Joke of the Day For Connection and Light
Keeping things fun and light is key to dealing with life’s many twists and turns. Heck, without levity, many of us might wallow in the negative and miss the lighter side. Haling originally from Tennessee, enter Amy Jordan. Amy moved to her new home in South Eugene, Oregon back in
Narrative Medicine Approach in MyLife Helps Patients Tell their Story
When there is turnover in health care or caregiving staff, or when existing staff are overextended due to personnel shortages, even the most skilled healthcare professionals can inadvertently overlook their patients’ needs. Worse, when a patient is transferred between caregivers or caregiving facilities, critical information can fall even further between
Dreams Without Limits: A Photo-Essay Book About Hope, Dreams, and Life Goals
In a striking collection of photo-essays, the authors of the recently published Dreams Without Limits give readers unique insight into the hopes, dreams, and achievements of people who experience different disabilities. Written by Laura Dahill, director of marketing and communications for The Arc Lane County and photographed by Jon Christopher Meyers, award-winning
How Autistic Individuals Have Helped Direct Cognitopia’s Development
Cognitopia’s development of self-management applications has been shaped by people with autism in ways both direct and indirect. From the beginning we have used a participatory design process whereby students and adults with autism work with us on design iteration and testing. For example, for the last five years, we’ve
Introducing Stairway to STEM: Online Resource for Autistic Students Transitioning to College and Other Post-secondary Educational Opportunities
Stairway to STEM (STS) is a National Science Foundation-funded project that launched in October 2018. Our mission is to help autistic students realize their capacity for success as they transition to college environments and beyond. We are a web-based resource, and our content includes more than 150 posts, videos, interviews,
Five Tips for Creating an Effective Routine
Within the Cognitopia Platform for Self-Determination a routine is a sequence of steps consisting of actions that lead to the accomplishment of work assignments, activities of daily living, social skills, recreational activities, or any other self-management task. In practice, the concept of a routine may be referred to as a
Intelligent Lives Screening Highlights Community Inclusion and a Q&A
Earlier this month Phil Hayes, our New England Representative, had the opportunity to participate with his family in a unique experience highlighting the inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in greater Swampscott, Massachusetts. At an event co-sponsored by Swampscott Public Schools Student Services, TASH New England, and Swampscott Unites, Respects
National Disability Employment Awareness Month Empowers All
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Endorsed by the US Department of Labor (DOL), the purpose of NDEAM is to help educate individuals about disability employment issues and to celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities. This premise falls in line with the tools we
Giving Students Meaningful Data to Measure their Progress
Measuring student progress is essential to understanding areas of student need. For individuals with intellectual barriers or unique learning styles, activities like standardized testing or even quiz scores and letter grades over time can be demeaning and seem pointless. Perhaps more valuable for students’ overall educational experience is being able
Empowering Students to Participate in their Own IEP Meetings
Individual education planning (IEP) meetings can often be stressful for everyone involved and not feel particularly good for parents and teachers alike. But IEP meetings can be even more painful for students when they are not included and not prepared for what the meeting will involve. Like many educators, I