Autism & IDD: Definition Changes and Biological Notations

a picture of a brain's amygdala - this is a thumbnail for the blog post

We’d like to share a couple of news items from this past week. One is about how both autism and intellectual disability are being redefined for better alignment with the World Health Organization’s disability classification system in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The second item is an article from the National Institutes for … Read More

Using Self-Management and Team Collaboration Tools for Pre-Employment Transition Services and Competitive Employment

Person-Centered Planning (PCP) is a common process employed by agencies that provide supported living and employment services to individuals with disabilities. Mandated by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services at the federal level, one goal of the PCP process is to facilitate access to employment services in community settings for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and to … Read More

Engaging Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities in the Development of Self-Management Tools Through Participatory Design

Co-Authors: Tom Keating and Tobias Rickard Why Participatory Design? Cognitopia develops accessible software for people with cognitive disabilities to self-manage everyday activities using web-based tools that foster independence, while also enhancing support received from families, teachers, and adult service providers. In the early 2000’s, when I first began teaching in a community-based transition program, I had the opportunity to work … Read More

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 step-by-step procedure, schedule, task list, plan, or even a goal. … Read More

OSTC 2019: Igniting Partnerships for Student Success

This past March, Eugene welcomed transition specialists and educators from across the state of Oregon for two days of professional development and networking at the 2019 Oregon Statewide Transition Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was Igniting Partnerships for Student Success, a natural fit for our session on Supporting Seamless Transition Through Technology for Self-Determination and Data Sharing. Julie … Read More

Transitions Cost More Than $2.3B in IDD Support Services

Cyclic Regression Causes Expensive Turnover, Painful Restarts, and Critical Struggles.  Decrease staff training costs. Create smoother transitions for clients. Preserve your investments in human resources. Have a sustained impact on client quality of life. You have a clear and special mission to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), promote their independence, and to bring meaningful improvements to their … Read More

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 to understand for themselves how they are doing on a … Read More