During the week of June 22nd, Margaret Hoffmann, Community Support Services Director, Service Coordinators Nakeyia Younger and Jason Hocker, and Brian Doyle, Associate Executive Director, traveled to Baldwinsville, a small town outside of Syracuse to work with three of the person’s for whom we provide services in an extraordinary two-day experience in person-centered work: Awakening the Spirit
This immersion conference, sponsored by Onondaga Community Living, was a unique opportunity to work with and learn from Dr. Beth Mount and Executive Director of Onondaga Community Living, Pat Frantangelo, both pioneers in individualized supports.
We, along with other agencies from across the state, discussed and hammered out how to move forward with innovative and individualized services. During the conference, we worked with three individuals – Marsha Koument, Phillip Velonis, and Brenda Berryan, to look deeply into their life histories, the important relationships in their lives, their choices, preferences, dreams, goals, as well as their vulnerabilities and needs. Through these very far reaching discussions and utilizing person centered tools developed by Onondaga Community Living, we learned much more then is ordinarily discovered through the typical ISP process.
Marsha, Phillip and Brenda were refreshingly forthcoming, candid and insightful in speaking about who they really are as persons and what they really want for their lives. Perhaps most importantly we learned a great deal of the gifts they have to offer those around them.
Through a new pilot “Portal” Program introduced by OMRDD, we will now be working with Marsha, Phillip and Brenda, as well as several other people to develop highly individualized plans and supports that will help them move toward their dreams and desires in a deliberate and focused way. Once again, we look to live our Mission: To offer people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities opportunities to live and experience full lives.
Announcing the Greene county support group for Parents with special needs children
Led by parents, for parents.
Get support and knowledge from others.
TIME:
10:30am the 1st Saturday of each month* and
6:30pm the 2nd Monday of each month*
(*except holidays)
PLACE:
Catskill Ulster-Greene ARC Building
311 West Bridge St
Catskill NY 12414
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Email Tina Noeth at
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or Tracy Powell at
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A special and important message from Special Olympics
Across the United States, people on college campuses, in high school cafeterias and workaday offices have launched the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign. The goal: make people stop and think about their hurtful and disparaging use of the word “retard.”
Visit http://www.specialolympics.org/03-31-09_Spread_the_Word.aspx or www.r-word.org to take the pledge and for more details.
What It's All About
Spread the Word to End the Word is raising the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the R-word and urging people to resolve to stop using it as an insult, casual or intended.
How It Started
Created by young people with and without intellectual disabilities, Spread the Word to End the Word is one element of Special Olympics’ vision of a world where everyone matters, where everyone is accepted and, most importantly, where everyone is valued. Leading the way in promoting acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities, Special Olympics opposes prejudice and discrimination, continuously working to dispel the negative stereotypes associated with this population — the use of the R-word being one such stereotype. In a world that has worked to eliminate pejorative racial and ethnic language such as the “N word,” among others, the R-word is gaining popularity.
How To Take Action
Take the R-word pledge
Order a Spread The Word T-shirt
Get Spread the Word Resources
Read John C. McGinley's R-word message
R-word Research
Spread the Word Channel on YouTube
Special Olympics Fan Community
Special Olympics on Facebook
Special Olympics e-newsletter
http://www.specialolympics.org/03-31-09_Spread_the_Word.aspx or www.r-word.org
Summer school may be underway at UGARC’s Brookside School, but the afterglow of its community preschool graduation still fills the air. “We were so excited,” says Educational Director Marcene Johnson, “we had nearly 100 preschoolers graduate. It was our largest number ever.”
Family members, neighbors and friends cheered as the children, in caps and gowns, marched to the traditional Pomp and Circumstance. They knew to stand respectfully with little hands over hearts as they led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. A wonderful picnic sponsored by UGARC followed.
Johnson, known throughout NYS for her fierce advocacy for and dedication to the children she provides supports to, noted that this was also one of the rare times that UGARC’s Brookside School did not have any “upper classman” graduating.
“That’s a good thing,” pointed out UGARC’s Executive Director Laurie A. Kelley. “It marks our success and means we are doing a good job at helping families gain inclusion into mainstream programs at their local schools.” Along with the community preschool, Brookside also offers a Universal Pre-Kindergarten and 12 months of special education classes for children to age 21 who have higher levels of disability that may pose challenges to local schools in providing them with assistance. However, the fact that the numbers of students at Brookside is reducing each year, highlights the advocacy work of staff members at UGARC who help families gain entry into local school programs.
Back at graduation, which was held under one of the rare sunny sky days of June, families and their grads were decked out in the finest, proudly sharing in the achievements of these little ones who will be going on to community schools. The beauty of this special preschool, according to Brookside’s families, is that their children are included in classes with children at all levels of abilities, some with developmental delays. “We believe we are teaching tolerance and sensitivity,” Johnson said. “They are all just kids wanting to play with each other; they do not see any differences. It’s just wonderful.”
For information about UGARC and its supports for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities contact:
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or 845-331-4300, ext. 707. The not-for-profit agency has been assisting people with disabilities since 1956. It is a Chapter of NYSARC, Inc. and a United Way agency.
Recently, OMR/DD’s Commissioner, Diana Jones Ritter announced a series of Public Forums to gather input as she and her staff develop OMRDD’sStatewide Comprehensive Plan for Services for the Period 2009 through 2013.Anumber of family members, service providers, self advocates and other stakeholders presented testimony to the Commissioner. At the June 15th forum, conducted in Kingston, I presented the following testimony.
-Brian Doyle
Good afternoon. My name is Brian Doyle, Associate Executive Director for Ulster-Greene ARC. First, I want to thank Commissioner Jones Ritter for conducting this series of forums and in particular for posing the questions posted in the forum announcement. Those questions are certainly pertinent to the many challenges and opportunities we face today. I wish to address my remarks to the question of what steps need to be taken to make the developmental disabilities system more person centered and individualized.
Ulster-Greene ARC provides services and supports to nearly 1,200 individuals within Ulster and Greene Counties. Our 50 year old agency, a chapter of NYSARC, is a provider of a wide range of traditional program models. Through various evolutions of thought and discussion with various stakeholders, we have recently adopted our new Mission Statement, “To offer people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities opportunities to lead and experience full lives”. We have embarked, over the past year, on a vigorous effort to direct our energy toward a more person centered approach with self directed services as a centerpiece. We are aggressively pursuing Consolidated Support Services/Self Determination and engaging in OMRDD’s Portal Pilot, as well as surveying other provider agencies for related best practices throughout the state. While we will continue to pursue person centeredness through these unique opportunities, we are also committed to challenging ourselves in our more traditional programs so that even in those program models, the dreams and desires of the individuals we serve are at the forefront.
We applaud and are grateful for your commitment toward this more individualized approach, but we must ask for a greater level of consistency in the messages sent to us by OMRDD.
The Division of Quality Management (DQM) is spearheading the use of National Core Indicators (NCI) as a true measure of quality. The NCI certainly does speak to all of the meaningful elements of OMRDD’s mission; however, we and other providers, on a daily basis, experience DQM program surveys that speak far more to the minutia of regulatory compliance than to the profound meaning and purpose of our supports and services as they impact people’s lives.
We certainly recognize the need to satisfy federal regulations and preserve the safety and wellbeing of the individuals for whom we care. However, there is no doubt that the increasingly onerous approach taken in the DQM surveys of certified programs at best distracts our staff from the mission that we and OMRDD share. At worst they run counter to our desire for our staff and programs to take risks as they center their attention on enriching the lives of the people we serve.
Some examples:
The ever expanding array of “safeguards” that proliferate in Individual Service Plans create a risk averse climate where individuals and staff are intimidated away from focusing on what the person truly wants for themselves.
Because survey citations result in plans of corrective action which, virtually every time, we are told, must address “systemic changes”, we put in place a tangle of “to do”, “must do” and “can’t do” lists and checklists, all of which create a labyrinth of belts and suspenders intended to make for some unattainable 100% fail-safe world.
When we insist that a Residential Manager concentrates on keeping a case of canned goods off the floor of the food pantry we are keeping her from the vital work of supporting people meaningfully in their home, relationships, and their work.
We are therefore asking that OMRDD closely examine the survey process both in tone and substance and seek to re-tool it towards a greater emphasis in those quality indicators reflected in the National Core Indicators.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity to speak and thank you for the leadership you, and your executive and DDSO staff are providing in these difficult times.
Respectfully submitted,
Brian Doyle
Associate Executive Director
Ulster-Greene ARC
471 Albany Avenue
Kingston, NY 12401
(845)331-4300 x218
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For parents who want to become more successful at managing difficult behavior.
Join us for this Free Parent-Training Forum
Tuesday June 16, 2009, Ulster-Greene ARC, 471 Albany Avenue Kingston, New York
Come and be part of what we hope to be an enlightening and productive forum!
Please let us know if you need family care for the evening. We will provide Respite Services on site. However, your RSVP for this care is required ahead of time.
RSVP by June 5, 2009
Phone: 845-331-4300 x259
E-Mail:
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Training Information
Parenting, under any circumstances, can be a challenge, as children and young adults often present behaviors that are difficult to manage. These challenges can be particularly difficult when the child or young adult also has an intellectual or other developmental disability, such as autism.
As part of our effort to support families, Ulster-Greene ARC is conducting a training session for families who want to achieve a higher level of success in coping with and managing difficult behaviors. This training will be aimed at providing practical, concrete, and clear advice on how you can be all that you want to be – a highly effective parent.
Our skilled Psychology Department professionals will be leading this training. They will present principles of behavior management and address specific questions and problems offered by those who attend. (In order to preserve privacy, questions and problem situations can be submitted anonymously prior to the start of the session.)
A light supper will be provided, as well as an opportunity for networking with other families and learning about relevant services and supports offered by Ulster-Greene ARC.
Trainer Information
Sudi Kash earned her PhD in psychology from Alient International University, San Diego, CA in 1992. She is a licensed psychologist in the state of NY. Currently, she is the Director of Behavioral Health at Ulster-Greene ARC, which serves nearly 1200 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has been an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz since 2005 and various other universities. She previously worked as senior outreach consultant for the State of Kansas through Parsons State Hospital for 4 years. Her experience in program development dates back to 1988. Two of her most recent accomplishments include leading teams to create controlled multi-sensory stimulation rooms and a specialized ASD Program, The Renaissance Program. Sudi has worked exclusively with children and adults with developmental disabilities since 1997 and was trained at the University of Michigan to conduct diagnostic evaluations.
Nancy Dib holds two Master’s degrees (MA and MPhil), both in Psychology, with a specialization in developmental disabilities from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Queens College, where she is currently working on her dissertation research. Nancy is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and has extensive experience working with adults and children with developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, and running Applied Behavior Analysis programs. She has a strong research background, primarily in applied settings, and has published two manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. She has experience developing staff-training procedures based on student behavior, as demonstrated in her published research on children with autism. Nancy also has much experience teaching at the college level and has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate psychology courses at both Queens and Marist Colleges. She currently works as an Applied Behavioral Science Specialist at Ulster-Greene ARC.
WHO?
Parents/Guardians/Families of individuals with developmental disabilities, aged 9 to adult.
WHAT?
A Parent’s Forum/Training to help families cope with difficult behavior.
A light dinner will be served.
WHERE?
Ulster-Greene ARC
471 Albany Avenue
Kingston, NY 12401
WHEN?
Tuesday June 16, 2009
6:30pm to 8:30pm
WHY?
To become a more effective parent, to network with other families, and to learn about relevant services offered by Ulster-Greene ARC.
.jpg "Read Article: The glow of Brookside Graduation")
