Institute for Disability Studies
Family Health Notes
June 2018
Inside this issue:
1) Leslie LaVergne Is New Mississippi Family to Family Project Director at IDS
2) Professional Development for Early Childhood Directors – Training, June 30, Canton
3) Partnering in Your Child’s Behavioral Health Care: Recorded Webinar Series on Children’s Mental Health
4) Support Groups in Mississippi
5) Quiz for Youth: Are You Ready to Transition to Adult Health Care?
6) Social-Emotional Development in the First Three Years
7) Raising Our Girls: Stories from Mothers with Disabilities and Daughters Who’ve Been There
8) Guide on Supporting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Youth in Transition
9) Reading Aloud, Play, and Social –Emotional Development
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1) Leslie LaVergne Is New Mississippi Family to Family Project Director at IDS
Dr. Leslie LaVergne was named project director of the Mississippi Family to Family Health Information and Education Center (MS F2F) at the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) effective June 1. Dr. LaVergne has been working as coordinator of IDS’ Pediatric Evaluation and Diagnostic Services (PEDS) team and as a family navigator to families of children with special needs. She provides training to families, early childhood educators and other professionals in regard to developmental monitoring and the importance of early identification of developmental delays. Dr. LaVergne has also been serving as Mississippi’s Act Early Ambassador for Learn the Signs. Act Early., a program funded by the Centers for Disease Control to promote messages and activities through collaboration within the state to improve screening, diagnostic, and referral services for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities. Dr. LaVergne will bring her expertise to the new four-year grant period for MS F2F. The project has begun its twelfth year of service by working to empower Mississippi families of children with disabilities statewide to be partners in the decisions made concerning the health of their children. For more information about MS F2F, visit https://www.usm.edu/disability-studies/family-2-family-overview.
2) Professional Development for Early Childhood Directors – Training, June 30, Canton
The Mississippi Early Childhood Inclusion Center (MECIC) at the Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) works to support childcare owners, directors, and providers as they care for children with special needs in their centers. MECIC is pleased to announce the offering of a 10-hour program to support the implementation of a developmental screening program within childcare centers. This program for childcare center directors or owners consists of a six-hour professional development workshop, a two-hour self-directed learning activity, and two-hour mentoring session at their center aimed at helping them develop and implement an effective screening program. Participants will receive a free “Ages and Stages Questionnaire” starter kit. A training will be held on June 30, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at 315 Garrett Street in Canton. For more information or to register, call Becky McKeehan at 601.266.4745.
3) Partnering in Your Child’s Behavioral Health Care: Recorded Webinar Series on Children’s Mental Health
May was Mental Health Awareness Month, but it’s also the super-busy, end-of-the-school-year month. If you were unable to participate in one or all of the four-part webinar series sponsored by the Mississippi Parent Training and Information Center (MSPTI) and Families As Allies, you can find them now archived on the MSPTI website. The four webinars are: 1) How Do I Know If My Child Needs Help and Where Do I Go If They Do?; 2) What Can I Do to Support My Child’s Mental Health?; 3) ADA, Olmstead and EPSDT—What Do These Things Mean to Me?; and 4) Social and Emotional Challenges in Young Children. Viewers are required to complete a short registration form. To watch the webinars, go to http://www.mspti.org/resources.asp?xid=61.
4) Support Groups in Mississippi
Are you looking for a family or peer support group? Contact the MS F2F Parent Coordinator at 601.432.6929 or at ksmith@ihl.state.ms.us for information about local groups in your area or for help starting your own group.
5) Quiz for Youth: Are You Ready to Transition to Adult Health Care?
Got Transition has created a youth health care transition quiz for youth and young adults to discover how ready they are to transition to adult care. The quiz asks about major issues important during transition years. It also gives tips and resources to address many health care transition questions, including how to add their medical information to their smartphone, what legal changes happen at 18, and how to sign up for health insurance. To take the quiz, visit http://gottransition.org/youthfamilies/HCTquiz.cfm.
6) Social-Emotional Development in the First Three Years
This brief released by the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Pennsylvania State University in April 2018 offers multiple strategies to improve caregiving and the social-emotional development of young children. Some examples of the strategies are: 1) home visitation programs that offer support and information to parents just before the baby’s birth; 2) skill training aimed to strengthen parental responsiveness to improve the child’s sense of security and social-emotional skills; and 3) mental health consultation to support caregivers in early care. To view the information, visit https://rwjf.ws/2ribYZy.
7) Raising Our Girls: Stories from Mothers with Disabilities and Daughters Who’ve Been There
Parents Empowering Parents: National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities and Their Families program, funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), has posted a new webinar recording, Raising Our Girls: Stories from Mothers with Disabilities and Daughters Who’ve Been There. The webinar features a panel of mothers with disabilities and their daughters who shared their experiences and perspectives as mothers and adult children of mothers with disabilities, strategies used by mothers with physical disabilities to raise their children, and resources for parenting with a disability. More webinars are archived on the project's website. To view this webinar and others, visit https://bit.ly/2G1Z8Ed.
8) Guide on Supporting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Youth in Transition
A new quick guide from the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) describes strategies for supporting culturally and linguistically diverse youth in the transition planning process. NTACT’s quick guides address topics relevant to students with disabilities at the secondary level, and walk through key strategies, resources, and tools for different audiences. For a copy of the seven-page guide, visit http://bit.ly/2wbbd4Q.
9) Reading Aloud, Play, and Social –Emotional Development
In the latest issue of Pediatrics from the American Academy of Pediatrics (May 2018, Volume 141, Issue 5), a study explains the impacts of the Video Interaction Project (VIP) on social-emotional development at school entry when facilitated as a pediatric primary care intervention during two phases of the child's life, i.e., age 0 to 3 (VIP 0-3), and again at age 3 to 5 years (VIP 3-5). The parent-report Behavior Assessment System for Children was used to measure the impacts of the child’s social emotional development. Findings revealed that by promoting reading aloud and play sessions between parent and child, hyperactive behavior was reduced at school entry, with sustained effects observed 1.5 years after completing the intervention. Positive impacts were found with continued intervention. To learn more about the project, visit the VIP website at https://www.videointeractionproject.org/what-is-vip.html.
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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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