Institute for Disability Studies
Family Health Notes
May 2017
Inside this issue:
1) Health and Education Empowerment Day – May 18, Tupelo
2) 2017 Mississippi disAbility MegaConference – June 15-16, Jackson
3) Need Info on a Summer Camp?
4) Better Hearing and Speech Month Coffee Break Webinars
5) Cultural Responsiveness Resource Guide
6) New 2017 Transition Coding and Reimbursement Tip Sheet Available
7) Genes and Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder
8) National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL) Launches Website
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1) Health and Education Empowerment Day – May 18, Tupelo
Are you the parent of a child with a disability or special health care need? Learn how to be a more effective partner in your child’s health care and education. Attend the free Health and Education Empowerment Day for families of children with disabilities on Thurs., May 18, from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Family Resource Center at 425 Magazine Street in Tupelo. Learn about care coordination and medical home, Medicaid waivers, IEP services, procedural safeguards, advocacy and communication, People First Language and disability etiquette. There will be a panel on bullying that features the reporting process and a glimpse into actions and reactions from both sides. The Health and Education Empowerment Day is sponsored by the Mississippi Family to Family project of the Institute for Disability Studies, The Arc of Mississippi and LIFE of Mississippi. Parents, advocates, educators and medical professionals can benefit from this training which will feature local and statewide resource information. CEUs have been applied for. For more information, contact Family to Family Parent Coordinator Keishawna Smith at 1.866.883.4474 or ksmith@ihl.state.ms.us.
2) 2017 Mississippi disAbility MegaConference – June 15-16, Jackson
The Mississippi disAbility MegaConference is the state’s largest conference for people with disabilities, their families, and professionals. Presenters and exhibitors share the latest information and innovations about topics such as health care, education, employment, mental health, safety, and much more! If you plan to attend and need respite care, please complete your form now. Space is limited. For more information or to register for the conference, visit http://msmegaconference.org/.
3) Need Info on a Summer Camp?
Summer is just around the corner. If you are looking for summer camp information for your child with a special health care need, call Keishawna Smith, Mississippi Family to Family parent coordinator, at 1.866.883.4474 or email her at ksmith@ihl.state.ms.us.
4) Better Hearing and Speech Month Coffee Break Webinars
May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. In celebration, the Office of Special Education Programs’ (OSEP) Early Childhood Assistive Technology Model Demonstration grantees and Center on Technology and Disability are partnering with the Office of Head Start’s Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative to join the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in celebrating this year’s theme “Communication: The Key to Connection.” Throughout the month of May, ASHA partners with national and local stakeholders to engage in a multifaceted public education campaign to raise awareness about the critical need to intervene early when young children are identified with communication disorders. The Coffee Break Webinars will focus on raising awareness about the use of assistive technology and the importance of frequent hearing screenings. Please join the Coffee Break webinar series to learn more about assistive technology and hearing screening. There is no pre-registration to join the webinars. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2oLFW5y.
5) Cultural Responsiveness Resource Guide
The National Research Center on Hispanic Children and Families has released a new resource guide to help community-based organizations find relevant resources for developing and implementing culturally competent programs in increasingly diverse communities. Developing Culturally Responsive Approaches to Serving Diverse Populations: A Resource Guide for Community-Based Organizations (March 2017), includes information on choosing, adapting or developing interventions, conducting needs assessments, selecting appropriate measures, collaborating with other organizations, ensuring workforce diversity, budgeting for culturally competent programs, and more. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2mzfajS.
6) New 2017 Transition Coding and Reimbursement Tip Sheet Available
Got Transition and the American Academy of Pediatrics released a new 2017 Transition Coding and Reimbursement Tip Sheet to support the delivery of recommended transition services in pediatric and adult primary and specialty care settings. The new tip sheet includes a list of updated transition-related CPT codes, including the new code for transition readiness assessment, and current Medicare fees and RVUs for these services. It also includes a new set of seven clinical vignettes with recommended CPT and ICD-10 codes. For more information, visit http://www.gottransition.org/resourceGet.cfm?id=352.
7) Genes and Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has published an article, Autism Awareness Month: Genes and Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as part of the Director's Messages blog series. The article explains recent findings about genetics and ASD, early neural development, and current research efforts at NIH on the causes of ASD, including the National Database for Autism Research, and the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/2oA7y0Z.
8) National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL) Launches Website
The new National Center on Improving Literacy recently has launched its website. NCIL will provide technical assistance services to families to improve literacy outcomes for children in pre-K through grade 12 with, or at risk for, literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia. Family-focused activities will include a repository of evidence-based products and assessments; the online Kids Zone, which facilitates effective child-adult interactions for literacy development; the Ask-an-Expert tool; and a text messaging plug-in to receive text messages alerting users to new resources, events, or literacy tips. NCIL is jointly administered by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. For more information, visit http://improvingliteracy.org/.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Family Health Notes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Family Health Notes is sponsored by the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS), Mississippi’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at The University of Southern Mississippi. IDS provides university training, community service activities, research and information that promote the independence, productivity, and community inclusion of individuals with disabilities and their families. For more information about IDS, visit http://www.usm.edu/disability-studies or call 1.888.671.0051 (TTY). To make a tax-deductible gift to IDS, visit http://www.usm.edu/disability-studies/support-ids.
The Family-to-Family Health Information and Education Center (F2F) is a family-focused, family managed resource center that empowers families of Mississippi children with special health care needs to be partners in the decisions made concerning the health of their children. F2F is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (GR#H84MC07948).
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