AUCD Central Office News

AUCD Celebrates the 22nd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Urges Passage of Disability Treaty

The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) joins many other disability organizations in celebrating the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and urges the Senate to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The ADA signifies the adoption of a public policy committed to the removal of a broad range of impediments to the integration of people with disabilities into society. The ADA Anniversary is a time when we can reflect positively on a law that has made a great impact on the lives of people with disabilities and our country over the past 22 years. Read more...

First AUCD Leadership Institute - a great success!

Hosted by the University of Delaware's National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities (NLCDD), this was the first national assembly of the Leadership Institute for University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs). Senior UCEDD leaders from Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, California, North Dakota, Vermont, Utah, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Iowa, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Ohio spent the week of June 25 learning new leadership skills relevant to university affiliated centers that are designed to bridge the academic community with families, people with disabilities and state and local systems of support. Read more...

AUCD Welcomes 2012 Virtual Trainee, Stephanie Weber, PsyD

AUCD is pleased to announce Stephanie Weber as the 2012-2013 Virtual Trainee. Stephanie is a post-doctoral fellow in Psychology and a second-year LEND trainee at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She obtained her Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) degree from the University of Indianapolis in Indiana in 2011 after completing internship at The Leo Kanner Center of The Devereux Foundation in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Read more...

CDC Announces New State Disability and Health Grantees

An initiative within the AUCD-NCBDDD Cooperative Agreement is to provide technical assistance to state-based programs (State Disability and Health Grantees), which were awarded by NCBDDD to promote health, prevent chronic disease, and increase the quality of life among people with disabilities. In July 2012, NCBDDD awarded eighteen states (State Disability and Health Grantees) with a three-year grant (FOA DD12-1204: Improving the Health of People with Disabilities Through State-Based Public Health Programs) to develop and strengthen health-related disability programs. Read more...

AUCD Partnership with Exceptional Parent - Call for Submissions

This past fall, AUCD celebrated its 40th anniversary-a time to reflect on the accomplishments of the last four decades, face the challenges of today, and imagine the future. Throughout this milestone year, Exceptional Parent has highlighted and celebrated the great strengths and capacity of our AUCD Network and shared strategies in research, education, and service that advance the journey towards equity and excellence. If you would like to further your information dissemination to parents and families, you are invited to contribute an article to be highlighted in an upcoming issues of EP Magazine. Read more...

Network News - Awards

AUCD Network Members Receive Awards at AAIDD's 2012 Annual Meeting

Carolyn Hughes, PhD, of Vanderbilt University (TN UCEDD/LEND), received the 2012 Education Award at the 136th annual meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).

Elisabeth Dykens, PhD, of Vanderbilt University (TN UCEDD/LEND), received the 2012 Research Award at the 136th annual meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).

Megan Griffin, MEd, of University of New Mexico (NM UCEDD/LEND) received the 2012 Student Award at the 136th annual meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).

Bill Gaventa, MDiv, of The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities (NJ UCEDD), was honored with the Henri Nowen Leadership Award by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) Religion and Spirituality Division.

Read more about all awardees...

IHD (MO UCEDD) Director Receives Award from University of Missouri

Dr. Carl F. Calkins, Director of the UMKC Institute for Human Development (MO UCEDD) and UMKC Professor of Psychology, was recently honored with the C. Brice Ratchford Memorial Fellowship Award presented by University of Missouri System President Timothy M. Wolfe at the 2012 University of Missouri President's Awards Dinner. Read more...

Network News - People on the Move

Timothy Followell, DMS, MS, To Lead Nisonger Center's (OH UCEDD/LEND) Dental Program

Timothy Followell, DMD, MS, is the new program director for the dental program at The Ohio State University's Nisonger Center. Followell will lead the Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) Dental Program that provides a complete range of oral health services to children and adults with developmental disabilities and other special needs. Read more...

Michael Steinbruck, MA (NJ UCEDD), Elected Vice Chair of The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices

Michael P. Steinbruck, MA, Program Administrator at The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities (NJ UCEDD), was recently elected Vice-Chair of The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices. He has served on the board since 2006. The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices is an international organization which "envisions a world where all people have positive control over the lives they have chosen for themselves. Read more...

Network News - Activities & Resources

UH Mānoa College of Education (HI UCEDD/LEND) Hosts Fulbright Scholar from Kazakhstan

The UH Manoa College of Education (COE) welcomes Fulbright Scholar, Yevgeniy Tetyukhin, of Kazakhstan. During his time at the college, Tetyukhin will conduct research, audit classes, and consult with faculty under the advisement of Center on Disability Studies (CDS) Director Robert Stodden and Associate Professor Steven Brown. In addition to developing intercultural relations between the U.S. and Kazakhstan, his research will focus on globalization in culture and education, diversity and unity, disability issues as a part of world diversity, and civics as an all-encompassing discipline. Read more...

Finding on Autism from the Kennedy Krieger Center (MD LEND)

Dr. Rebecca Landa, Director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute Center for Autism and Related Disorders, found an association between early motor delay-persisting head lag at 6 months-and autism. This finding establishes risk before the onset of words and may make earlier identification and intervention possible. Read more...

The Institute for Community Inclusion (MA UCEDD/LEND) Conducts Activities Targeting Healthcare and Community Life

Allen C. Crocker Speaker Series

"This was an awesome training! Such new and useful information," said one of the educators who attended the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) training. "I loved the brain-based information." The USD Center for Disabilities at the Sanford School of Medicine - located in Sioux Falls, S.D. - provides educators across the state with specific FASD training, empowering the teachers to more effectively plan educational interventions for students identified with an FASD. Read more...

NextSTEP Joins APSE on Service Project for Military Kids

At the 2012 APSE National Conference, the ICI project NextSTEP collaborated on a service project to benefit students with disabilities at Fort Belvoir Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia. The 186 students are all children of military personnel at Fort Belvoir, and many of their families are stationed there due to personal or family member chronic illness or disability. In the service project, AmeriCorps members assisted APSE conference participants in building summer supply kits filled with toys, games, and books. Participants also learned more about how national service, such as AmeriCorps, can be a path to employment for people with disabilities. Read more...

Research Study (NH UCEDD) Supports Caregiver Health and Well-being

Transitions in Caregiving, a three-year research project conducted by the University of New Hampshire's Center on Aging and Community Living, found that serving family caregivers through discretionary funding and emotional support helped them to maintain physical and emotional well-being even as their family members' health or abilities declined. The 418 caregivers involved in the study, representing all 10 counties in the state, had been in their caregiving roles for an average of five and a half years. Read more...

Center for Disabilities (SD UCEDD/LEND) Offers Unique Training Approach For Educators Working With Students With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

"This was an awesome training! Such new and useful information," said one of the educators who attended the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) training. "I loved the brain-based information." The USD Center for Disabilities at the Sanford School of Medicine - located in Sioux Falls, S.D. - provides educators across the state with specific FASD training, empowering the teachers to more effectively plan educational interventions for students identified with an FASD. Read more...

Summer "CPE Day" (NJ UCEDD) focuses on Faith-based Supports for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their Families

The Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities sponsored a one day workshop for 40+ seminarians and clergy who are part of summer Clinical Pastoral Education programs in hospitals in New Jersey. Led by Rev. Bill Gaventa and Rabbi Evan Jaffe, the key components of the day were two panels, one in the morning with three parents, and one in the afternoon with three adults with disabilities. Read more...

Submissions

News items may be submitted for consideration via the
AUCDigest Submission page.

Utah UCEDD's Consumer Advisory Council Funds A Day at the Museum for Families of Children with ASA

Photo courtesy of Laura Anderson

449 people came together at Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake City for something many of them couldn't ordinarily enjoy: a day at the museum with their families. They all had at least one family member with autism spectrum disorder. Parents of children with autism can have a hard time in public spaces. An overstimulated child may have a meltdown. Sometimes the family is asked to leave because the child is disruptive. But at Autism Day at the Children's Museum, "everybody there got it," said Laura Anderson, a parent of a teenage boy with ASD. Read more...

The National Forum on Disability Issues 2012

The National Forum on Disability Issues 2012 is the only national event to focus specifically on disability issues, and will be held September 28 in Columbus, OH. Invite the candidates, tell them what’s important to you, and plan your own watching party of the Forum’s broadcast today! Learn more here.

AUCD 2012: Innovating Today, Shaping Tomorrow

Join AUCD on December 2-5, 2012 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, to learn and share today's promising practices and innovations that shape the lives of people with disabilities and their families through research, policy, education, and service.

Over 210 proposals were received for AUCD 2012! All are currently under consideration for presentation, and individuals will be notified of their presentation status in early fall.

Watch for registration to be released very soon.

Media Submissions
The AUCD Media Room will be available to conference attendees Sunday through Tuesday afternoon for viewing films, documentaries, and educational videos from inside and outside the network. Submit A Media Proposal by August 31.

Sponsorship Slots Available for All Levels
Click here to learn about all the categories available and submit your application by September 1, 2012. Companies who turn in their sponsorship applications by August 1st will be entered into a drawing to receive a free ad or double their existing ad space!

Award Nominations
Our network members - advocates, trainees, professionals - work to improve the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Review the AUCD Award categories, then nominate an outstanding individual, group, or program. All it takes is a maximum two page letter and the nominee's brief CV. Submit your nominations online by Friday, September 7, 2012.

Annual Autism Conference

August 6 - 8, 2012
Grappone Conference Center, Concord, NH

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire will host the 14th Annual Autism Summer Institute. This year's three-day conference, "Express Yourself: Supporting Communication through the Arts, Advocacy, and Education," is open to anyone interested in learning more about Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) from experts on the subject, including individuals who experience ASD. Read more and register.

Webinar Series Physician Education In Developmental Disabilities

July 24, - October 9, 2012
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm EST
Online, every Tuesday

The American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry in collaboration with the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities and sponsored by the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council is offering a free, 12 credit-hour webinar series - Physician Education in Developmental Disabilities. Read more and register.