Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Resources and Care Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
April 24, 2020
The rapidly evolving challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have caused countless disruptions for individuals with disabilities and families across the country. In response, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) has developed a variety of resources for individuals with disabilities, families and caregivers, providers, and diagnosticians.
Webinars
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (VKC TRIAD) has developed a series of ongoing training webinars for families, providers, and professionals. While limited to 500 participants during the live presentations, all are archived on the VKC website. For more information or to view the archives, visit https://vkc.vumc.org/vkc/triad/covid19/:
Telemedicine-Based Autism Spectrum Disorder Assessment in Toddlers
Currently archived
This webinar provides training on an ASD tele-diagnostic triage tool for clinicians to use for families of young children in need of autism assessment and faced with geographic or social distancing barriers. Learn about TELE-ASD-PEDS, a new tool explicitly built for this purpose and under evaluation in an ongoing trial (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03847337). TELE-ASD-PEDS was designed for diagnosticians to use without need for prior training or standardized materials.
Early Intervention Focused Telehealth Support Series for Providers
Thursdays, 12 p.m. CST until further notice (sessions are archived)
This series introduces the remote delivery of early intervention services to young children with ASD and related developmental delays and disabilities. Through participation in this series, early intervention providers will receive information on the following topics:
- How to access web-based curricula on evidence-based practices to support young children with ASD. Available curricula include communication, challenging behavior, social play, sleep, and toilet training;
- How to best utilize web-based curricula to support families via telehealth;
- Strategies to support remote coaching and consultation with caregivers;
- Ethical considerations for the delivery of telehealth services; and
- Logistical consideration for providers and caregivers establishing telehealth services.
Families First Online Education Series
Thursdays, 1-1:30 p.m. CST until further notice (sessions are archived)
This series for caregivers of young children with autism will include information on topics such as how to schedule your day at home during this time, how to structure specific activities within your day, and how to continue to work on goal areas while services may be paused. Participants are able to attend as few or as many as they would like, as this is not a series.
Ethical Considerations for Delivering ABA Services via Telemedicine
(in partnership with Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities)
Currently archived
This webinar provides an introductory overview of key ethical considerations in delivering behavior analytic services via telemedicine. VKC TRIAD regularly uses various modes of tele-practice to reach and support families and educators in rural and low resource communities, and will share foundational information based on lessons learned and a broad expertise across a variety of telemedicine-based programming.
Introduction to use of the Screening Tool for Autism in Toddlers (STATTM): Training overview and discussion of tele-diagnostic applications Currently archived
The STAT is an empirically based, interactive measure to screen for autism in children between 24 and 36 months of age, with provisional scoring algorithms supporting its use in 3-year-old children and children under 24 months. It is designed for use by a wide range of pediatric providers who work with young children in assessment or intervention settings and who have experience with autism. This webinar is an introduction to use of the STAT, specifically:
- Overview of administration and scoring of 12 items;
- Practice scoring and interpretation of results;
- Explaining results to parents; and
- Diagnostic applications in primary care and telehealth.
Printable Resources
VKC staff members have created new resources that address concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19) in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and use plain language to explain necessary precautions such as social distancing and thorough handwashing. These resources have been added to a comprehensive list of coronavirus-related resources including visual supports, social stories, and videos from other disability support organizations.
Resources can be accessed from the Coronavirus Resources webpage of Tennessee Disability Pathfinder.
A list of coronavirus resources and information in Spanish (Recursos de Alivio de Desastres, Coronavirus) has been pulled together through the Camino Seguro website. Additionally, resources for health care providers are available on a dedicated webpage located at the top of the VKC's IDD Health Care Toolkit website.
Information and Referral
Though our physical offices remain closed, staff at Tennessee Disability Pathfinder are available via phone (800-640-4636) or email ([email protected]) to assist individuals in accessing additional resources.
Online Advice for Caregivers
VKC member Anjali Forber-Pratt worked with the American Psychological Association to outline strategies that may help to ease stressors by pointing to important ways parents and caregivers of children and youth with disabilities can cope with the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional strategies for adults with disabilities is forthcoming. Click here to read the article.
Courtney Taylor is director of VKC Communications.