting participants for studies. Webinar participants will also learn about progress in studies being supported by DS-Connect.

REGISTRATION for the 2018 Coleman Conference is now open. For more information about this year's conference and to register, please visit: www.colemaninstitute.org

The Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Competency Guidelines, created in Michigan, grew from competencies developed for Part C by that state's Department of Education. They have evolved to capture a broad range of knowledge and skill areas and the opportunity to earn a credential (Endorsement) for professionals who serve pregnant women, infants, young children, and families across all disciplines and service sectors, including early intervention. Presentation will include the usefulness of these competencies in supporting social-emotional development and relational health for families where the infant or young child is experiencing a delay or disability.

Traditionally, professionals have been trained in a single discipline usually corresponds to an area of development Additionally, most disciplines are trained to be able to offer services and intervene across a broad age range: the lifespan of an individual. Upon completion of a program of study in a discipline, an individual is then licensed in a discipline to provide services to persons across the lifespan. These training and licensing practices create two challenges to providing effective early childhood intervention to infants and young children and their families: 1) interventions may be focused to specific areas of development by discipline specific interventionists (e.g. an occupational therapist provides specific motor intervention and does not incorporate any other areas of development into her therapy/intervention); and 2) interventions may be provided by a person who does not have any specific experience or competence in infancy or early childhood

Daisy Christensen, Epidemiologist at NCBDDD at CDC, will present on the recent "Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years - Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2014" data release. The latest findings from the ADDM Network provide evidence that the prevalence of ASD is higher than previously reported estimates and continues to vary among certain racial/ethnic groups and communities. With prevalence of ASD ranging from 13.1 to 29.3 per 1,000 children aged 8 years in different communities throughout the United States, the need for behavioral, educational, residential, and occupational services remains high, as does the need for increased research on both genetic and nongenetic risk factors for ASD. During the latter half of the webinar, Rebecca Wolf, Team Lead, "Learn the Signs. Act Early." at CDC, and Brian Barger, Director of Research and Evaluation at GSU's UCEDD, will present on the study and findings of, "Better Together: Developmental Screening and Monitoring Best Identify Children who need Early Intervention".