Tennessee Disability Coalition News Blog

Training for People Receiving DMRS Services, their Family, Friends, and Advocates

Learn how to assert your rights as a waiver service recipient with providers, DMRS, and TennCare. We do not have to accept Funding Cuts and Reductions in services by the Division of Mental Retardation Services (DMRS)

Trainings Sponsored by: Just Say No: Stop the Protocols Campaign

Attend the training to learn how:

• To assert your rights.
• The ‘Protocols’ are being implemented without Federal approval, and what you can do about it.
• To file appeals with TennCare. About 85% of people filing appeals are winning.
• To meet other people with disabilities, families and allies.

Where and When: Time: 6:00-8:30 pm

Knoxville – Monday June, 23, 2008, Cherokee Health System, 2018 Western Ave, Knoxville, TN (Please phone for directions only 865-544-0406).

Memphis – Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Memphis City Schools Administration Building 2597 Avery Avenue, Memphis, TN 38115 (Auditorium Sections A & B).

Nashville – Wednesday, June 25, 2008, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 111 N. Wilson Blvd. (at the corner of West End Avenue), Room 175. Park in the parking lot behind the church and come in the accessible doorway at the back of the church. (Please phone for directions only 615-292-5526)

For more information contact:

• Mark Friedman, Middle TN Advocacy Center (615-904-0308), mark@mtadvocacy.com
• Donna DeStefano, Tennessee Disability Coalition (615-383-9442), donna_d@tndisability.org

For special accommodations, please contact Donna DeStefano, Tennessee Disability Coalition at 615-383-9442 or by email at donna_d@tndisability.org.

Tags: cuts, dmrs, protocols, training

Governor Phil Bredesen will travel across the state  during the week of June 16th to sign the “Long-Term Care Community Choices Act of 2008.”  At each city, members of the General Assembly and representatives from the aging and disability community will join the Governor to mark this bipartisan initiative to expand access to home and community-based services for Tennessee’s elderly and disabled.

Tuesday, June 17th

Kingsport -  9:30 a.m. EDT
Renaissance Center - 1200 East Center Street

Knoxville - 12:30 p.m. EDT
John T. O’Connor Senior Citizen’s Center - 611 Winona Street

Chattanooga - 2:45 p.m. EDT
PACE Program - 425 Cumberland Street

Wednesday, June 18th

Nashville -9:30 a.m. CDT
Hadley Park Senior Center - 1035 28th Avenue North

Memphis - 1 p.m. CDT
J.K. Lewis Senior Center - 1188 North Parkway

Jackson - 3 p.m. CDT
West Tennessee Transitional Care - 670 Skyline Drive

We look forward to see you there!

Tags: governor, long-term care

This program features Dori S. Hutchinson, Sc.D, Director of Services, Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University.   The Guest Moderator for this session is Erica Jones, Director of the DBTAC-Pacific ADA Center.

Date: June 17, 2008
Time: 1:00pm-2:30pm Central Time - 90 minutes in length

Connection options: Telephone, Streaming Audio on the Internet, Real-time Captioning on the Internet

Cost:

$25.00 Per Site for Telephone (not per person)*
$15.00 Per connection for Streaming Audio
$15.00 Per connection for Real-Time Captioning via Internet

More information: www.ada-audio.org or call your Regional DBTAC-ADA Center at 800-949-4232 (V/TTY)

*No charge for connection to real-time captioning via the internet at sites hosting multiple participants where real-time captioning is needed as an accommodation

Tags: ada, inclusion, mental illness, psychiatric disabilities

Hanen Parent Training for

Young Children at Risk for Autism

Vanderbilt professors Wendy Stone and Paul Yoder are conducting a multi-site study designed to examine the benefits of a parent training intervention for improving social and communication skills in young children at risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

We are looking for children between 15 and 24 months of age who are at risk for ASD. Children considered to be “at risk” are those: (1) who have failed a routine autism screening; (2) who have delays in social and communication development; (3) have an older sibling with ASD; or (4) whose parents or service providers have expressed concerns about ASD.

To qualify for this intervention study, parents must bring their children to Vanderbilt for a one-hour eligibility visit. Eligible families will be randomly assigned to a treatment group or a non-treatment group. The treatment group will participate in the Hanen More Than Words parent training program, provided by a speech-language pathologist.

Families in the treatment group will participate in a group orientation session and a home visit from the therapist, followed by 8 weekly small group sessions at Vanderbilt and 3 in-home sessions. Families in the non-treatment group will receive no intervention through this study. Both groups are free to continue their participation in any community-based intervention in which they are involved, and will receive three assessments during the course of the 9-month study.

This study is funded by Autism Speaks and is also being conducted at the University of Miami and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Compensation will be provided to families in both groups for their time.

For more information contact MTW Research Coordinator at (615) 343-7101 or by email at MoreThanWords@vanderbilt.edu.

Tags: autism, research, triad, vanderbilt