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May 2008, Vol.8, No.5
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Dear AAIDD Friends and Colleagues:
- The AAIDD Annual Meeting this May features seven professional training workshops, from communicating about end-of-life wishes to identifying job opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.
- Rome event spurs discussion on user experiences of the Supports Intensity Scale from four European countries and Catalonia.
- Most children with autism are on five or more different treatments at any given time, Kennedy Krieger autism registry reveals, a year after launch.
- New U.S. federal report proposes 18 statistical indicators to annually measure the status of working-age people with disabilities in America.
- Register for online issue alerts for the American Journal on Mental Retardation and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
- National Institutes of Health study reveals chances for survival and disability for premature babies.
THE AAIDD ANNUAL MEETING THIS MAY FEATURES SEVEN PROFESSIONAL TRAINING WORKSHOPS, FROM COMMUNICATING ABOUT END-OF-LIFE WISHES TO IDENTIFYING JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) has organized seven professional training workshops on key issues in the intellectual disabilities field as part of its 2008 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. On Friday, May 30, you can spend half a day with experts learning about such topics as: Life and financial planning; communicating about end-of-life wishes through person-centered planning; evidence-based practices in teaching social skills; community support skills standards in the direct support profession; and supported employment. Learn more and register at /Events/DC/workshops.shtml.
To download a preliminary program of the 132nd AAIDD Annual Meeting, visit /Events/pdf/PreliminaryProgram08.pdf. The theme for this year’s Annual Meeting is “The New Professional: Leadership in Science, Practice, Policy and Advocacy”. Learn more about AAIDD at www.aaidd.org.
ROME EVENT SPURS DISCUSSION ON USER EXPERIENCES OF THE SUPPORTS INTENSITY SCALE FROM FOUR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND CATALONIA
The Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) planning tool for people with intellectual disabilities evokes passion from European users, as they share experiences and best practices in Rome, Italy, at a 2-day conference held by disability group, ANFFAS Onlus. [LINK ANFFAS Onlus TO www.anffas.net} Researchers and practitioners from Belgium, Catalonia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain discussed various uses of SIS in areas such as, person-centered planning and resource allocation. The Supports Intensity Scale has been translated into 10 languages and the Scale is in use in 11 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces. The SIS is an assessment tool that measures the support needs of people living with an intellectual disability in order to facilitate needs-based service planning. Read more about the European experiences with SIS in an article featured in the latest issue of the SIS Vantage newsletter. To learn more about SIS, visit www.siswebsite.org.
MOST CHILDREN WITH AUTISM ARE ON FIVE OR MORE DIFFERENT TREATMENTS AT ANY GIVEN TIME, KENNEDY KRIEGER AUTISM REGISTRY REVEALS, A YEAR AFTER LAUNCH
In April 2007, the Kennedy Krieger Institute launched the Interactive Autism Network (IAN), the nation’s first autism registry. A year later, with 22,000 registrants, highlights of data collected so far reveal two trends. First, 46 percent of mothers of children with autism reported a diagnosis of depression, versus the general population where approximately 20 percent of women are faced with clinical depression in their lifetime. Secondly, most children with autism are on 5 or more different treatments at any given time, 67 percent of which are not covered by insurance. Parents report spending an average of $500 per month on treatments. Read more at http://www.kennedykrieger.org/kki_news.jsp?pid=6981. For a first year update, visit http://www.kennedykrieger.org/pdf/news/ian_anniversary.pdf.
In related news, the National Institutes of Health announces newly-awarded autism centers of excellence. Click here to read more.
NEW U.S. FEDERAL REPORT PROPOSES 18 STATISTICAL INDICATORS TO ANNUALLY MEASURE THE STATUS OF WORKING-AGE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN AMERICA
The National Council on Disability (NCD) released a report titled, Keeping Track: National Disability Status and Program Performance Indicators, describing what is currently known about the status of people with disabilities in the United States. The report also examines current data to assess the extent to which they meaningfully measure the well-being of people with disabilities. The report includes a set of 18 statistical social indicators that NCD believes will measure the progress of people with disabilities in important areas of their life over time. The indicators span a variety of life domains, including employment, education, health status and health care, financial status and security, leisure and recreation, personal relationships, and crime and safety.
REGISTER FOR ONLINE ISSUE ALERTS FOR THE AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION AND INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES
The American Journal on Mental Retardation (AJMR) and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) are both leading journals in special education and rehabilitation, according to industry impact factor rankings. Now you can register to receive an e-mail alert every time a new issue of AJMR or IDD is posted online. To sign up to receive an alert, click here. The alert will include a full table of contents of the current issue with a provision to access the articles online. Subscribers can read the entire issue online and download PDFs of articles at no cost. Non-subscribers can read abstracts of articles for free or purchase the full text of the article online for a fee. To learn more about AJMR and IDD, click here. AJMR and IDD are published by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH STUDY REVEALS CHANCES FOR SURVIVAL AND DISABILITY FOR PREMATURE BABIES
Based on observations of more than 4,000 infants, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified several factors that influence an extremely low birth weight infant’s chances for survival and disability. Many newborns die soon after birth, while some survive and reach adulthood, relatively unaffected. The rest experience some degree of life-long disability, ranging from minor hearing loss to blindness to cerebral palsy and profound intellectual disability. Click here to read a press release on the discovery from the NIH.
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