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November 2005, Vol.5, No.11

AAMR F.Y.I.
November 2005, Vol.5, No.11

Visit http://www.aamr.org/FYI/ to access current and past issues of this monthly newsletter.

Dear AAMR Friends and Colleagues:

CHANGES IN PRESCRIPTION COVERAGE WILL AFFECT MORE THAN 500,000 PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES
More than half a million people with developmental disabilities in the United States currently receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits. For these individuals, current Medicaid drug benefits end on December 31, 2005 as a result of a new federal legislation. This dual eligibility is being replaced by a new Medicare drug benefit starting January 1, 2006.

To learn more about how this legislation affects families, caregivers, and advocates, read Ensuring Continuity of Care for Dual Eligibles: A Guide to Transition From Medicaid to Medicare’s Prescription Drug Coverage prepared by The Arc of the United States and United Cerebral Palsy athttp://thedesk.info/PartD/MedicarePartDBrochureFinal050928.pdf

NATIONAL FORUM TO ADDRESS END OF LIFE CARE FOR PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
"Aging and End of Life Issues: A Special Forum," to be held in Washington, DC from December 1-2, 2005 will explore how to support individuals with intellectual disabilities as they face the complexities of growing old and experience issues pertaining to end of life care and death. Sample topics explored include hospice care; challenges faced by older and sibling caregivers; grief and grief support among persons with intellectual disabilities; quality palliative care; and how to communicate end of life wishes with people with intellectual disabilities.

The forum is organized by the American Association on Mental Retardation and the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with
Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

To read a program agenda, visithttp://www.aamr.org/Events/aging_program.shtml

To download a registration form for the forum, visithttp://www.aamr.org/Events/pdf/registration.pdf To learn how to register online, visit http://www.aamr.org/Events/aging.shtml

AUSTRALIA TESTS TWO NOVEL APPROACHES TO RAISING AWARENESS OF HEALTH CONCERNS OF PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AMONG GENERAL PRACTITIONERS
A University of Queensland project designed to enhance general health care access for persons with intellectual disabilities reports significant increases in immunizations, detection of vision impairment, hearing testing, and advocacy. The project, backed by $779,500 in funds from the National Health and Medical Research Council consists of a Comprehensive Health Assessment Program (CHAP), a general practitioner (GP)-based health review process, and an Ask Diary project in which adolescents with intellecutal disabilities and their parents recorded their interactions with their GPs.

Read more at http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=8108

NEW RESEARCH EXPLAINS WHY CHILDREN WITH AUTISM HAVE PROBLEM SOLVING DIFFICULTIES
Scientists at the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne, Australia, have discovered that children with autism have less activation in the deep parts of the brain responsible for functions such as attention, reasoning, and problem solving, supporting evidence that autism has a biological cause.

Read more at http://www.hfi.unimelb.edu.au/

NEW RESOURCES FOR PROFESSIONALS IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES NOW AVAILABLE FROM AAMR
The Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), an assessment tool that gauges the daily support needs of a person with an intellectual disability, is now available as a stand-alone electronic scoring application on CD-ROM. The SIS CD-ROM enables professionals to score the 85 items ranked by SIS electronically and can be completed on any computer running on a Windows operating system. Learn more at http://www.siswebsite.org/site/pdf/SISe-optionswebsite.pdf

A new booklet containing a detailed description of items ranked by theSupports Intensity Scale is now available athttp://www.siswebsite.org/page.ww?section=News&name=Press+Release+Detail&pressrelease.id=13. The authors of SIS have also published a Frequently Asked Questions on how to score SIS athttp://www.siswebsite.org/galleries/default-file/Frequency&FAQ.pdf To learn more about SIS, visit www.siswebsite.org

National Goals for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilitiesedited by K. Charlie Lakin and Ann P. Turnbull assesses the status of America with regards to its fulfillment of goals for persons with intellectual disabilities. Based on a federally sponsored conference in Washington, DC, this book describes current knowledge in 12 areas that touch lives of persons with intellectual disabilities. To read a table of contents and an introduction to the book, visithttp://www.aamr.org/Reading_Room/pdf/NationalGoalsfm.pdf

Health Promotion for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: The State of Scientific Evidence edited by Wendy M. Nehring summarizes current research on major topics affecting the health and well being of persons with intellectual disabilities. The book provides a basis for developing interventions and solutions to eliminate health disparities among persons with intellectual disabilities. To read a table of contents and an introduction to the book, visithttp://www.aamr.org/Reading_Room/pdf/HealthPromotionfm.pdf

AAMR F.Y.I. is compiled by Anna Prabhala, Editor. Please submit comments, suggestions, tips, and news to annap@aamr.org

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