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FYI Newsletter

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FYI Newsletter January 30, 2012

QUICK SCAN:

• ADA-Indiana Webinar
• IRCA Trainings for Spring/Summer 2012
• New podcast from the Center on Education and Lifelong Learning
• Community Matters Podcast
• Phil’s Adventures in Elderburbia Blog
• Indiana Arts Commission offering $2,000 Individual Artist Program Grants
• Project SEARCH Indiana Teaches People with Developmental Disabilities Job Skills
• Library Corner

UPCOMING



ADA-INDIANA WEBINAR: The ADA National Network and the U.S. Access Board are offering a free webinar on the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Standards to Courthouses and Courtrooms. 

 
The design of courthouses poses challenges to access due to unique features, such as courtroom areas that are elevated within confined spaces. Technical provisions addressing these issues are included in the 2010 ADA Standards and the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Accessibility Standards. This session will review requirements in the standards that address access to courthouses and courtrooms, including secured entrances, judges’ benches, jury boxes, witness stands, clerks’ stations, bailiffs’ stations, spectators’ galleries, holding cells, and other spaces.
 
 

IRCA TRAININGS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2012: The Institute’s Indiana Resource Center for Autism announces three new training events for spring and early summer, 2012.


ACROSS THE COURTYARD

 

NEW PODCAST FROM THE CENTER ON EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING: Take a listen to The Extra Credit Report, a new podcast about teaching in public schools by Jim Ansaldo and James Robinson of the Indiana Institute’s Center on Education and Lifelong Learning. The first podcast, posted January 3rd, is titled Teacher Evaluation, Race and Discipline, Instructional Consultation Teams Overview. Ansaldo and Robinson discuss teacher evaluation, disproportionality in school discipline, Instructional Consultation Teams ... and Cave People.

In the second podcast, posted on January 16, Jim and James discuss the latest events in the revamping of No Child Left Behind, respond to listener calls and e-mails regarding standardized assessments, and tell the story of a teacher’s epiphany during an IC Teams consultation session.

 
COMMUNITY MATTERS PODCAST: The Indiana Institute’s Center on Aging and Community’s Director, Phil Stafford, took part in a Community Matters discussion on Silo-busting. We all tend to create silos in our life - places that are our own domain and from which we rarely like to venture. Communities also have silos - many address youth issues and elder issues separately, and both are separated from issues like housing, transportation, education, and volunteerism. One way to break down community silos might be to focus on building communities for all ages. Community Matters is an innovative action network for people imagining, driving, and creating community change.

 

PHIL’S ADVENTURES IN ELDERBURBIA BLOG: Phil Stafford, Director of the Institute’s Center on Aging and Community, pens a monthly blog focusing on the hottest topics in the field of aging and disability through an anthropologist’s lens. His latest post is about Advancing the Livable Community Agenda, talks about the tough questions communities need to ask to create a community environment that’s friendly to all ages and abilities..

IN INDIANA
 
INDIANA ARTS COMMISSION OFFERING $2,000 INDIVIDUAL ARTIST PROGRAM GRANTS: Indiana Arts Commission is accepting applications for its Individual Artist Program grants until February 2, 2012. Grants are up to $2,000 and can be in the areas of crafts, design art, media art, photography, visual arts, and folk arts. Projects must be designed to improve the artist's career development. The funds can go towards art supplies, travel related to a specific arts project, or arts workshops to further the artist's career development. Applications will be judged on the project's impact on the artist's career development, the feasibility of project completion, quality of the artist's work, and evidence of public benefit.

IN BLOOMINGTON



Article by Dann Denny, Herald Times, Bloomington

PROJECT SEARCH INDIANA TEACHES PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES JOB SKILLS: Corey Gabbard, a 20-year-old man with a learning disability, has just arrived at Ivy Tech Community College, and he’s eager to get to work.

He promptly picks up some cardboard boxes, takes them outside and tosses them into a recycling dumpster. Then he wheels a blue cart loaded with cleaning supplies, a broom and toilet plunger into a men’s bathroom — where he slips on a pair of latex gloves and begins scrubbing the sinks and counters.

“I really like having a job,” said Gabbard, who lives with his parents and two brothers in Ellettsville. “It’s my first job since high school. I really like the people I work with.”

Gabbard is one of 17 young adults with disabilities who have completed Project SEARCH Indiana, a program in which adults age 18-24 with developmental disabilities spend seven months working in professional internships and learning job-preparation skills in a classroom to prepare them for long-term employment.

Since its inception three years ago, the program has helped eight young adults find full or part-time jobs at Cook Inc., Ivy Tech, Lennie’s, KRC Catering, Indiana Memorial Union, and McDonald’s — doing everything from custodial work to food service.

Gabbard works 20 hours a week at Ivy Tech, and likes having a regular paycheck, which he uses to buy such things as music CDs and gifts for his family.

“His work ethic is remarkable,” said Doug Mattick, who as Ivy Tech’s director of facilities is Gabbard’s boss. “He’s like a Boy Scout — very quiet and hard-working, and he follows instructions very well. He’s a pleasure to have around.”

Bitta DeWees, the program’s director, said that while the goal of the program is to help participants find employment, it often produces other dividends.

“One of the most powerful things I see is the change in their confidence level and self-esteem,” she said. “Many of them begin the program shy and lacking confidence, but by the end of the program they’re able to stand up and give a PowerPoint presentation about what they’ve learned.”

Christina Montiville, the program’s instructor, said she “has seen these young adults grow beyond the labels placed on their lives.”

Montiville said Gabbard told her that he had grown discouraged during his first year out of high school, as he watched his friends and two brothers get jobs. He said when he landed a job himself, it was “like a dream come true.”

Project SEARCH Indiana was initiated in 2009 with a grant received by Stone Belt Arc, a not-for-profit organization that offers education and support for individuals with disabilities. Stone Belt provides the educational and administrative components of the program, and Cook Inc. and Ivy Tech Community College provide the internships.

DeWees said the classroom sessions teach participants interview, job and social skills designed to prepare them to get and keep a job. “We do mock interviews and team-building skills in the class,” she said. “It’s all designed to give them a leg up when it comes to getting a job.”

DeWees said each participant completes three separate 8-week internships. She said the internships, whether paid or unpaid, help participants build their resume and self-confidence.

“We start actively seeking employment for them before they complete the program,” she said. “Participants leave the program with a detailed portfolio of their work experience and a support team to assist them in obtaining employment. Our goal is for all of them to have a job when they finish.”

She said upon completion of the program, each participant is also offered a free college course from Ivy Tech, which they can use to further their education in a particular area.

Project SEARCH Indiana is a collaborative initiative of Stone Belt Arc, Cook Inc., Ivy Tech, Indiana Family and Social Services Administrative Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, and Indiana Institute on Disability and Community. The next round of internships will begin in March, and those interested in learning more about the program can contact DeWees at 335-3507 (ext. 273) or bdewees@stonebelt.org.

Reprinted with Permission from the Bloomington Herald Times (Copyright: HeraldTimesOnline.com 2012).

For additional information on Secondary Transition Services and Project SEARCH, visit the Indiana Institute’s Center on Community Living and Careers.

LIBRARY CORNER

 

NEW ITEMS: The following new materials may be borrowed by Indiana residents from the Center for Disability Information and Referral at the Institute. To check out materials, contact the library at 1-800-437-7924, send e-mail to cedir@indiana.edu, visit us at 2853 East TenthStreet in Bloomington.

Dufour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2012). Leaders of learning: How district, school, and classroom leaders improve student achievement.
Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. (Call Number: 30 .D8)

Gersten, R. M., & Newman-Gonchar, R. (2011). Understanding RTI in mathematics: Proven methods and applications. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub. (Call Number: 32 .G4)

Giangreco, M. F., Cloninger, C. J., & Iverson, V. S. (2011). Choosing outcomes & accommodations for children: A guide to educational
planning for students with disabilities. Baltimore, Md: Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co. (Call Number: 31 .G53 2011)

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