AUCD Central Office News
AUCD Celebrates March as Developmental Disabilities Month
 On February 26, 1987, President Ronald Reagan designated March as the National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. The language of the official Proclamation indicates that before the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Americans were changing their perceptions about people with disabilities. It applauded efforts by the federal government and the private sector to work with advocacy organizations on measures that would help these people achieve "their full potential in school, at work, or at home." More than twenty-five years later, the focus of the month continues to promote acceptance, independence, and self-determination. Read more...
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Sharing Technology Across the AUCD Network
As part of Council for Interdisciplinary Service's (CIS) goal to promote collaborative actions across the network in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of service delivery, members of CIS along with AUCD developed a CIS Blog to further disseminate the results from the technology survey. This blogs focuses on technology and highlights programs across the country that are using technology in new and creative ways. CIS is currently seeking members who are interested in sharing their technology stories and experiences though the CIS blog. Read more....
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Strategies to Incorporate the Voices of People with Significant Disabilities in UCEDD Information Gathering and Operations - A Publication of AUCD, by Rachel Patterson, MPA
 Given the importance of needs assessments and other information-gathering to UCEDD planning and operations, it is critical that information be gained from a wide spectrum of individuals with disabilities and their families. For this report, we sought out strategies on how best to include the voices of people who many not have been typically included in UCEDD needs assessments or CACs and who, by the nature of their disabilities, face significant barriers to participation. Read more...
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Stephanie Weber, PsyD, is AUCD's Early Career Professionals' March Guest Blogger
 AUCD is happy to announce the Early Career Professionals’ March guest blogger – Stephanie Weber, PsyD. Stephanie is AUCD’s Virtual Trainee and a post-doctoral fellow in Psychology and second-year LEND trainee at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Please take a moment to read “On Becoming More Interested than Afraid".
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Network News - Awards & Honors
Maureen van Stone, Associate Director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute (MD UCEDD) Is Named One of Maryland's Top 100 Women
On March 1, 2013, The Daily Record, Maryland's business and legal newspaper, named Maryland's Top 100 Women. Maureen van Stone, the Associate Director of the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute, is one of the 100 honorees. The winners are selected by an outside panel of business leaders based on professional accomplishment, community involvement, and commitment to mentoring. Read more...
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Network News - People on the Move
Wendy Parent-Johnson Appointed Executive Director of the South Dakota Center for Disabilities
 The Center for Disabilities at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine has named Wendy Parent-Johnson, Ph.D., CRC, CESP as its new executive director. She succeeds Dr. Judy Struck, who served in this role for the past 21 years and retired in January. Parent-Johnson earned a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling and a Ph.D in education from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Professionally, Dr. Parent-Johnson has held positions at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Georgia and the University of Kansas. Read more...
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Dr. Elizabeth Perkins Appointed Associate Director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities
 On February 1, 2013, Dr. Elizabeth Perkins was appointed as the Associate Director of the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities (FCIC). Dr. Perkins has been a faculty member with the FCIC for the past three years and under the direction of the Co-Directors, Drs. Lise Fox and Don Kincaid, will be involved in program leadership and supervision of activities related to the 5-year plan of the Center.
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Network News - Activities & Resources
'It's My Future!' iPad App Available (A Project of the KS and MO UCEDDs)
 New at the iPad App Store from the National Gateway to Self-Determination, a National Training Initiative funded by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the 'It's My Future!' app for iPad. 'It's My Future!' is designed to support adults with developmental disabilities to become more self-determined and to meaningfully participate in their annual planning meetings. Read more...
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Carol Page (SC UCEDD) Give Presentation on "AAC Apps and Feature Matching"
 Carol Page, Director of the SC Assistive Technology Program, SC UCEDD, provided a training called "AAC Apps and Feature Matching" at the ATIA 2013 Orlando Conference in Florida. The presentation addressed the rapidly changing world of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) due to the introduction of handheld devices and apps. Families are buying handheld devices and apps because they don't have to wait for funding sources or go through all the steps of getting a doctor's order, finding a provider, and driving to appointments. As a result, the AAC professionals can find themselves left out of the decision-making process all together and families are left frustrated with AAC apps that meet their needs only temporarily or not at all. Read more...
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MN ICI (UCEDD/LEND) Focuses on Autism
Works to Benefit People with Autism Across the Lifespan 
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are among the fastest-growing developmental disability diagnoses in the United States. In recent years, ICI's focus on services and supports specifically for individuals with ASD has grown, and today ICI is working to improve the capacity of schools, community services, and states to meet the needs of individuals with ASD and their families across the lifespan. Read more...
Collaborates on Study of Autism in Minneapolis Somali Community Advocates in the Somali community have reported that children of Somali descent living in Minneapolis have, in the past few years, been classified as having Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) at a higher-than-usual rate. A preliminary study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health identified higher rates of Somali children with labels of ASD in Minneapolis early intervention programs. Somali advocates have pressed for answers about what's going on with their children. As one effort to provide answers, the Institute on Community Integration (ICI), the University's Department of Pediatrics and Department of Educational Psychology, and the Minnesota Department of Health are collaborating on a project called, "Do Children of Somali Descent Have Higher ASD Prevalence?" Read more...
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Emmy Award Winning Filmmaker to Partner with National Down Syndrome Society and Institute for Community Inclusion (MA UCEDD/LEND) on "My Great Story" Video Project
 The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at UMass Boston are collaborating with Emmy Award winning filmmaker, Melanie Perkins McLaughlin, to create a series of videos to accompany the NDSS My Great Story public awareness campaign. The My Great Story campaign seeks to ignite a new way of thinking about people with Down syndrome by collecting and showcasing inspirational stories told by people with Down syndrome as well as their family members, friends, colleagues, employers, and many others. The stories are housed in a unique virtual storybook. The videos of a selection of these remarkable stories will be shared with the general public both online and on broadcast television. Read more...
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Distance Learning Program in Autism Spectrum Disorders At the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities (NY UCEDD/LEND)
 Since the passing of the Combating Autism Act (PL 109-416) there has been concerted effort at the national and state levels to increase public awareness of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This has resulted in new information being disseminated on a regular basis. However, many professionals report finding it challenging to keep pace with new information relevant to evidence-based practices in ASD. Moreover, in New York State there continues to be a shortage of appropriately trained school and community personnel, particularly in our rural and inner urban areas, to assist individuals affected by an ASD and to support parents and/or caregivers in their advocacy efforts for coordinated and quality care. To address this training need, in 2011 the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities (SCDD), University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, developed a medium-term distance learning program. Read more...
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LEND Fellowship at NY RFK Center Integrates Legal, Clinical Expertise
 For more than 40 years, LEND has provided graduate-level, interdisciplinary leadership training to improve the health of children with or at risk of neurodevelopmental and related disabilities at 43 sites in the 37 states. This hands-on training is typically undertaken by psychologists, physical therapists, social workers and other clinicians who work with children and adults with disabilities. With the help of the LEND fellowship at the Rose F. Kennedy University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, that multidisciplinary mix also includes law students. Einstein's LEND legal fellowship is believed to be the first ongoing fellowship for law students in the country and permits those from Einstein's sister school, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University, to learn from the LEND program's diverse range of clinicians, and vice versa. Read more...
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At the TN Vanderbilt UCEDD, Students with Intellectual Disabilities Talk About Life at College
 In the new video, I'm Thinking College, Even With My Disability, produced by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD), students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in the Next Steps at Vanderbilt program talk about their experiences at college and highlight the need for more such programs. This is a free video resource to share with students, families, teachers, guidance counselors, and anyone who supports postsecondary education efforts for students with intellectual disabilities. Read more...
Also at the TN Vanderbilt UCEDD, Beth Malow Develops Sleep Tips- Now Available through Autism Speaks
 Nationally-known autism awareness organization Autism Speaks has now made available for download a "Quick Tips" module to accompany "Strategies to Improve Sleep in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders." These tips include visual supports as well as suggestions for promoting sleep in children with limited verbal skills. Both the Toolkit and the Quick Tips were created by Beth Malow, M.D., M.S., Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (TN UCEDD) Investigator and Burry Chair in Cognitive Childhood Development; Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, and Director, Vanderbilt Sleep Disorders Division. Read more...
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