AAIDD SOCIAL WORK DIVISION AND ACTION PLAN SUMMARY
                   FEBRUARY 18, 2008       

  The Social Work Division meeting was held on May 25th, 2007 during the Annual AAIDD Meeting in Atlanta.

  The issues addressed were the objectives of the Social Work Action Plan,  that was approved by the Board in January 2006. The Development Group that presented the proposal to the Board in November of  2005, consisted of the following members:
Judy Levy, Chair of the Social Work Division; Beth Barol, University of Pennsylvania;
Susan Neely-Barnes, University of Tennessee; Avril Sibony, Israel and Susan Hammerman, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

  The objectives of the action plan are as follows:

     (1) Establishing a relationship between CSWE and the AAIDD Social Work Division;   
              conversations to be led by Beth Barol and Susan Neely-Barnes to explore jointly
               integrating  practice methods with this population, into a variety of curricula.
     (2) Resources to be collected and made available on the AAIDD Social Work Division
               website. All members of the Division can contribute, with leadership provided
               by Judy Levy and Avril Sibony and contact with Maria Alfara.
     (3) Developing graduate and post-graduate coursework or workshops inclusive of
                guest lectures, teaching classes, minisemester courses with CEUs available;
                all members to contribute, especially those who developed the plan, under the
                leadership of Susan Hammerman.
      (4) Progress discussions with the Development Group through phone conferences and
                Meetings, under the direction of Judy Levy.

   The Social Work Division Action Plan has as it’s main goal, to focus on facilitating the availability of knowledge for Social Workers, so they will have the latest “cutting edge” information, which will increase their ability to provide quality services to people with disabilities and their families, thereby increasing the capacity of the community to include people of all abilities  in community life. 

  Conference calls with the original development committee, were held in the fall of 2006 and no materials were received at that time. No report was available to the Leadership of AAIDD in December of 2006.

   An update of activities includes individual letters sent to each Social Work Division member on May 14th, 2007 soliciting ideas and materials for the Action Plan as well as the annual meeting. Results are as follows:

(a) educational materials are available on “Informed Consent” from Judy Levy, the  Director of  the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities Developmental Disabilities (levy@kennedykrieger.org)

(b) three curricula available : Social Work Practice Across Disability  contact Susan       Neely-Barnes (sneely2@utk.edu) and  Working With and Supporting Families  contact Barbara Hanley (bhanley1@fuse.net) and Social Work Practice in Developmental Disabilities  by contacting Donald J. Anderson  (djander1@wisc.edu) and also available on line.

(c) Susan Parrish has published extensively on issues in the MR/DD system such as federal income transfers, individual family support spending, waiting lists and more. A copy of the AAIDD interview with her is available from the main office and Susan can be contacted at (parish@email.unc.edu).

(d) Beth Barol (bethbarol@aol.com) has developed a certificate program that includes an internship and would be willing to share the program with interested persons as well as readings and references from the PA Journal on Positive Approaches for which she has been editor for the PA office of Mental Retardation, which is geared to families and direct support staff and has a case study emphasis.

Ideas discussed as future activities toward meeting the goal of facilitating the acquiring of “cutting edge” knowledge for practice for Social Workers are as follows:
(a) possibly offer a symposium on Social Work Practice in the Field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at the Annual Meeting and award CEUs for attendance.
(b) sponsor a pre or post workshop that addresses Social Work Practice in relation to the Conference theme identified for that particular annual conference and award CEUs.
(c)members eligible, from the AAIDD Social Work Division could present themselves for elective offices in the CSWE , the NASW and the APHA and in turn assist in increased sharing of resources.
(d) web-based training opportunities to be set up and free to AAIDD Social Work Division members with a fee charge to non-members.
(e) provide a teleconferences for Social Workers practicing in the Field to either read and discuss relevant and emerging ideas, topics and /or articles and obtain CEUs; the sessions would be free (or have a minimal charge) to the membership and a charge or fee that is greater for non-members.
(f) develop a “Guide to Practice” in the Field of  Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities for Social Workers. If interested contact Barbara Hanley, at bhanley1@fuse.net.
(g) update a compendium of publications by Social Workers in this field (one was developed in 1998 by the Social Work Division) If you have a publication within the last ten years,  please send the title, journal reference  etc to bhanley1@fuse.net by Monday March 31st, for inclusion, so each member can receive a copy at the Annual Meeting, or by mail as appropriate or e-mail.

    Presently there are 50 members in the Social Work Division of AAIDD. There  is a need for leadership, for the above mentioned activities; this is an opportunity to extend yourself  and provide leadership to the membership, for the above mentioned projects as well as for the chair position 2008-2010.

     Please forward any news, resources or other relevant information you would like to have included on the Social Work Division Web Site. Many thanks.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Hanley MSW, MPH, Ph.D.
Chair, Social Work Division