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Guardianship and Alternatives: Protection and Empowerment
On March 30, Dr. Karrie Shogren of the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities testified in Washington, DC before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging at a briefing titled, "Guardianship and Alternatives: Protection and Empowerment." Dr. Shogren, Director of the Kansas UCEDD, testified about her work on the Supported Decision-Making Inventory that she has developed and the relationship to guardianship. View the recorded briefing here.
New Program Builds Business and Leadership Acumen for Early Childhood Educators
As a part of the Association of University Centers for Disabilities and the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities for the state of Missouri, the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Human Development (UMKC-IHD) along with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is launching a training and coaching program over a two years starting in 2023. Read more...
Imaging Tech Produces Real-time 3D Maps of Uterine Contractions During Labor
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed new imaging technology that can produce 3D maps showing the magnitude and distribution of uterine contractions in real-time and across the entire surface of the uterus during labor. Building on imaging methods long used on the heart, this technology can image uterine contractions noninvasively and in much greater detail than currently available tools, which only indicate the presence or absence of a contraction. Read more...
Release of the Annual Disability Statistics Collection
On February 7, 2023, StatsRRTC at the Institute on Disability released key findings from the Annual Disability Statistics Collection. The annual report addresses critical gaps in national and state data related to people with disabilities by synthesizing complex data from numerous U.S. federal agencies into accessible formats." We're getting our first look at post-COVID statistics for many indicators because the COVID lockdown corrupted the collection of 2020 data," said Andrew Houtenville, PhD, Director of StatsRRTC. Read more...
Opening Doors, and Minds
 MN LEND faculty member's massive open online course (MOOC) is a Coursera hit. Wendy Looman's course is about families with young children, and how environmental factors such as housing and nutritious food, influence their outcomes. The course is part of a Coursera specialization created by Karen Monsen and Daniel Pesut, both of the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing. The specialization was recently listed as one of the 25 most popular free university courses by Class Central, a provider of online course listings. Read more...
UCLA PEERS for Careers: Breaking Employment Barriers for Autistic Adults
 There will be an estimated 700,000 autistic adults aging into adulthood over the next 10 years and yet, a staggering 80% of autistic adults are unemployed. UCLA PEERS for Careers is an innovative offering to support autistic undergraduate and graduate students in successfully transitioning from post-secondary education to the workforce. The program is housed within the UCLA Tarjan Center, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) and has been made possible by the support of Northwestern Mutual, Autism Speaks, the Max Factor Family Foundation, and the tireless work of the program’s Advisory Committee. Read more...
UNMC Munroe Meyer Institute LEND Trainees Collaborate with Special Olympics Nebraska
 The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) physical therapy students and Munroe Meyer Institute (MMI) LEND trainees partnered with Special Olympics Nebraska for their LEND Community Learning and Leadership project. They were involved with helping Special Olympics Nebraska (SONE) provide various services to the community, their largest being a 6-week Young Athletes Camp hosted at a local elementary school. Read more...
Will SARS-CoV-2 During Pregnancy Impact Child's Neurodevelopment
.png "Will SARS-CoV-2 During Pregnancy Impact Child's Neurodevelopment?") Scientists led by the Lieber Institute for Brain Development are studying how a mother’s SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy affects the biology of the placenta and the corresponding trajectory of the child’s brain development, including the risk for neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. The project stems from a collaboration between the Lieber Institute for Brain Development on the Johns Hopkins medical campus in Baltimore, Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and the Women’s Health Integrated Research Center at Inova Health System in Virginia. Read more...
Innovative Transition Age Youth Curriculum Launched by JFK Partners' Colorado Office of Employment First
 The Colorado Office of Employment First (COEF) and JFK Partners, the University Center for Excellence on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Colorado, is proud to announce a partnership with the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council (CDDC) that launched a new statewide training, “A Brighter Future: Navigating the World of Disability and Employment.” Read more...
UCONN UCEDD Awarded National Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Development Equity Center
 Mary Beth Bruder, PhD Director of UConn UCEDD & LEND, and Tawara Goode, Director of Georgetown UCEDD & LEND, has been awarded a $10 million federal grant by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education to provide technical assistance to increase equity in the delivery of early childhood intervention services to infants and young children from diverse backgrounds who have disabilities or developmental delays. Read more...
Iowa's Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Launches Training Series
Iowa’s Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health (CEBH) recently launched a virtual training series, which will help build the capacity of Iowa’s providers to ensure people with serious mental illness have access to the treatment they need to help them live healthy, meaningful lives in the community. Read more...
University of Kansas Black Feathers Podcast
Hosted by mental health experts Crystal Hernandez, who has a doctorate in psychology, and Shauna Humphreys, a licensed professional counselor, "Black Feathers" is a product of the State of the States in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Ongoing Longitudinal Data Project of National Significance and produced with support from the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD), a part of the KU Life Span Institute. Read more...
WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities Launches New Podcast Series
Adjusting the Sails is a podcast that discusses the lives and specific challenges children with special health care needs and other disabilities and their families, caregivers, and service providers face and how to manage those challenges. The podcast will serve as a platform for discussing disability-related topics and as a mediator between families and caregivers to share their stories and experiences. The podcast will feature guest speakers, panelists, and a variety of program representatives and service providers to offer education and training to the listener. Read more...
Boy Scout Returns to MMI
A boy scout who received his autism diagnosis at the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute more than a decade ago returns to build toys for children with developmental disabilities as his Eagle Scout project. He raised more than $1,000 himself to finance this project. He used his savings, and summer earnings and got help from his family. Read more...
Educating Legislators and Policymakers Through Storytelling and Legislative Visits
Each year, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's (TN IDDRC, UCEDD, LEND) University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, in collaboration with The Arc Tennessee and AbleVoices, produces a collection of stories and images that highlight the challenges individuals with disabilities and their families face as they navigate service systems and supports in the state of Tennessee. Kindred Stories of Disability highlights a different topic in each issue and is shared with Tennessee legislators and policymakers to educate them with first-hand accounts from constituents in their districts. Read more...
Future TBI Treatments May Hinge on Understanding a New Cell Type
In a new paper published in GLIA, investigators from Children's National Hospital reviewed 25 years of neuroscience research to lay out what's known about the molecular response of these NG2-glia cells after TBI. Researchers said they see "a seductive possibility" that tapping into the regenerative potential of NG2-glia cells after neurotrauma could lead to therapies in the future. The impact could be profound, given that TBI is the leading cause of death among people ages 1-44, and the global cost of this ‘silent epidemic’ is estimated to top $102 billion annually. Read more...
Autism Combined with High IQ Increases Risk of Suicidal Thoughts
Unexpected finding raises concern for twice exceptional (2e) youth
Twice exceptional youth-children who have a diagnosis of autism and who also have exceptional cognitive ability-are at increased the risk of suicidal thoughts, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Iowa Hawkeye Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center. Read more...
Through the eye of the beholder
Researchers find people with autism process illusory shapes differently
A study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience, lead by researchers at the IDDRC at the University of Rochester, finds the process in our brain that allows us to see visual distinctions-like how the empty space between four Pac-Man shaped figures can make a square-may not be happening the same way in the brains of children with autism spectrum disorder. Read more...
Project ECHO Opportunities for UCEDDs and LENDs
Join the Project ECHO Orientation on May 9 to learn more about the ECHO model and how to incorporate it into your work as a UCEDD or LEND program. If you are already an ECHO partner, join the newly formed monthly UCEDD LEND ECHO Collaborative starting April 24.
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The Center for Autism Research (CAR) Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Elizabeth Kaplan- Kahn was featured on #ASFpodcast! The CAR team is working to improve a measure of the Quality of Life for autistic individuals who are minimally verbal or have cognitive disabilities. These individuals may have different outcomes as other autistics, but their responses are just as important. Dr. Kaplan-Kahn talks about what it means, how it relates to other outcomes collected, and what CAR is doing to improve Quality of Life measures.. 
Isabelle Morris is an MN LEND fellow and autism researcher who describes herself as "unapologetically autistic. "You’ll probably learn something about dogs when you meet Isabelle Morris (pictured at left), and after letting you know she has all of the AKC breeds memorized alphabetically, she’ll joke that if you couldn’t already tell, her other special interest is autism. But it’s not just uncanny canine knowledge and a dry sense of humor that set Morris apart. 
As trainees of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities (MCDD), we were offered the wonderful opportunity to participate in Developmental Disabilities Day at the Legislature (DD Day). We are happy to share what we learned with reflections about our first-time experience. Every year, the Maryland Developmental Disabilities (MDD) Coalition sponsors DD Day. On this day, participants come together to educate legislators about important issues to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. 
