1. You are here: AUCD Home
  2. News
  3. Publications
  4. ITAC Bulletin Board - February 2020

ITAC Bulletin Board - February 2020

February 6, 2020

As you begin the current academic semester and welcome back your cohort of emerging leaders, we recognize the importance of delivering information and resources that may be timely to MCH training programs. It is our hope that you find the resources contained in this newsletter useful in supporting the work of your faculty, staff and trainees.

You'll notice that the newsletter sections mirror the AUCD Strategic Map priority areas. In doing so, we wish to highlight network resources and efforts that guide our collective work and mission.

Grow Diverse and Skilled Leaders

This section will highlight resources / opportunities for leadership at all levels by cultivating and equipping leaders with the skills to engage communities and improve systems.

Newly Added Training Toolbox Strategies!
ITAC's Training Toolbox serves as resource for programs to share innovative training strategies/activities on topics related to leadership and Maternal and Child Health. This Toolbox makes it easy for your program to browse through different, proven methods used by other programs to teach important concepts to trainees. This year, we are adding/highlighting new Toolbox strategies each quarter that align with MCH Leadership Competencies.

  • #2 (Self-Reflection): Oregon LEND uses a structured "Look-Back Form" to guide family trainees to reflect on their experiences supporting families in various clinics. This approach can be applied to trainees from other disciplines across settings.
  • #8 (Family-Professional Partnerships): Washington LEND piloted an online book club as a required activity for all trainees to learn more about the "dance" of family partnerships, including an interactive discussion board and meaningful engagement with the selected book's author.

Please note that these are brief summaries of the strategies. By clicking the links you will be able to learn more details about each strategy, associated learning objectives, benefits, supplemental resources/links, and the challenges/lessons learned. There are nearly 120 total strategies to browse!

Apply Today! 2020 AUCD Leadership Academy
Application Deadline: March 2, 2020
https://bit.ly/2PaffWR
The AUCD Leadership Academy is a year-long program designed to enhance the skills of current and emerging leaders from the disability network to build coalitions to improve systems of supports and services. The Leadership Academy seeks participants from UCEDDs, LENDs, and their disability partners to come together to immerse themselves for a week of study, shared experiences, self-evaluation, and skill development. Participants will engage with their cohort, Academy staff, local coaches, and national allies in the months before and the year following the experience.

Register Today! 2020 AUCD Leadership Academy Informational Webinar
Thursday, February 13, 2020, 4:00p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET
This webinar will offer interested potential applicants an opportunity to interact with AUCD Leadership Academy faculty and alumni. The webinar will also feature a brief overview of the 2020 Academy curriculum and timeline. 

Apply Today! RWJF Clinical Scholars
Application Deadline: March 11, 2020
Do you want to collaborate with other health care providers from diverse disciplines to advance health equity? Would you like to enhance and apply your leadership skills and join a growing national network dedicated to building a Culture of Health? If so, apply now to be a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Clinical Scholar. Read more.

2020 EHDI Meeting Scholarship Application for LEND Audiology Trainees
Application Deadline: February 14, 2020
AUCD is pleased to announce the availability of six (6) scholarships of up to $500 each to support LEND audiology trainees in attending the in Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Meeting on March 8-10, 2020 in Kansas City, MO. Trainees from any LEND programs, not just those receiving supplemental funds, are eligible for the award. Read more about eligibility, awardee responsibilities, and application requirements. All applicants are required to submit a letter of support from their LEND Director or Training Director.

Model Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This section will highlight resources / opportunities to reach out, engage, and include underrepresented groups to advance our knowledge and impact.

AUCD Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit Updates
AUCD provides and continually seeks resources and strategies to help network members "model diversity, equity and inclusion" through its Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit. Recently added examples include: (1) Guides for both healthcare providers and healthcare administrators to Providing Effective Communication and Language Assistance Services, (2) Leadership for Equity and Inclusivity in Schools: The Cultural Work of Inclusive Schools, and (3) For Pain Care, Race Shouldn't Matter. But It Does. 

Making Quality Improvement More Inclusive
Nearly half of all 52 LENDs participate in the LEND Program Quality Improvement (LPQI) network, using a combination of self-report and faculty-observation measures to determine trainee progress in core competency areas, specifically Interdisciplinary/Interprofessional Teaming and Family-Professional Partnership. Some recent developments of note from this initiative include:

  • Developing and implementing revised faculty observation measures that reflects a much broader range (i.e. beyond clinical settings) of possible trainee experiences, and now revising those measures to align more closely with the MCH Leadership Competencies, Version 4.0;
  • Adding a new "Policy and Systems Change" component to the corpus of faculty observation measures to be rolled out in Fall 2020; and
  • Working with the original developers of the self-report measure to develop a plain language version that is accessible to all trainees and can also be rolled out in Fall 2020.

A priority for the 2020-2021 training year is to make the national benchmark data as accurate as possible, which means adding more sites. If interested, please contact Ben Kaufman at AUCD ([email protected]) about scheduling a brief orientation to the process, platform, and TA/resources available to support data collection. 

 

Advance Policies and Practices that Improve Lives

This section will highlight resources / opportunities that increase the use of evidence-based, culturally-responsive, and inclusive policies and practices.

Disability Policy Seminar 2020 and AUCD Policy Forum
March 22-25, 2020, Washington, DC
The annual Disability Policy Seminar hosted by The Arc, UCP, ASA, AUCD, AAIDD, NACDD, NDSC, and SABE is the premier opportunity to develop relationships with legislators/staff on Capitol Hill and advance the grassroots movement for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For 40 years, this unique platform has offered the opportunity to come together with passionate advocates, self-advocates, experts, and professionals in the field to learn about key issues. All AUCD Emerging Leaders, trainees, and guests are also invited to an exclusive Sunday pre-Seminar Policy Forum. Attendees will have exclusive access to Hill staffers and former trainees now working in policy, and learn from the experts how to best craft your messages for Wednesday's Hill visits. An evening reception will provide a comfortable background for Emerging Leaders to meet and network with over 200 peers from around the country in a disability space.

AUCD Disability Policy Resources and Information Available
Looking for policy education materials and resources available through AUCD? Check out our Policy One-Pager to direct you to what you need. These may be particularly helpful as trainees, fellows and others from your programs prepare to come to DC in March for the Disability Policy Seminar. 

Health Care Transition for Adolescents and Young Adults
This new one-hour online CME course on health care transition offers a review of the updated clinical recommendations on health care transition and tested quality improvement approach: the Six Core Elements.TM It is designed for pediatric and adult primary and specialty physicians, nurses, and social workers to prepare youth and their caregivers to assume responsibility for managing their chronic conditions and transfer from a pediatric to an adult model of health care. The course is available to a national audience and is jointly sponsored by HSCSN, The National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health/Got Transition, and the DC Department of Health.

Announcing Two New Act Early Ambassadors!
Please join us in welcoming two new Act Early Ambassadors to the cohort. We are delighted to bring Cari Roestel (Illinois) and Rachel Demma (Maryland) on board! Read more.

Learn the Signs. Act Early. AMCHP's State Systems Grant: Eight Years in Review
The Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) is excited to announce the release of a new interactive resource called "Learn the Signs. Act Early. AMCHP's State Systems Grant: Eight Years in Review." This product presents a review of AMCHP's Learn the Signs. Act Early. (LTSAE) state systems grants, which are a part of the larger CDC LTSAE initiative. Read more.

Conduct and Apply Research and Share Knowledge

This section will highlight resources / opportunities that engage the disability community to identify priorities and conduct research with the goal of accessible presentation of information.

Spotlight: AUCD's Council on Research and Evaluation (CORE)
CORE will hold its quarterly call on Thursday March 5, 2020 at 2:00pm ET. To subscribe yourself and/or a faculty member from your program to the CORE e-mail list and get more information about Council priorities and activities, please contact Luis Valdez ([email protected]).

Advances in Autism Research and Care Webinar Series: 2020 Schedule
Please join the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network/Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health for its upcoming Advances in Autism Research and Care (AARC) webinar series, including:

  • February 20, 2020 at 2:00pm ET - "Pragmatic Trials: Real World Evidence to Inform Real World Practice"
  • March 26, 2020 at 12:00pm ET - "Creating and Sustaining Diverse Study Enrollment"

Register for these webinars here. View archive of past webinars here. 

Webinar: NIDILRR Research Grant Program Overview
Thursday, February 20, 2020, 4:00p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ET
The National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is part of the federal Administration on Community Living and is a primary funder of applied research impacting individuals with disabilities. Learn about NIDILRR's research agenda, unique funding mechanisms, and programs, and understand the pathway from research idea to research funding from NIDILRR. Register here.

Resources and Announcements

Now Archived! AUCD2019 Opening Plenary Recording
Whether you were there in person or wanted to see what you missed, be compelled to action by listening to powerful disability leaders featured on stage during the AUCD 2019 opening plenary, Be the Change: Perspectives on a More Inclusive Movement.

Just Released! Continuing Education/Community Training NIRS Tip Sheet
The purpose of this resource is to assist data coordinators/program staff with determining how to categorize Continuing Education/Community Training activities in NIRS. This includes specific information for LEND and DBP programs. 

How to Help Puerto Rico
You can help Puerto Rico as it continues to be impacted by earthquakes. Supplies are needed by people who cannot stay in their homes due to earthquake damage. Puerto Rico's disability network coordinates a collection and distribution center for supplies needed by the disability community. Read more.