Transition

6/25/2018

Grassroots Advocacy Strategies in the State of Maine (ME LEND)

The Maine LEND Program hosted an Advocacy and Strategy Forum on April 27, 2018, in Lewiston, Maine. LEND Trainee, Kim Humphrey, a public health advocate, founder of Community Connect ME, and mother of a child with autism, led the charge with key decision makers who work with and/or have children with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) in the state. State Senator Shenna Bellows and former Maine State Legislator Peter Stuckey led one key aspect of the Strategy Forum. Speakers and presenters also included University of Maine professor and Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies Director, Alan Cobo-Lewis; LEND trainee and occupational therapist, Taylor Cahill;LEND trainee and family member, Sanaa Abduljabbar; Coordinator of Education and Autism for the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, Alan Kurtz. There were approximately 40 leaders and advocates in attendance.

6/18/2018

Eight Interns Graduate from USM's Project Search Program (MS UCEDD)

In the words of English author A.A. Milne, "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." This inspirational message was featured on the third annual Project SEARCH University of Southern Mississippi Class of 2018 graduation invitation.

6/11/2018

Institute for Disability Studies Assisting Young Adults with Job Training, Internships (MS UCEDD)

The transition from youth to adulthood following the completion of high school can be challenging and confusing for any young adult. Further, this transition may be particularly challenging for young adults with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual or developmental disabilities whose life plans are still unclear.

5/14/2018

The Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University Announces the 2018 PATHS Graduation

The Postsecondary Access and Training in Human Services (PATHS) program at Texas A&M University is honored to announce the 2018 graduates. This year, 18 young men and women successfully graduated from the PATHS certificate program. The PATHS program is an inclusive certificate program to prepare students with and without disabilities for a career as a Direct Support Professional, who will work with the elderly or people with disabilities in the community; as a Direct Support Para-Professional who will work with school districts; or as a Child Care Professional who will work with children. Dr. Dalun Zhang, Director of the Center on Disability and Development welcomed everyone to the 2018 Graduation ceremony, while Ms. Tracy Glass, the PATHS Program Director presented the Director's Address.

4/19/2018

AIR-B Network Activities

The Autism Intervention Research Network for Behavioral Health (AIR-B) provides a free annual community conference to increase awareness of autism services, current research, and evidence-based interventions in the local regions of each of its network partners: University of Pennsylvania, UC Davis MIND Institute, University of Rochester, and University of California, Los Angeles. Experts in the network share their expertise and invite other prominent autism advocates to discuss topics ranging from non-clinical based autism interventions, to parent advocacy, to school-based transition supports for students with autism.

4/19/2018

Transitions Over the Life Course For Individuals with Autism

Early identification of and intervention for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have traditionally garnered a significant portion of public attention and spending. However, with an estimated 60,000 youth on the autism spectrum turning 18 years old in 2016*, understanding the factors associated with risk and resilience in adulthood is of significant public health importance. Notably, both research and anecdotal accounts indicate that adults with autism tend to suffer from poor life course outcomes, including but not limited to unemployment, underemployment, and social disengagement. The Health Care Transitions Research Network (HCTRN) was thus designed as an interdisciplinary, multi-center research forum for scientific collaboration and infrastructure-building, with a focus on research designed to improve health care transitions and promote an optimal transition to adulthood among youth and young adults with ASD .

4/19/2018

Updates from the State Public Health Autism Resource Center

This cohort has continued participating in monthly technical assistance calls, and through these calls, there has been a lot of discussion around grantee needs for more support and guidance around the Telehealth/education piece of their work. The 2018 Peer-to-Peer Exchange will be held in mid-April in Spokane, WA with a focus on creating connections for children and their families, self-advocates, and providers through Telehealth services. The meeting will feature the Washington State Department of Health team and their partners. During this meeting, participants will learn how the WA team (and others) have collaborated with different partners, addressed challenges around serving culturally and linguistically diverse families, and establishing buy-in to effectively provide Telehealth services in their communities. Stay tuned for the December 2018 Developments issue for our lessons learned from the meeting!

4/18/2018

Transitioning Together: A Multi-family Group Psychoeducation Program for Adolescents with ASD and Their Parents (WI UCEDD/LEND)

Currently there are few evidence-based programs available for families of individuals with ASD during the transition to adulthood. The present study provided a preliminary evaluation of a multi-family group psychoeducation intervention using a randomized waitlist control design (n = 41). Families in the intervention condition participated in Transitioning Together, an 8-week program designed to reduce family distress and improve social functioning for adolescents.

The Need for Mentoring Youth with Disabilities:Youth with physical or mental disabilities represent special populations at risk for juvenile delinquency, victimization, educational failure, and poor employment outcomes and often have multiple, overlapping risk factors. Such youth can and do benefit from mentoring relationships.

The Need for Inclusive Mentoring Programs:Youth with disabilities typically to receive mentoring within disability-specific programs rather than in inclusive, community-based programs that have a diversity of resources that promote education, job readiness, development of employment skills, and/or training in and exposure to entrepreneurial activities.

The Benefits:

• Youth with disabilities can participate with their typically developing peers in mentoring programs,
• The community capacity to serve people with disabilities would be enhanced with training, technical assistance, and programmatic supports,
• There is a social value to providing inclusive supports and services, and
• Through building the capacity of community-based mentoring programs to serve all youth well-including those with special physical or mental challenges-is more cost-effective than supporting multiple specialty services.

 Factsheet:

AUCD has developed a factsheet that provides an overview of mentoring youth with disabilities, and gives examples of promising practices from the AUCD network. Click here: factsheet in PDF