December 5, 2023 | Winter 2023

Inclusive Public Health Quarterly - Winter Edition 2023

We are thrilled to share our latest and most exciting program updates with you. Your input is valuable to us, and we invite you to share your feedback with us in regards to the content of the Spring 2024 issue! We look forward to hearing from you.

AUCD News & Events

AUCD 2023 Conference Highlights

It was wonderful to see all of you who came to Washington, DC in
November for the AUCD 2023 Conference, especially AUCD Emerging Leaders! We hope it was a meaningful and engaging experience for each of you. Thank you for your energy, expertise, and passion for the important work you do every day! For more information about this year's Conference, please visit the AUCD 2023 Conference page. 

We are pleased to share these wonderful Conference presentations from AUCD's Children's Mental Health Champions and Act Early Ambassadors! 

• "An Interdisciplinary Approach to Promoting Accessible and Inclusive Healthcare for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities," Sarah Mallory, PhD (DE Ambassador)

• "Alignment of Learn the Signs Developmental Milestones and Early Learning Standards," Bethanne Vergean (CT Ambassador), Deana Buck (VA Ambassador), and Melissa Crist (ID Ambassador) 

• "Partnering to Engage Communities and Building Leaders to Promote Early Identification," Jennifer Hall-Lande, PhD (MN Ambassador)

• "Autism Spectrum Disorder Prevalence in Minnesota," Co-presenter: Jennifer Hall-Lande, PhD  (MN Ambassador) 

• "Estimating Prevalence of Spina Bifida in the U.S. Using Administrative Databases," Co-presenter: Jennifer Hall-Lande, PhD (MN Ambassador)

• "Belonging as an Outcome: Continuous Improvement of Cincinnati LEND' Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging Curriculum," Stephanie Weber (OH Ambassador)

• "Piloting the My Health. My Wellness. Teaching Guide: Lesson Plans for Promoting Self-Determination and Health Confidence for People with Disabilities," Co-presenter: Sarah Mallory, PhD (DE Ambassador)

• "Development of the Next Step Clinic to Support 3-6 Year Olds with Prenatal Opioid Exposure and Their Caregivers," Elsie Bush (OH Champion), Co-presenter: Stephanie Weber (OH Ambassador)

• "OSEP Model Demonstration Project - Developing Identification, Screening, Referral and Tracking Systems for Infants and Toddlers," Bethanne Vergean (CT Ambassador) 

• "Teaching Self-Determination in Home and Family-Based Settings Using the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction in Norway and ND: Pilot Study," Contributing Author: Hilory Liccini (ND Ambassador)

• "Innovative Approaches for Implementing Community-Based Programming for Youth with Disabilities," Elsie Bush (OH Ambassador) 

AUCD's Act Early Ambassadors 

Act Early Ambassadors expand the reach of the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program and support their respective state’s work toward improving early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, including autism. Since 2011, professionals with medical, child development, developmental disability, special education, and early intervention expertise have been selected to serve as a state or territorial point-of-contact for the national “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program; support the work of Act Early Teams and other state/territorial or national initiatives to improve early identification of developmental delay and disability; and promote the adoption and integration of “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources into systems that serve young children and their families. 

AUCD's Children's Mental Health Champion Project Highlights

AUCD’s efforts of the year two Champions, 2021-2022 National Center on Disability in Public Health continues its work with the Children’s Mental Health Champions project for a third year. This project is made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Supporting the mental health needs of children starts early in childhood and can have lifelong impacts on overall health and wellbeing. AUCD/CDC’s Children’s Mental Health Champions focus on creating partnerships, identifying concerns, intervening early, and promoting children’s mental health by working with prevention programs in different settings. Building on the efforts of the year two Champions, 2021-2022, twelve Champions were selected for 2022-2023 to continue to provide timely support for children and their families. The Champions developed state-specific work plans to implement effective strategies for mental health promotion, prevention supports, and the creation of networks (e.g., school, healthcare, and community) to promote better connections between these systems. The 2022-2023 Champions represent California, Connecticut, Georgia, New Hampshire, Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

The summaries below include information on the 2022-2023 Children’s Mental Health Champions.

Year 3 Project Highlights and Successes

• 32 new partnerships were established from February to July and 130+ total partners collaborated with across program period. Some of these partnerships include: Libraries, Adaptive fitness programs, family members, SAMSHA funded MHTTC network, Early Childhood Consultation Partnership, and NAMI VA's (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Youth and Young Adult Advisory Board. 

• In the project period, Champions were able to Gather Information about mental health through:

  • Successfully conducting and analyzing needs assessments. 

  • Engaging in Interconnected Systems Framework creating a natural bridge for community connections. 

• Champion's were successful in Collaboration and Coalition-Building where they created and maintained task forces, work groups, and communities of practice with many existing group. 

• Champion's had successes in Training and Dissemination where:

  • Champions hosted information trainings and taught graduate level courses highlighting childhood mental health.

  • They have successfully adapted behavioral parent training interventions.

  • 483 individuals were trained or coached. 

To learn more about the Children’s Mental Health Champions project, please contact: Tida Sonetirot at tsonetirot@aucd.org

Vaccine Initiatives

Local Vaccine Outreach with the Disability Community 

The purpose of this project was to conduct local vaccine outreach activities in the disability community and to increase vaccination among people with disabilities across the lifespan, their family caregivers, and direct support providers (DSPs) for older adults and persons with disabilities 

The AUCD Communications Team developed this toolkit that includes vaccine confidence and outreach resources for disability stakeholders.

The toolkit includes graphics and all caption copy, platform, and alt text tips. 

For more information, please visit the National Center on Disability in Public Health website. 

Developmental Monitoring

WIC Developmental Monitoring Evaluation Project

The WIC Developmental Monitoring Evaluation Project, conducted from November 2022 to July 2023, aimed to assess the data systems within the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in collecting, tracking, and reporting information on Developmental Monitoring (DM) using Learn the Signs. Act Early. (LTSAE) materials. Managed by the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) LTSAE Team and the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN), the project engaged WIC leaders from five states, including Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Nevada and 41 teams.

The project defined seven core measures for tracking developmental monitoring: assessing eligibility, checklist offerings, checklist completions, checklist refusals, referrals, received follow-ups, and received services. Massachusetts and Wisconsin were recruited for detailed data tracking, including a process evaluation survey involving 41 WIC staff members. Key takeaways from the evaluation highlighted the perceived value of developmental monitoring among WIC staff, with time constraints being the primary barrier. 

Recommendations for states include encouraging parents to complete checklists before appointments, utilizing the Physical Presence Waiver for remote monitoring, and incorporating the seven Developmental Monitoring Core Measures during software updates. To support these initiatives, states can leverage existing resources and support from organizations like ASPHN, CDC, and WIC nutrition education courses for participants. For more information and support, reach out to AUCD's Public Health team at NationalCenterDPH@aucd.org or visit ASPHN's Learn the Signs. Act Early. 

Act Early Response to COVID-19

We are thrilled to share the highlights of the second-year progress for the Act Early Response to COVID-19 project (September 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022).

Our ongoing mission to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on early developmental identification and support for families with young children is making significant strides. The feedback from the participating teams has been overwhelmingly positive, with 79% expressing strong agreement with the feasibility of project requirements and an equally impressive 79% finding individual technical assistance and related sessions very helpful.

As for outcomes, the teams implemented a total of 1,278 events with an impressive attendance of 83,237. These events passionately promoted concepts like "Learn the Signs. Act Early." (29%), "Resiliency" (8%), or both (61%). The distribution of materials was equally impactful, with a total of 511,546 resources reaching various communities. We're proud to note that the outreach efforts extended to 5,555,595 web, media, and social media impressions, with diverse channels such as paid promotions, radio, internet, and Facebook playing crucial roles in amplifying our message.

Thank you for being a part of our journey. Together, we're making a meaningful difference in supporting families and fostering early developmental awareness. 

Emergency Preparedness

Prepared4ALL: Local Whole Community Inclusive Emergency Planning

People with disabilities are two to four times more likely to become injured or die from emergencies and disasters than people without disabilities. The severe impacts of COVID-19 on people with disabilities are well known.

Why? Too often, people with disabilities, disability organizations, and other allies are not at the local planning table. To close this gap, AUCD developed Prepared4ALL. Prepared4ALL aims for systems

change by strengthening stakeholder capacity.

Prepared4ALL is for people with disabilities, disability advocates and organizations, local and state public health and emergency management personnel, students, and the whole community. The program’s tools and trainings apply to COVID-19 and other pandemics, natural and weather-related disasters. Prepared4ALL includes an 8 module online course, collaboration and engagement strategy tools, a workbook guide for local inclusive emergency planning, and more. The program is free and Section 508 accessible.

For any questions, please contact AUCD's Public Health Team at NationalCenterDPH@aucd.org

Prepared4ALL was funded in part through a CDC cooperative agreement. The content is solely the responsibility of the awarded organization and does not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more information, please visit the National Center on Disability in Public Health website. 

AUCD Special Interest Groups (SIG) 

Health and Disability

Thank you to everyone who joined in our Health and Disability Special Interest Group (SIG) session at the AUCD Conference! Our presenter, Peggy McManus, MHS, Co-Director of Got Transition, shared insights on National Recommendations for Strengthening the Adult Primary Care Workforce for Young Adults with Medical Complexity based on the Got Transition report. Excitingly, the SIG will actively engage with Recommendation #10: Build a Coalition of Interested Organizations to Support Expanded Adult Primary Care Capacity for Young Adults with Medical Complexity (YAMC) which includes young adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. One of our first tasks will be looking at Medicaid expansion status and possibilities across states to extend coverage to age 26, but in addition bring barriers to light such as paucity of providers that take Medicaid due to payment model issues.

Stay tuned for more updates on our collective journey with the Health and Disability Lead, Christine Mirzaian, MD, MPH, and AUCD staff liaison, Tida Sonetirot. Join the Health and Disability listserv to discuss with us further and participate in our next SIG webinar!

Disability Studies

The Disability Studies Special Interest Group of AUCD engages interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives on disability. The group shares information about disability studies programs, curricula, and activities and discusses current issues in and challenges to disability studies. Please contact Tara Lutz at lutz@uchc.edu and Matthew Wangeman at Matthew.Wangeman@nau.edu. For more information, please visit AUCD's Disability Studies webpage. Subscribe to the Disability Studies listserv here to hear about updates and the next SIG meeting! 

Nutrition

The Nutrition is for Everyone SIG listserv is created to promote discussion on nutrition and disability. Subscribers can collaborate on and share nutrition resources, relevant health policy updates, issues affecting nutritional health, and more. AUCD's Public Health Team will begin the Nutrition quarterly meetings soon! Stay tuned for more updates by joining the listserv. 

Resources

New Hampshire Disability and Health Program: Responsive Practice Trainings Courses for Health Care Providers 

A Responsive Practice enhances health care providers’ ability to deliver disability-competent care that is accessible to people with disabilities. Learn strategies and approaches to identify, address, and help remove barriers to care.

This project was funded through a CDC cooperative agreement.

For more information, please visit the NH Disability and Health Program website. 

Other Resources

Public Health is for Everyone Toolkit 

AUCD's National Center on Disability in Public Health

About AUCD's Public Health Team