Volume 12, Number 3, 2004
The Center for Disabilities Studies (CDS) is involved in a variety of new initiatives, including a federally funded project to improve staffing in programs that serve people with disabilities and a program to teach new behavioral techniques to those who work with children.
The center, established in 1993, is part of a national network of university-affiliated centers that conduct research, develop model programs and offer educational services to benefit people with disabilities across the lifespan. In CDS, undergraduate and graduate students assist with research and other projects, and the College offers an interdisciplinary minor in disabilities studies.
In a recent initiative, the center has received one of only five U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "Demonstration to Improve the Direct Service Community Workforce" grants for $680,500. The award is designed to create systems that will recruit and retain workers who provide direct services to persons with disabilities in residential and day programs.
"This grant award could have a significant, positive impact on the systems that are charged with supporting adults with disabilities in Delaware," Mark Bernstein, project coordinator in CDS, says.
The three-year award will support the training and retention of workers who provide services to individuals with psychiatric, cognitive, physical and developmental disabilities in a variety of organizations throughout the state. CDS will focus efforts on developing educational materials, training of support workers and mentorship activities.
In another recent project, CDS has agreed to develop a "Positive Behavior Intervention" certificate program to teach techniques for supporting socially appropriate behavior in children. The initiative was prompted by requests from community service organizations to the Delaware Division of Child Mental Health Services, which contracted with the center to develop the program.
"The need for this program is a call from the community," Michael Gamel-McCormick, director of the center, says. "Child-care providers, mental health providers, youth program specialists and many others who work with children and adolescents have asked for the skills and knowledge to be able to prevent challenging behavioral situations and to provide children and adolescents with strong, positive social skills."