Given the success of the pilot, over the next three years, GSU will be one of sixteen University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) or Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LENDs) from states that are highly impacted by the opioid crisis. GSU will be trained on Project SCOPE, which uses the Project ECHOTM virtual professional development model. GSU will receive the skills needed to implement this training in Georgia and will receive technical assistance for ongoing implementation from the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities. GSU will build an interdisciplinary state team to implement ECHO-SCOPE in Georgia.
The Nisonger Center and the University of Cincinnati UCEDD have provided the curriculum that includes current research on brain development, developmental outcomes of prenatal exposure to opioid and other substances, trauma informed care, provider secondary trauma stress, and strategies to support caregivers. WIND has developed an ECHO model network to implement this curriculum.
This Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities project also reflects an exciting collaboration between federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Programs National Training Initiative, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education.
