Ensuring that all children, youth, and adults with disabilities, and those receiving educational supports, are valued by and contribute to their communities of choice. |
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New Impact: Engaging Diverse Communities
The new issue of Impact highlights critical disability research questions derived from the recent State of the Science meeting at ICI’s Research and Training Center on Community Living. The issue is also available in Spanish.
What, exactly, is cultural competence in a research context? How do people with disabilities from historically marginalized communities learn about job opportunities and how can we get information to them faster? What are the strengths of families in marginalized communities in relation to family support? How can we better engage people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in all aspects of research into social inclusion and belonging and other important aspects of community life?
Engaging Communities Underrepresented in Disability Research spells out a long-overdue research agenda and includes a cultural framework for IDD research written by issue editor Tawara Goode, director of the Georgetown University National Center on Cultural Competence. Julie Bershadsky, director of ICI’s Community Living and Employment focus area; and Teresa Nguyen, director of the Community Living Equity Center at Brandeis University’s Institute for Disability Policy, also served as issue editors.
“It was refreshing to see this Impact issue come together, with a wide range of stakeholders contributing their personal stories,” Nguyen said. “The focus on improving research equity by increasing engagement in the disability community, especially those from minoritized groups, is a critical step in addressing disability equity.”
The cover story features the Boston family (pictured) of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Leonard Boston is a board member of Parent to Parent USA, an organization for parents of children with disabilities. His article shares his family’s experiences becoming involved in research in the Angelman syndrome community.
Read more about the new Impact. |
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Autistic, Not Sorry
You’ll probably learn something about dogs when you meet Isabelle Morris, and after letting you know she has all of the AKC breeds memorized alphabetically, she’ll joke that if you couldn’t already tell, her other special interest is autism.
But it’s not just uncanny canine knowledge and a dry sense of humor that set Morris apart. She’s among a growing group of autistic researchers using their lived experience to shape the future of autism research.
“I only have one experience of autism, and my adviser and others around me have the good sense to not challenge the person with autism on their experience, but to encourage me to bring in other people who will make my research so much better, versus conducting it in a vacuum,” Morris said. “It’s not only better-quality research, but community building.”
Morris is a second-year doctoral student at the University’s Institute of Child Development who is also completing a MNLEND fellowship at the Institute on Community Integration. The Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities fellowship is a leadership training experience that spans more than 16 disciplines across the University and includes a wide cross section of community members from outside the University.
To help hone her skills in working with people with different types of disabilities at multiple levels of a research project, she also spent time through her MNLEND fellowship working with Cow Tipping Press (pictured), a Minneapolis organization that teaches inclusive writing classes for adults with developmental disabilities.
Read more about Morris. |
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7 ICI Teams Featured in CEHD Research Day
Seven teams of ICI researchers will present at CEHD Research and Innovation Day 2023 on March 23 at McNamara Alumni Center.
Renáta Tichá and Brian Abery
are leading a team of researchers presenting ICI’s work on a five-year initiative with the State of Minnesota to improve programs for youth with disabilities transitioning from high school to adult life. Tichá and Abery are also leading a team presenting on a joint project with the University’s College of Science and Engineering to use robots (pictured) equipped with artificial intelligence to encourage physical activity and reduce loneliness in older adults.
Former ICI Director David R. Johnson and colleagues will present research on the aspirations of students with disabilities after high school, and ICI’s Julie Kramme will discuss how self-determination can help people with disabilities achieve their career goals.
Read more about ICI’s other poster presentations. |
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Alpha Supported Living Services Wins Moving Mountains Award
The Institute on Community Integration, the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, and ANCOR recently announced that Alpha Supported Living Services
, a Bothell, Washington-based nonprofit agency that provides supported living and other community services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), has won the 2023 Moving Mountains Award.
Recognizing the devastating effect that rising staff turnover in Washington was having on people with IDD, the organization began an initiative in 2017 to improve recruitment of direct support professionals (DSPs), develop training materials, expand the organizational structure to better support DSPs’ work, and improve service quality. That effort became the Alpha Workforce Advocacy, Recruitment and Development (AWARD) initiative, which resulted in dramatically lower turnover rates and higher entry-level pay, compared with statewide averages.
“Service providers across the country were already dealing with crisis-level vacancy rates, but the pandemic made the situation even worse as workers became scarce and hourly pay in other industries soared,” said Amy Hewitt, ICI’s director. “Alpha Supported Living Services has been a strong advocate for raising DSP pay to a more-livable wage, and we congratulate them on winning this year’s Moving Mountains Award.”
Read more about the 2023 Moving Mountains Award winner. |
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On Wednesday, March 1, Institute on Community Integration director Amy Hewitt, PhD will participate in Communities in Action: Building a Better Minnesota at The White House
. Dr. Hewitt will share information on implementation of the CMS Settings Rule with a focus on protection of human rights of people with disabilities who live in community settings; using ARPA dollars to address the direct support workforce shortage; continued investment in COVID-19 education and vaccination programs, including sensory-friendly vaccination clinics for people with autism; and efforts to expand student loan forgiveness for those working in public service.
A summary of President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law’s success in Minnesota is available at https://bit.ly/3SzIfHI. #buildbackbetter,
#universityofminnesota #developmentaldisabilities |
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New Podcast Series: Wellness Matters for Direct Support
Presenters: Mark R Olson and Chet Tschetter
The daily demands of being a direct support professional (DSP) can often lead to stress and burnout. And when a DSP is stressed, they are likely to make errors that can be costly. Join Mark Olson and Chet Tschetter as they bring you a new podcast series that dives into how DSPs can practice self care. You can download and listen to Wellness Matters for Direct Support wherever you get your podcast. This ICI podcast series is produced by and for DSPs. |
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Communicating about Annual State Assessment Participation for All Students: A Communication Toolkit
Authors: Andrew R Hinkle, E. Tardio, Virginia A Ressa, Sheryl Lazarus,
Sylvia Kwon, Tiffany Katanyoutanant, Markie McNeilly, Bryan Hemberg, Katherine Nagle, Kristin K Liu, Kathy J Strunk, and
Martha L Thurlow
This communications toolkit
was developed by ICI’s National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) to identify and describe reasons why all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, and English learners with disabilities should take state tests. The purpose of the tool is to provide a concise resource that state education agency staff, and district and school administrators can use when communicating with educators, policymakers, families, and students about why it is so important that students participate in state assessments. It also contains materials that Individualized Educational Program teams can use when making state test participation decisions for students with disabilities. This toolkit is intended to provide a neutral but useful mechanism to guide positive, thoughtful conversations about student testing participation. Published by NCEO. |
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NCEO Report 438: A Summary of the Research on the Effects of K–12 Test Accommodations: 2021
Authors: Chris Rogers, Virginia A Ressa, Sheryl Lazarus,
Martha L Thurlow, and Ghada Swadek
This report
provides an update on the state of the research on testing accommodations. Previous reports by ICI’s National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) have covered research published since 1999. In this report, we summarize the research published in 2021. During 2021, 12 research studies addressed testing accommodations in the U.S. K–12 education system. The research published in the year 2021 addressed several critical areas such as the effects of accommodations on student performance and educators’ knowledge, perceptions, and implementation practices regarding accommodations. The research also identifies emerging trends such as the use of paper-and-pencil accommodations in digital environments, the role of individualized accommodations, and the increased research in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content areas. Published by NCEO. |
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NCEO Brief 29: Meeting the 1% AA-AAAS Participation Requirement
Authors: Yi-Chen Wu, Sheryl Lazarus, and Martha L Thurlow
Up to 1.0% of the total tested state student population in a subject area may participate in the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAAS). This Brief presents the results of analyses of states’ AA-AAAS participation rates from 2015–16 through 2018–19. Information is presented on: (a) the number of states meeting the 1.0% participation requirement in each year from 2015–16 through 2018–19 for mathematics (i.e., math) and reading/language arts (i.e., reading), and (b) states with decreasing and states with increasing patterns of participation rates across the four years in math and reading. Published by NCEO. |
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Policy Forum: Overrepresentation of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Moving Between Large State-run Institutions and the Criminal Legal System
This Policy Forum from February 14, 2023 discussed the recent Policy Research Brief titled, Overrepresentation of People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Moving Between Large State-run Institutions and the Criminal Legal System.
Slides from the presentation are included.
Discussants included Jon Neidorf and Sheryl Larson from ICI, Liat Ben-Moshe from the University of Illinois Chicago, Nick Dubin from Legal Reform for the Intellectually & Developmentally Disabled, and Pamela Lew from Disability Rights California.
Julie Bershadsky from ICI facilitated the discussion. Policy Forum is hosted by ICI’s Research and Training Center on Community Living. |
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What is Minnesota Project SCOPE?
Authors: Drake B Bauer, Jennifer A Hall-Lande, and Jessica J Simacek
Designer: Sarah L Curtner
This flyer describes Minnesota Project SCOPE, an immersion training series focused on supporting children born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome or Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome. Minnesota Project SCOPE aims to build a community of practice among Minnesota providers to build knowledge and skills that better support children and families affected by the opioid epidemic. Among others, providers include early childhood providers, school staff, and healthcare professionals. The series includes training on opioid effects on child development, care for diverse families and communities, and available services and supports for families. Published by ICI and Project SCOPE. |
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MIHEC Learning Community Webinar: Customized Employment
In this webinar
from February 7, 2023, Jaclyn Camden, Virginia Commonwealth University, discussed the importance of paid employment while in college and offered information on a national study to assist staff in higher education to provide employment supports that fit the strengths and needs of college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The presenter explained how to help students get paid jobs while in college and suggested practical strategies on implementing customized employment in higher education. The presentation also shared what has worked for study participants, representing 75 universities across the country, as well as challenges they faced in providing employment supports. Slides are included. Facilitated by Nicole Rabinowitz, Inclusive Networking. Published by the
Minnesota Inclusive Higher Education Consortium (MIHEC) and ICI. |
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Supporting Employment for Persons with Disabilities in Bhutan: Results from an Employer Survey
Authors: Renáta Tichá, Brian Abery, Matthew J Schuelka,
Kezang Sherab, and Ura Sonam Tshewang
This report presents the results of an employer survey in Bhutan focused on recruiting, hiring, and employing people with disabilities in that country in central Asia. The survey results show that employers and Bhutanese society as a whole need to recognize that people with disabilities can become skilled, productive, and successful employees. Policy, practices, and workplace accessibility need to align to achieve this goal. Published by ICI. |
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Discriminating Importance from Urgency When Setting Priorities
Author: Jolene Thibedeau Boyd
This online lesson from DirectCourse shows direct support workers how to discriminate between importance and urgency when setting priorities. Successful professionals know how to set priorities and manage time. This requires knowing what is important and when to attend to things. Doing this well often takes ongoing planning and reflection. This lesson teaches how to set priorities. It describes the value of direct support workers identifying what is uniquely important to them. It encourages them to be cautious about focusing on only what others expect of them. It introduces a tool to help direct support workers think about how to approach tasks based on their importance and urgency. This can help them focus on what matters and meet both short- and long-term goals.
DirectCourse offers a suite of competency-based, online curricula for professionals providing services to people with intellectual, developmental, physical, and psychiatric disabilities, and to older adults. DirectCourse is operated by a partnership of ICI’s Research and Training Center on Community Living and Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information. |
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Charting the LifeCourse Sessions
Parents developed Charting the LifeCourse to support the people they love to live a good life. Charting the LifeCourse prepares parents and their children to plan, communicate, and problem-solve about things that are important to them. These free online sessions are for families, teachers, paraprofessionals, case managers, support coordinators, and anyone who wants to know more about Charting the LifeCourse. Register for the sessions you want to attend. |
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MIHEC Learning Community Event: "Embracing Dignity of Risk"
April 18
3 pm Central Time
Join a discussion about the dignity of risk for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are pursuing an inclusive postsecondary education. The presenters—Christopher Worth and Magen Rooney-Kron, PhD—are from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Worth is a community organizer, sexuality educator, and college instructor. Rooney-Kron is an assistant professor and researcher. They will be joined by a student who will share the student perspective. They will discuss authentic dignity of risk, what it looks like on a college campus, and some of the benefits and outcomes. This free Zoom presentation is from the
Minnesota Inclusive Higher Education Consortium (MIHEC). Everyone is welcome. Registration is open. |
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Claire Benway and Nicole Duchelle. Benway and Duchelle
were accepted into the 2023 National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems’ Racial Equity Learning Collaborative. Benway and Duchelle are members of the Collaborative, which runs from January through June 2023. Collaborative members examine their own biases and identify policies that are racist and how to move towards anti-racist policies. |
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Renáta Tichá. In February, Tichá
began her two-year term on the National Center Measurement Instrument Collection Review Committee under the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. The committee reviews the criteria for including measures in the National Center for Interprofessional Practice & Education Measurement Instrument Collection and reviews newly-identified measures for inclusion in this collection. |
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Megan Sanders, Chet Tschetter, Barbara Kleist, Susan O’Nell, Kristin Dean, Shawn Lawler, Jonathon Walz, Julie Bershadsky, and Sandra Pettingell. On February 2, Sanders and Tschetter presented the virtual frontline supervisor training, “Establishing and Maintaining Healthy Teams,” to 49 frontline supervisors from the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. On February 21–22, Sanders, Tschetter,
Kleist, and O’Nell presented the in-person frontline supervisor training, “Debrief, Self-Care, and Next Steps,” to 51 frontline supervisors from the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. On February 23,
Dean, Lawler, Walz,
Bershadsky, and Pettingell presented a demonstration of the Direct Support Workforce Solutions data portal entry system to the 25 provider organizations from the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. |
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Sarah Hall. On February 16, Hall
presented a webinar, “The Sandwich Generation,” to siblings of people with disabilities and other family members for the Adult Siblings Future Planning webinar series hosted by the Center for Disability Empowerment in Columbus, Ohio. On February 18, Hall and Anna Gilbertson, an Extension Educator in 4-H Youth Development, presented the 4-H Careers Workshop, “Direct Support Professionals,” to teach 4-H youth about careers in the disability field. |
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Barbara Kleist. On February 17, the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living in St. Paul, Minnesota announced that it appointed Kleist as a new board member. |
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Eva Reed and Ava Wagner. On February 18, Reed
and Wagner (Reed’s support person at ICI) were in a fashion show. Wagner is a senior at the University of Minnesota and is majoring in fashion design with a focus on accessible fashion. Reed was a model for Wagner’s senior fashion show. |
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NCEO Staff. On March 1–4, staff from ICI’s National Center for Educational Outcomes (NCEO) presented at the Council for Exceptional Children’s 2023 Convention and Expo in Louisville, Kentucky.
Sheryl Lazarus and Mari Quanbeck presented, “Balancing Test Security and Accessibility for Students with Disabilities” (pictured). Lazarus, Yi-Chen Wu, and
Martha Thurlow presented, “Using Text-to-Speech to Improve Instruction and Student Learning.” Wu, Thurlow, and David Johnson, presented, “Students’ Transition Planning and Post-school Expectations: NLTS 2012 Findings.” Quanbeck and
Charity Funfe Tatah Mentan presented, “Innovative Tips: Engaging Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Parents.” Virginia Ressa and Kascinda Fleming
presented, “Learning Progressions and Formative Assessment Practices to Track Student Growth” and “What Do Students Prefer? Considering Student Perceptions when Selecting Accommodations.” |
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Matthew Schuelka. On March 15, Schuelka
was interviewed in a Goal 4 podcast by Richard Ingram from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. In the podcast, Schuelka speaks about his work on inclusive education, complexity theory and educational systems, happiness, the purpose and utility of education, and his past, present, and future work in Bhutan (pictured). The podcast is free online on Spotify (https://rb.gy/squc35), Apple podcasts (https://rb.gy/zaf1jh
), and Acast (https://rb.gy/ny1zl1). |
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Hope Is a Strategy
Sandra Christenson, a University of Minnesota professor emeritus who helped develop and lead ICI’s Check & Connect student engagement program, recently published a second edition of her handbook on student engagement research. Christenson also recently received the University’s prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award.
The new edition, edited with Amy L. Reschly, provides insight on how educational psychology promotes positive youth development that carries into students’ adult lives, beyond high school.
“We could see that all these engagement concepts were still critically important for students in college,” she said. “When you have solid academic, behavioral, social, and cognitive skills, you can go on in life, set goals, and achieve. All those things you dream about might actually be very possible.”
Moving at-risk students from motivation to true engagement in their academic lives has been Christenson’s life’s work.
“Motivation is the ‘I want to.’ It is building the desire for something to happen,” said Christenson, who retired in 2016 after a distinguished career in educational psychology. “Engagement is when you have the cognitive piece, when the student says, ‘I can do it. I’m willing to put forth the effort, even in a challenging situation, to figure it out.”
Getting students to that point takes listening to them and finding out what is meaningful to them, and developing a relationship, she said.
“There is something about a relationship being built over time that makes a student want to avoid disappointing their mentor,” she said. “I’ll never forget one student I worked with in the mid-1990s. He said, ‘I thought you’d go away, but here we are two years later and I realize you care about me.’ You know what? He started doing better in school.”
Read more about Christenson. |
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This email was sent to ICI staff by Institute on Community Integration, 2025 East River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN, 55414, USA. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
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The University of Minnesota stands on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the rightful homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. ICI recognizes that the U.S. did not uphold its end of these land treaties. It is the current and continued displacement of the Dakhóta Oyáte
that allows the University to remain today. At ICI, we affirm our commitment to address systemic racism, ableism and all other inequalities and forms of oppression to ensure inclusive communities. |
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