This manual was designed primarily for use by people with disabilities. The hope is that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read information about available resources, and to provide immediate…

Nationally, as well as in Kentucky, the growing challenges and responsibilities faced by Directors of Special Education (e.g., DoSEs) and early childhood coordinators are daunting (Bellamy & Iwaszuk, 2017). The need to deliver high quality services to infants, toddlers, and youth with disabilities places a premium on highly skilled local…

Human development is built on transition. Each progression from infancy to childhood to adolescence to adulthood is a series of smaller developmental transitions that occur in individual minds and bodies over time. Early childhood is particularly full of social and emotional transitions that occur because of external circumstances. Navigating…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common neurological disorders in the world, and it is increasing in incidence and prevalence in the United States. Some 10,000 new cases of MS are diagnosed each year in the US (Kalb, 2016). Initial symptoms are most often evident during early adulthood, typically between the ages of 20 and 50 (Kalb,…

This manual was designed primarily for use by individuals with developmental disabilities and related conditions. It is hoped that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with developmental disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read…

Research shows that making friends can be especially hard for students with significant disabilities. Peer support arrangements and peer networks are evidence-based interventions that involve identifying and equipping a group of peers to provide ongoing support to individual students with significant disabilities in or outside of the classroom.…

In this research brief we present the results of a recent needs assessment evaluating the advocacy-based needs for Kentuckians with developmental disabilities and their families. Results highlight the different levels and types of supports needed to build self-advocacy capacity and to inform effective planning and services and the individual,…

Young adults with disabilities face multiple challenges in obtaining successful post-school employment outcomes. This situation has remained relatively unchanged despite nearly 25 years of federal attention to the issue, including mandated transition services and a series of additional significant legislative responses. KentuckyWorks is a…

This manual was designed primarily for use by individuals with developmental disabilities and related conditions. It is hoped that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with developmental disabilities. The focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read…

As a part of their strategic long term planning process, the Commonwealth Council for Developmental Disabilities (CCDD), Kentucky Protection & Advocacy (KPA), and the Human Development Institute (HDI) at the University of Kentucky developed a survey to identify areas of high need for people with disabilities in the state. This research brief…

The Supported Higher Education Program (SHEP), administered by the Human Development Institute at the University of Kentucky, was one of the funded Transition Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSIDs). SHEP's central goal was to support students with intellectual disabilities toward a meaningful post-secondary education…

Kentucky has been focused upon improving outcomes for individuals receiving Supports for Community Living (SCL) Waiver services. SCL is the state's residential Medicaid developmental disabilities waiver; the SCL waiver provides a broad array of services for waiver recipients (residential, supported employment, transportation, community access,…

Kentucky's National Core Indicators project exists to develop a set of data elements that are used to report, on a statewide and national basis, the quality of services supporting people with disabilities. This is accomplished in Kentucky by performing a minimum of 400 direct interviews with consumers and their families annually. Collected data…

This updated manual was designed primarily for use by individuals with developmental disabilities and related conditions. It is hoped that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with developmental disabilities. The main focus of this manual is to provide…

Young adults with disabilities face multiple challenges in obtaining successful post-school outcomes. In a National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 report, Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Garza, and Levine (2005) found that for former students with disabilities, 70% had engaged in paid employment since leaving high school, though only 40% were employed at…