News & Updates

Passing of William I. Gardner, Ph.D.

It is with great sadness that we inform our readers that William I. Gardner, PhD passed away on Saturday, November 29, 2014 following a long illness.  Dr. Gardner was a major influential authority in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.  His contributions to NADD in particular, and to the field in general, were enormous and will have a major impact for years to come.  Click here for further details.

Peggie Webb Received Richard Thurman Award

Peggie Webb, a member of NADD’s Board of Directors and a Program Manager for trhe San Diego Regional Center, was presented with the Richard Thurman Award at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Minds, the behavioral health conference hosted by Mental Health America of San Diego County. The Richard Thurman Award is given in recognition of outstanding contribution to the field of child development, education, and mental health.  Click here for announcement.

Trauma Informed Care: Perspectives and Resources

A new free online tool, Trauma Informed Care: Perspectives and Resources, created by JBS International, Inc. and the Georgetown University National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health aims to support state and local decision-makers, administrators, providers, parents, and youth and family advocates to become more trauma informed. The tool includes video interviews, issue briefs, key resources and links that will be updated monthly to keep up with new developments in the field.

Trauma Informed Care: Perspectives and Resources is freely available at the following locations:
JBS International website: http://trauma.jbsinternational.com/traumatool
Georgetown TA Center website: http://gucchdtacenter.georgetown.edu/TraumaInformedCare.html

NADD Hosts Public Policy Forum

NADD is hosting an important, invitational  Public Policy Forum to be held on October 20, 2014 in Bethesda, Maryland.  The Forum will focus on the NADD Position Statement on health care reform: “Including Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and Co-Occurring Mental Illness: Challenges that Must Be Addressed in Health Care Reform.” Click here for details.

Family Issues Committee Call for Papers – Deadline Extended

DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL about living with  someone with a dual diagnosis (IDD/MI)? The Family Issues Committee is seeking papers for a book to help families and professionals better understand the challenges and ways to conquer them!

All lengths will be considered!  Confidentiality and anonymity will be respected.

Assistance and support are available — just let us know!  Click here for details.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Webinar

The National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability is offering a free webinar on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders on Thursday, September 25 from 1:30-2:30 pm. Eastern time.  For information or to register, click here.

JMHRID Accepted into Social Science Citation Index

We a pleased to announce that the Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities (the official research journal of NADD) has been accepted into the Social Science Citation Index.  This means that JMHRID will now be included in the Web of Science and will receive an Impact Factor each year beginning in 2015.

The NADD Public Policy Forum

In order to advance the NADD Public Policy Statement, we are convening invited stakeholders to a one day Policy Forum to be held on October 20, 2014 at JBS International Office in Bethesda, MD. The stakeholders will include high level representatives from the following organizations: (1) non-profit disability association executives, (2) Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), (3) 3rd party insurers and managed care organizations (MCO), (4) NADD Public Policy Committee members, (5) service providers, and (6) other pertinent stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. Click here for details.

NCD Statement on UN Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In a statement issues July 14, 2014, the National Council on Disability (NCD) addresses what it identifies as misperceptions that have been discussed as the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has been considered by the United States Senate, including: concern over loss of sovereignty; concern regarding weakening of our federal system; concern regarding reproductive rights; concern regarding cumbersome or burdensome regulations; and concern regarding the principles of the best interest of the child and homeschooling. Click here to read the NCD statement.

Webinar Provides Disability Awareness Training for First Responders

The Arc National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability is offering a webinar on Disability Awareness Training: A Train the Trainer Program for First Responders.  Click here for information.

 

Chemicals Linked with Brain Disorders in Children

In a report published online in Lancet Neurology, Philippe Grandjean, adjunct professor of environmental health at Harvard School of Public Health, and Philip Landrigan, Dean of Global Health the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, examine the neurodevelopmental consequences of early exposure to industrial chemicals and/or pesticides.  The report follows up on a 2006 review by the authors that identified five industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants (lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene).   The current report adds six additional developmental neurotoxicants (manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers).  The authors speak of a pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity and propose a global prevention strategy.  Click here to read this report.

Wall Street Journal Features Dual Diagnosis Problems

On January 15, the Wall Street Journal featured an article that dramatizes the plight of individuals with intellectual/developmental disability and severe mental illness.  Beginning with the California case of a 49 year-old woman, Deborah Clark, who has schizophrenia and an IQ of 63 whose actions, in response to a voice that she heard, resulted in the death of her parents, the article presents a fairly thorough exposition of the difficulties individuals with a dual diagnosis (IDD/MI) face.  The article, entitled “Splintered System Often Fails Mentally Ill with Low IQs,” appears on the first page of the Wall Street Journal.

Robert Fletcher, Founder and CEO of NADD, together with several members of the NADD Board of Directors, are quoted in the article.

“For most of her life, Ms. Clark bounced around a fragmented treatment and support system that left her and family members who tried to help mostly on their own,” notes the article.

In a subsequent article, the Wall Street Journal reported that a state court judge had ruled that Ms. Clark is competent to stand trial on arson and murder charges.

Review of Psychotherapy for Individuals with Intellectual Disability

A review of Psychotherapy for Individuals with Intellectual Disability, edited by Robert J. Fletcher, has appeared in Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities.  Click here to read this review, which is reprinted with the permission of the Emerald Publishing Company.

Towards the Prevention of Behavioral and Psychiatric Disorders in People with Intellectual Disabilities

Robert Fletcher, NADD CEO & Founder, is a co-author of an article, “Towards the Prevention of Behavioural and Psychiatric Disorders in People with Intellectual Disabilities,” published by the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.  The paper promotes a public health prevention model and maps out opportunities for intervention at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.  The other co-authors are David Allen, Paul Langthorne, Bruce Tonge, Eric Emerson, Peter McGill, Anton Dosen, and Craig Kennedy.

The paper presents an alternative strategy to the current prevailing “diagnose and treat” strategy.  The paper proposes the reduction in the incidence of behavioral and psychiatric disorders through the use of primary and secondary prevention strategies, potentially reducing the overall cost incurred by challenging behavior over the lifespan and freeing up resources for better-quality tertiary prevention for those who continue to present with severe emotional and behavioral difficulties. “Central to this proposal is a greater integration of issues for people with intellectual disabilities within much broader policy and research agendas.”

Click here to read the abstract of this article.

Barnhill Addresses 200 in Baton Rouge

Dr. Jarrett Barnhill, Director of the University of North Carolina Developmental Neuropharmacology Clinic and a member of the NADD Board of Directors, spoke to an audience of more than 200 parents and early childhood professionals as part of a speaker series organized by the Academic Distinction Fund.  NADD CEO Robert Fletcher had recommended Dr. Barnhill as a speaker to the Academic Distinction Fund.  Click here for a story about Dr. Barnhill’s presentation.

 

NADD Adopts Health Care Reform Policy Paper

On October 23, the NADD Board of Directors adopted a position paper entitled “Including Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and Co-Occurring Mental Illness: Challenges that Must Be Addressed in Health Care Reform.”  Eileen Elias, chairpersons of the NADD U.S. Public Policy Committee, spearheaded production of this position paper.  Click here.

Ohio MHA Recognizes Ohio NADD Conference

Ohio’s Mental Health & Addiction Services October 2013 e-Update contains a nice article on the 11th Annual Ohio NADD Conference, including pictures of Founder and CEO Robert Fletcher, Board Member Mike Schroeder, and Keynote Speaker Julie P. Gentile.  Click here for the e-Update, see page 3 for the story and pictures.

NHA Dual Diagnosis Treatment Team Receives RCPA Innovation Award

NADD Board Member Terrence McNelis’s NHS Dual Diagnosis Treatment Team has been named a winner of the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association (RCPA) Innovation Award.  Click here for information on the winners.

Book Reviews of Intellectual Disability and Mental Health

Intellectual Disability and Mental Health: A Training Manual in Dual Diagnosis, by Sharon McGilvery and Darlene Sweetland has been reviewed in Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities (2013; Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 249-250).  The review notes, “This is a useful addition to the expanding literature targeting professional care providers. It aims to provide practical guidelines and tools, with the ultimate aim of establishing more comprehensive care for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health needs…. [T]he case study chapter and the collection of resources in appendix will be useful in guiding the reader to apply theoretical knowledge to practical caring situations.”

Intellectual Disability and Mental Health has also been published in Frontline Initiative.  Click here to read the review.

Joli Fletcher Tlaka DSP Scholarship

Robert J. Fletcher, Founder and CEO of NADD, announces the new Joli Fletcher Tlaka Direct Support Scholarship Fund in memory of his daughter.  Click here.

McNellis Provides Training at Smoky Mountain

NADD President Donna McNellis provided well-received training at Smoky Mountain Center in June.  Click here to read what Smoky Mountain says about the training.

 

NADD Psychopharmacology Special Interest Group: Sign up for email alerts/listserv access now

Do you have an interest in connecting with your colleagues who prescribe psychotropic medications to individuals with Co-occurring Intellectual Disabilities and Mental Health Issues? To be added to the email list, please send your email address/name/organization/occupation in an email to Judie Johnston at jjohnston@thenadd.org.

Psychotherapy SIG Web-Based Discussion Group

The NADD Psychotherapy Special Interest Group welcomes NADD members to participate in a newly formed web-based discussion group, where they intend to explore subjects related to the study and practice of psychotherapy for individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. To be added to the email list, please send your email address/name/organization/occupation in an email to Bronwyn Robertson, bronwynrobertson.lpc@gmail.com.

Family Members Welcome

If you are a family member and are interested in networking and discussing a variety of topics with other family members, the NADD Family Issues Committee may be able to help you learn from others who have been there and done that. Contact Julia Pearce @ runnamokk@hotmail.com to become a part of the Committee.