AAIDD F.Y.I.
April 2007, Vol.7, No.4

Visit www.aaidd.org/FYI/ to access current and past issues of this monthly newsletter. Subscribe at http://www.responsetrack.net/aamr/sign_up.

Dear AAIDD Friends and Colleagues:

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION ON INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES (AAIDD-FORMERLY AAMR) ANNOUNCES THE DEFINITION OF THE TERM INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY, AND RENAMES “MENTAL RETARDATION” IN ITS UPCOMING CLASSIFICATION AND TERMINOLOGY MANUAL
The group of AAIDD experts responsible for defining the condition of intellectual disability to the world now explains the move away from the word “mental retardation” to the term intellectual disability in an article published in the April issue of the journal, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. “At the heart of this shift is the understanding that this term covers the same population of individuals who were diagnosed previously with mental retardation in number, kind, level, type, and duration of the disability and the need of people with this disability for individualized services and supports,” explain Robert Schalock et al. in “The Renaming of Mental Retardation: Understanding the Change to the Term Intellectual Disability.” The article cites the new definition for intellectual disability and the assumptions on which it is based, although the official 11 th edition of the AAIDD definition Manual is expected to be published in the year 2009.

To learn more about the current AAIDD definition Manual titled, Mental Retardation: Definition, Classification and Systems of Support (10th edition) click here. To learn more about a User’s Guide on how to implement the AAIDD definition system, click here.

Questions or comments? Email books@aaidd.org

RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY A NOVEL GENE MUTATION THAT CAUSES X-LINKED MENTAL RETARDATION
“This gene would not have been predicted to play a role in mental retardation based on the previous genetics work. It was found only because we were systematically looking at all the genes on the X chromosome irrespective of what they do,” said Dr. F . Lucy Raymond of the Cambridge Institute of Medical Research, one of two investigators to discover a novel gene mutation that causes X-linked mental retardation for which there was no previously known molecular diagnosis. An article on the discovery has been published in the March 30 online issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics. Click here to read an abstract of the article.

WASHINGTON, LOUISIANA, AND GEORGIA TO DISCUSS THEIR EXPERIENCES IMPLEMENTING THE SUPPORTS INTENSITY SCALE PLANNING TOOL STATE-WIDE AT THE AAIDD ANNUAL MEETING IN ATLANTA IN MAY 2007
A special theme session titled, “ Implementing the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) in Three States” will be held on Wednesday, May 23 from 2:45-4:15 pm at the Sheraton hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, as a part of the Annual Meeting of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), publisher of SIS. This session will feature representatives from Washington, Louisiana, and Georgia discussing their unique experiences implementing SIS with citizens with intellectual disabilities.

The presentations include (1) “ Moving the Money: Individual Development Accounts for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities” by Director of the Georgia Office of Developmental Disabilities, Stephen Hall; (2) “ Developing a Statewide System for Individualized Planning and Resource Allocation Using the Support Intensity Scale” by James LeVelle and Scott Meche from Louisiana; and (3) “ Implementing Standardized Assessment in Washington State” by Linda Rolfe, John Stern, and Lisa Weber from the state of Washington. Michael Chapman, senior SIS AAIDD trainer will moderate this session.

Apart from this presentation, other sessions are being planned on SIS. For details, stay tuned to the next issue of the SIS Vantage newsletter. To sign up, please click here. To learn more about the AAIDD Annual Meeting, download a preliminary program at http://www.aaidd.org/Events/Atlanta/pdf/PrelProg.pdf. One day registrations are accepted. Questions? Email books@aaidd.org

AUTISM IN THE NEWS: A NEW BILL COULD INTRODUCE UP TO $50 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING IN 2008 AND THE FIRST EVER ONLINE REGISTRY ON AUTISM LAUNCHED BY THE KENNEDY KRIEGER INSTITUTE
On March 20, 2007, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Wayne Allard (R-CO) introduced S. 934, the "Expanding the Promise for Individuals with Autism Act of 2007," a legislation that provides approximately $83 million in Fiscal Year 2008. If enacted, the act would improve access to comprehensive treatments, interventions, and services for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families. To learn more, visit http://www.aucd.org/template/news.cfm?news_id=933&id=16. Also, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore launched the Interactive Autism Network at http://www.IANproject.org, a comprehensive web portal that contains a variety of research and practical information links for parents whose children have been diagnosed with autism. Click here to read a press release on the launch of IAN.

EDUCATE YOURSELF ON CRITICAL LEGISLATIVE ISSUES FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES WITH FACT SHEETS PUBLISHED BY THE ARC OF THE UNITED STATES FOLLOWING THE 2007 DISABILITY POLICY SEMINAR HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC
More than 600 people gathered at the 2007 Disability Policy Seminar held in Washington in March 2007 to learn how to advocate for critical issues facing the developmental disability community. Now presentations from the seminar as well as fact sheets on key issues are available for download at http://www.thearc.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=1404&srcid=209. The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is a co-sponsor of the Disability Policy Seminar.

THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONSORTIUM ON DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE IS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR ITS LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM IN JULY 2007
The National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities is now accepting applications for a select twenty executives from the field of developmental disability to be trained at the 2007 Summer Leadership Institute at the University of Delaware. The Consortium was set up in response to significant concern about training and support for the next generation of leaders in developmental disabilities, and the program faculty consists of well-known executives in the disability field. Deadline for applications is April 30, 2007. To learn more, visit http://www.nlcdd.org/pdfs/nlcdd-brochure.pdf.

To read what Steve Eidelman, faculty member of the Leadership Consortium and Professor at University of Delaware’s College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy had to say about leadership development in a past interview with AAIDD F.Y.I.,(Volume 7, No. 1, January 2007) visit http://www.aaidd.org/FYI/interview_Eidelman.shtml.

AAIDD F.Y.I. is compiled by Anna Prabhala, Editor and is published by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Formerly AAMR). Please submit comments, suggestions, tips, and news to annap@aaidd.org. For more information on becoming an AAIDD member, visit http://www.aaidd.org/Membership/index.shtml.

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