The C enter on D isabilities and H uman D evelopment

September/October 2017

Fall Newsletter

Happy Fall! Only a couple months into the school year and the CDHD is already hard at work. In this month's issue, check-out the wonderful work faculty, staff, and student trainees have accomplished so far.

Congratulations!

Lifetime Achievement Award Julie Fodor, Ph.D., CDHD Director, was presented the Idaho Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities Lifetime Achievement Awarded during the Council for Exceptional Children's Annual Conference on October 6th in Boise. Pictured left: Andrea Anderson from CEC presents Julie Fodor her Lifetime Achievement Award

Newly Elected Associate Chair Janice Carson, Ph.D., Director of the Idaho Assistive Technology Project, was recently elected as the Associate Chair of the national Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP). The ATAP facilitates the coordination of state AT Programs nationally and provides technical assistance and support to its members. Pictured Left: Janice Carson, Ph.D.

Presentations

artAbility Student Volunteer Training Jen Magelky-Seiler from the Moscow Chapter of the Self Advocate Leadership Network trained a group of eight student volunteers on Disability Etiquette. This training incorporated interactive, entertaining, and informational methods of disability etiquette education. Jen used a clip called " Inspiration Porn ", from Speechless , along with a TED Talk from Stella Young, a comedian and journalist who goes about her day in a wheelchair, entitled "I am not your inspiration, thank you very much" to support the training.

Jen Magelky-Seiler presents to a group of student volunteers

Creating Accessible Documents with Microsoft Word Nicholas Stallings, with the Idaho Assistive Technology Project, provided two community trainings in September on creating accessible documents in Microsoft Word. Participants watched a demonstration on how to create accessible documents, then practiced with their own documents. Nicholas nourished the educational environment by providing constructive feedback, meaningful insights, and helpful tips to enhance to the overall technical process.

Idaho Training Clearinghouse (ITC) The ITC presented to the State Department of Education at the New and Experienced Federal Program Directors meeting in Boise, ID on September 15th. The ITC provided an interactive guide to the special education resources that can be found at the Idaho Training Clearinghouse. Idaho SESTA Idaho SESTA provided a training in Nampa in September entitled  Educating the Difficult Learner . This two-day workshop guides schools through the student qualifications for special education under SLD and provides a plan of action to address the unique needs of students. The interactive training divides members into teams who work collaboratively through the process of identifying and teaching skill deficits related to challenging behaviors based on specific case-studied research.

Conferences

Julie Fodor and Gwen Mitchell present results on the NODA study during the PacRim Conference  Barbara Broyles and Olivia Lebens give a presentation on the artAbility project to PacRim attendees Robin Greenfield ready to present at the PacRim conference

Fall Conference Presentations Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) CDHD Idaho SESTA and Assistive Technology staff and faculty gave four presentations during the CEC conference in October. Sue Shelton presented on Access to General Education, Brenda Janot and Nicholas Stallings provided information on a variety of assistive technology apps, options and features to increase access, inclusion and universal design. Dan Dyer's presentation covered the AT available to support students who cannot access grade-level content and Dr. Janice Carson presented "AT/AEM Literacy Supports for Students Who Use Grade Level Content. Idaho Partnerships Conference on Human Services Robin Greenfield, Ph.D., presented "Why Aren't You Paying Attention? Influences and Outcomes". This presentation on attention discussed the variety of factors that influence how and why a person attends or does not attend to a task, as well as attention-related considerations for working with children and adults with disabilities. Pacific Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity CDHD staff attended the Pac Rim International Conference on Disability and Diversity, October 9-11th. Dr. Julie Fodor and Dr. Gwen Mitchell presented research on, and demonstrated the Naturalistic Observation Diagnostic Assessment (NODA). Dr. Robin Greenfield presented on the topic of attention and explored how and why a child's attention is a key component of learning. Dr. Greenfield and Richelle Tierney presented on a Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) research study that looked at the perceptions of adults with DD and the services they received. Dr. Fodor, Barbara Broyles and Oliva Lebens shared information about artAbility, an inclusive model making fine arts accessible to community members with disabilities. What a great week! HP Disability Resource Fair CDHD was among several CID member organizations represented at the recent HP Disability Resource Fair on the HP campus. The event was sponsored by the HP Boise Disability Business Impact Network. Vendors at the Disability Resource Fair

CDHD All Staff Meeting

CDHD staff learn about the Idaho SESTA project during an interactive game CDHD All Staff Meeting CDHD staff from all projects and areas of the state came together on September 27th for an all day meeting. The day was set around the theme of Investment Through Empowerment. Staff learned about the CDHD's new five-year plan and evaluation methods through interactive activities. Diversity, inclusion and design trainings were incorporated throughout the day to further enhance staff's professional knowledge about the far-reaching impact of the CDHD.

Idaho Project for Children and Youth with Deaf-Blindness Booklet Series

Communication is for Everyone! Robin G. Greenfield, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of the University of Idaho's CDHD, located in the Boise office. In addition, she is also the director for the Idaho Project for Children and Youth with Deaf-Blindness. Dr. Greenfield has completed her third booklet in a series of booklets on topics that are relevant to children and young adults who are deaf-blind and may have additional disabilities. The focus of "Communication is For Everyone!" is intended to provide the reader with some basic, but critical things, to think about when developing a communication system for a child who is deaf-blind and may have additional disabilities.

Fall Workshops and Events

artAbility In October, artAbility offered two workshops! ArtAbility hosted Rachael Eastman for the first workshop. She instructed participants on foam print making. The second workshop was hosted by returning artist, Aaron Johnson, who led a watercolor workshop, focusing on the use of color to convey emotions.There were 13 adults with disabilities that participated in the two workshops.

Rock Climbing for ALL! This new collaboration between the UI Climbing Center and the CDHD held it's first event Saturday October 28, 2017. There were 26 individuals who participated in this inclusive climbing event. Staff were trained by Jen Magelky-Seiler, from SALN, on People First Language and interacting with people with disabilities.

CDHD Collaborations

CDHD hosts Dr. Sumi Kato CDHD hosted a luncheon for Dr. Sumi Kato from Japan. Dr. Kato presented her research to providers in the Boise area, which clarified the linguistic behavior of children and adults diagnosed with autism in a highly sophisticated manner. This type of highly sophisticated linguistic findings will contribute to the research field of the brain-language relationship. The data from Dr. Sumi Kato’s research benefits the world of autism at large. By contributing to the design of effective language training programs for children diagnosed with autism. Clarifying the developmental differences between Japanese-speaking children diagnosed with autism and English-speaking counterparts, led to the discussion of cultural and social factors affected by the world of autism.  Pictured above: Dr. Kato (center) with CDHD staff and community partners

Community Advisory Committee (CAC) The Community Advisory Committee met on September 7th. During the meeting they learned about the evaluation process for the current grant cycle, reviewed the FY 2017 annual report and learned about resources to connect families and teachers utilized by the Children and Youth with Deaf/Blindness project. The CAC also developed an annual plan that meets the CDHD's 5 year goals. Robin Greenfield, Ph.D., presets information on the Idaho Child and Youth with Deaf-Blindness Project to CAC members

Let's Hear Your Voice! Partners in Policymaking Class of 2017 By Jessilyn Matthias           Many readers are familiar with the Graham-Cassidy bill that was defeated on the Senate floor several days ago. This bill would have put caps on Medicaid funding per state and curbed health insurance for people who have pre-existing conditions (including disabilities), among other disastrous healthcare legislation. Self-advocates and their supporters rallied together nationwide and called local representatives urging a “no” vote for a healthcare plan that would do more harm than good for thousands of Americans.            The unifying shout of Americans nationwide was both a plea of recognition to our government and a rally of self-advocacy. How does one acquire skills and courage to fight bad legislation? One answer is Partners in Policymaking, an eight-month program (meeting on a Friday and Saturday each month) arranged by the Council on Developmental Disabilities. Members are people who have disabilities and parents of children with disabilities, and are selected via an application process. Each month, a topic is explored, ranging from the history of the disability movement to learning how to write letters to our senators and talk to them in person about our needs.            I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in this year’s class, the largest one yet. Disability policy is an important issue, especially in our current administrative climate. The skills taught at Partners in Policymaking are an important resource for participants to understand government policies and how to advocate appropriately for systems changes. Everyone should know what legislative policies affect them personally, and how to promote change if that is required. People who have disabilities are an important and ubiquitous part of society who should no longer be marginalized or ignored. Remember, taking a stand for one is taking a stand for all.            For more information and to apply to become a member of the next Partners in Policymaking class, contact Toni Brinigar at Toni.brinigar@icdd.idaho.gov or call (208) 334-2178.

KW vs Armstrong and the Development of Community NOW! By Ryan Locke The report of Community Now! was released on July 18, 2017 after six months of meetings. The impetus for the report was the court case of KW v. Armstrong. The case began in 2012 after the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare made cuts to Medicaid assistance. In response, a group of 12 Medicaid recipients sued the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, saying that the department would not disclose its methodology for calculating Medicaid benefits. The group said that their benefits had been cut by up to 40 percent; The Department of Health and Welfare said the state’s formulas to determine those benefits were a trade secret. The case takes its name from the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, a 30-year-old man with severe epilepsy who was identified only as “K.W.”. K.W.’s attorneys said his Medicaid benefits had totaled $102,000 in 2010 but were cut by approximately $20,000 with no explanation. In the ruling, handed down on March 30, 2016, Judge Winmill ordered the IDHW to make public its standards for determining Medicaid assistance and benefits, ruling that the previous policy " arbitrarily deprives participants of their property rights and hence violates due process." Department of Health and Welfare officials will now have to publicly submit details of how the department calculates Medicaid payments. The Community Now! Report was drafted to provide recommendations for Medicaid services. The report first recommends establishing a quality Person-Centered Planning (PCP) process, or one which focuses on the individual and looks at the individual’s whole life prior to developing a service plan, and use the goals identified in the person-centered plans as the measure of program effectiveness. PCP will be the focus of the upcoming Community NOW work-groups as they develop a process for Idaho.

AT Corner

3D Printing for Prosthetics By Jessilyn Matthias  “For every plight, (humans) seek solutions”     It is a well-known fact that disability is often a normal part of life. For individuals born with missing limbs, or individuals who acquire limb loss, many typical daily activities may be affected. Everyday activities such as walking, climbing, eating, reaching or using objects may be out of the question. The history of prosthetics is unique and spans centuries, cultures, and materials. One of the first examples of prosthetics was an artificial toe found on an Egyptian mummy. Throughout history, materials such as iron, steel, and wood have also been utilized to make artificial body parts. In modern times, leg prostheses have been created using plastics and lightweight materials. Still, there are the problems of the device not being totally useful, or the child quickly outgrowing devices. The new innovation of 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) has allowed great strides in technologies, including prosthetics. Typically, 3D printing uses an oil-based plastic filament to create objects. A company called Biome Bioplastics is currently developing a bioplastic produced from plant material. Such organic material is easier to use, nontoxic, and compostable. This type of material also promises more sustainable manufacturing practices, and has multiple environmental advantages. 3D printing is also called additive manufacturing because material is laid down, layer by layer to create the finished product. First, the designer creates a blueprint of the desired object, and sends it to the 3D printer. Next, spools inside the printer release “strings” of polymer material (much like a spider releases webbing from its feet to build a web). The plastic forms into sheets and dries as each new layer is applied to create the prosthesis. Production is very customizable and inexpensive, and many prosthetics can be made as the child grows. Different materials can also be used in the printing process, as metal or even wood. Although the ethics have not been analyzed, 3D printing may allow prosthetics to be made accessible to everyone, regardless of income or age. We see a variety of people with disabilities almost every day. Assistive technology or prosthetics don’t change the person, but may change how the person lives the most fulfilling life. For more information, contact amputee-coalition.org or www.independent.co.uk Until later, friends!

CDHD News and Upcoming Events

NOVEMBER 4-8: Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) annual meetings and conference - Washington D.C. 5: FALL BACK - Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour! 11: ArtAbility Fall Workshop 23: Thanksgiving Day 28: Interdisciplinary Trainees - Group Training 2017-2018 Idaho SESTA  Training Calendar IdahoSTARS November Calendar of Events NEXT NEWSLETTER November/December 2017

DISCLAIMER  The CDHD Insider is a newsletter for CDHD staff, partners, and community. It is a tool used by the Center to keep everyone informed on the day to day work that is being performed and things to look forward to in the near future.  Be sure to check out the CDHD Facebook  page to stay updated on upcoming events at CDHD.

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