June 2007
Taft Community College Integrating the CDS Into Its Direct Support Education Curriculum
Taft Community College and the College of Direct Support are about to be in the classroom together – literally – and will be educating individuals to become Direct Support Professionals.
The California school will begin using the CDS this summer as part of its academic track curriculum for persons interested in earning an Associates degree in Direct Support Education.
Taft, a two-year college with approximately 8,000 students, has a long history in educating and supporting people with developmental disabilities through its Transition to Independent Living (TIL) program. The TIL is a post-secondary educational experience for developmentally disabled adults emphasizing learning independent living skills. The program, which began in 1995, stresses the importance of teaching people to accept responsibility for decisions and choices they make, says Jeff Ross, Taft’s Director of Student Support Services and the program’s director.
Since 1995, the program has graduated 135 students and Ross says that today 98 percent of those are still living independently and 95 percent are employed.
Taft will begin using the CDS when its summer semester begins on June 4. The first course to be taught will be the "Introduction to Developmental Disabilities." Students will receive three credit units for this course. Ross explained that the CDS will become part of its degree-track curriculum leading to a degree in Direct Support Education. That degree will become available in the spring of 2008 and must include 18 units in the core curriculum and 42 other units.
"The College of Direct Support and our TIL program is a natural fit for us," Ross said. "Our president, Dr. Roe Darnell, came to me and said we need to find some more training opportunities and I began researching and found the CDS. The curriculum is excellent and very, very comprehensive."
After Ross learned of the CDS, he contacted the Arc of California in Sacramento and met with its executive director, Tony Anderson, and Sack Keophimane, Director of the California CDS.
"One sign of a true profession is a college degree with an emphasis on recognized best practices for the professional. Similar to nurses, child care professionals, psych techs, and police officers, the community colleges, like Taft College, can provide a real college degree for Direct Support Professionals," Anderson said. "We have been so excited here at The Arc of California to be working with Taft College; they really get it. They not only know the practical reasons for professionalizing the workforce but they also understand that the current crisis in the workforce serves as a major barrier to full participation for people with developmental disabilities and they're doing something about it with this program."
The CDS will be used in both its online format for Taft and will be integrated into classroom learning as well, Ross said. The initial classroom training will be used at the Bakersfield ARC Regional Training Center. These will be eight-week courses.
"We see the same problem here as everyone sees everywhere – the lack of having enough trained direct support staff to care for people with developmental disabilities," Ross said. "Many times our students who have a developmental disability and are working make more money than the direct support staffer caring for them makes. We’ve got to develop career-track educational training programs that will lead to a career in direct support. This is a national problem, not just a California problem."
Ross said that Taft’s TIL program occupies 28 rooms in a residence hall, one of two residence halls on the Taft campus and a 4-bedroom house in the community. The initial funding from the program came from the Kern Regional Center. The college serves as the sponsoring agency. Taft has had programs and special classes serving individuals with developmental disabilities since 1976.
Two New CDS Courses on Support Networks, Functional Assessments Due Out in the Fall
Two new courses for the College of Direct Support will be added to the curriculum and will be rolled out for learners in the fall.
One new course is "Working with Families and Other Support Networks." This course is about how Direct Support Professionals build working relationships and partnerships with the support networks of the people they support.
Nancy McCulloh, CDS Project Coordinator for the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, says of this course: "Everyone has family and support networks in their lives. These are the people who surround you. These are people you develop relationships with. They add quality, meaning and enjoyment that enrich your life. People with disabilities who receive support are not any different. They have families and support networks which are intensely important to their quality of life. This course will help you understand the importance of support networks. It will help you develop working relationships with families and other support networks. It will help you develop partnerships that support dreams. You will learn the importance of family and support networks as well as learning what skills are needed to work effectively with both."
The second course, which has been previously announced, is "Functional Assessment."
This course deals with challenging behaviors and a formal structured process that can be very helpful in discovering the function of the behavior. This process is called Functional Assessment (FA). The course explains the purpose and process of FA. It reviews common behavioral terms and principles of positive behavioral supports and prepares learners to complete tasks related to FA. The information from the FA is used to create individualized behavior support plans. These plans help improve the person’s life and decrease use of challenging behaviors.
CDS Schedules Initial Regional Administrators’ Workshop
The College of Direct Support (CDS) is presenting its first of four regional workshops for CDS Administrators in the Northeast Region on June 6 at Heritage Christian Services in Rochester, N.Y., from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Administrators interested in finding out more about the CDS are encouraged to attend, as well as current CDS users who want to enhance their knowledge of the CDS Learning Management System and the various Human Resource Tools.
The CDS is also planning three other regional workshops in the next 12 months for administrators, people, and agencies interested in the CDS. Watch future newsletters for details and dates!
There will be two workshop sessions that will run concurrently which will afford administrators and others to hear about “best practices” for using the CDS and have opportunities for sharing and brainstorming. These workshops will assist you in deploying the CDS in your agency and refreshing CDS skills in making the best use of the CDS.
SESSION 1: Focus will be on the successful implementation of the CDS system in an agency and will cover the basic administrative functions of entering learners, creating, editing and assigning modules, analyzing reports, and basic management of the CDS system.
SESSION II: Will provide an in-depth overview of the total CDS Learning Management System and cover the topics of annotations, content linking, classes and events, assessment tools and the survey tool, which includes creating custom surveys.
The sessions will be conducted by Donna Kosak and Annie Woodruff, CDS Program Administrators.
If you are interested in participating in this first workshop, please call Donna Kosak at 877.353.2767 (toll free).
The Arc of Mississippi Finds Unique Use For CDS in Training Private Provider Nurses
A proposal to utilize the College of Direct Support (CDS) in Mississippi in an alternative manner was an idea that originated within the offices of The Arc of Mississippi. The Arc’s executive director, Matt Nalker, and Lisa Burck, Project Director of the CDS in Mississippi, approached the state’s Department of Mental Health. The proposal was for the department to use the CDS to train approximately 60 nurses providing services in the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver Program for persons with developmental disabilities.
The targeted nurses were approved to provide only in-home respite and attendant care services as individual Medicaid providers. They may not employ others to work for them, Burck explained. On June 1, 2006, the 60 nurses began using the CDS to receive required annual and quarterly training. After six months the nurses were surveyed and the overwhelming response was positive about the CDS. There is an Evaluation Brief available on our website, www.collegeofdirect support.com, about this project. Click to read the March 2007 evaluation brief.
CDS Goes Camping With Friendship Ventures
Minnesota-based Friendship Ventures is a non-profit organization that operates three summer camps that serve approximately 2,000 children and adults with developmental and other disabilities. This is their third year of using the College of Direct Support to train its 150 seasonal staff members who are counselors and Direct Support Professionals.
In addition to hiring staff from the United States, they also hire a large number from such places as England, Germany, Ireland, South Korea and South Africa, to name but a few. These staff members are trained on the CDS in their home countries before they arrive in the U.S. This is a very unique use of the College of Direct Support.
To read about this partnership in our latest Partner Profile, click here for the rest of the story.
The CDS Store Is Open
Grab a shopping cart and browse through the new College of Direct Support store.
Visit our web site at www.collegeofdirectsupport.com, and select "Store" from the main navigation across the top of the page.
You will find a variety of items available with the College of Direct Support logo emblazoned on each and every one. Whether it’s a CDS graduation ceremony, prizes for staff and Direct Support Professionals, or incentives for outstanding work, you’ll find something for everyone in the CDS store.
We have caps (visors, winter caps and baseball-type caps), various styles of shirts, coffee and travel mugs, as well as backpacks, lanyards, carabiner keys, clocks, pens and other items.
When ordering, allow about 14 days for shipping after you place the order.
CDS: 'By the Numbers'
As of May 1, 2007, the College of Direct Support had 48,353 enrolled learners working on lessons throughout the country.
More than 1.5 million lessons have been assigned in 330 facilities nationwide. Current CDS learners have completed 428,596 lessons.
The CDS has shown growth in its number of learners since Jan. 1, 2007, when 41,539 learners were enrolled. These numbers will continue to grow this year with learners from Tennessee and Connecticut accessing the lessons in facilities in those two states.
Recommended Reading: "Count Us In"
"Count Us In: Growing Up With Down Syndrome" is a book co-authored by Jason Kingsley and Mitchell Levitz (Harcourt). It is a book of conversations between the two, first published in 1994 when they were, respectively, 19 and 22, with comments by their mothers and other family members.
"Our message is that people with disabilities have the same hopes, dreams and goals and feelings. We’re individuals with opinions, tastes and personalities." Kingsley says.
They share their innermost thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams, their lifelong friendship— and their experiences growing up with Down syndrome. Their frank discussion of what mattered most in their lives— careers, friendships, school, sex, marriage, finances, politics, and independence— earned "Count Us In" numerous national awards, including the EDI Award from the National Easter Seal Society. More important, their wit, intelligence, candor, and charm made a powerful and inspirational statement about the full potential of people with developmental disabilities, challenging prevailing stereotypes.
Now, 13 years later, the authors discuss their lives since then – milestones and challenges, developments expected and unexpected— in a new afterword.
Since finishing high school and completing a post-secondary school transitional program, preparing him for a career and independent living, Kingsley, 32, has worked at Barnes and Noble, the White Plains Public Library and now the mail department of the Westchester (N.Y.) ARC, an agency serving children and adults with developmental disabilities. He has been involved in the acting world since he was 15 months old and appeared on "Sesame Street" (and made many appearances since then); he also appeared in episodes of "All My Children," "The Fall Guy" and "Touched by an Angel."
Levitz, who just turned 36 and lives independently, has built a career in the field of disabilities. He works as a disabilities specialist at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, associated with New York Medical College, and also for the Self-Advocacy Association of New York State. A member of the board of directors of the National Down Syndrome Society, he speaks frequently around the country on behalf of individuals with developmental disabilities, and has contributed chapters to several books.
"Count Us In: Growing Up With Down Syndrome" is available at Barnes and Noble, Borders and at Amazon.com.
Gail Bottoms Poetry
Unlock the Waiting List
by Gail Bottoms
Unlock the waiting list,
What’s it about?
Why do we talk and why do we shout?
Why do people work into the night?
And get up early at morning light?
Why do we go to the State Capitol steps?
What is our reason?
Why do we do it?
I will tell you why.
People with disabilities are the reason why.
So they can live in the community is why we try.
Institutions are not places to be.
People with disabilities want to be free.
Free to live, work, and play where they choose.
To try their hand at many things.
To risk, win or lose.
To unlock the waiting list is the way this can be done.
Therefore, will work until civil rights
For all people will be won!
(Gail Bottoms, a member of the College of Direct Support’s National Advisory Board and a self advocate, is a native of Griffin, GA, and former president of People First of Georgia. In the mid 1990’s Gail became active in the disability rights movement and began speaking around the country on behalf of the rights of people with disabilities. She has recently published her first book of poetry, "From the Inside Out." A CD comes with the book on which she reads her poems. Gail is a mother, a daughter, a wife and now a grandmother who fills her poetry with her life and her feelings.)
Mission Statement: The College of Direct Support is a learning gateway for contemporary best practices for Direct Support Professionals. By incorporating web-based learning, backed by nationally recognized curricula, the CDS is designed to help support a profession of direct care.
111 Center Park Drive, Suite 175 | Knoxville, TN 37922
tel :: 877-353-2767 (toll-free) | fax :: 865-531-4708
www.collegeofdirectsupport.com
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