individuals with disabilities and, through testing and feedback will create templates and processes that will increase web accessibility for the CDD websites and will serve to help other University departments integrate these standards into their environments. The CDD will conduct trainings for other University departments and organizations within their local community to promote web accessibility and to detail steps for implementing web accessibility into current website design practices.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND EXPERIENCE
The Center for Development and Disability (CDD) is administratively housed in the Department of Pediatrics in the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. The CDD Director reports to the Chair of Pediatrics. A University of New Mexico organizational chart and documentation of university support for the independence of the CDD within the University is located in (Appendix 14-15). Catherine McClain, MD, PT, is the Director of the CDD. She is a Professor in Pediatrics, Chief of the Development and Disability Division in Pediatrics and is a board certified Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician and Physical Therapist. She has an extensive history of working with children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families, both as a physical therapist and as a physician. She has directed the CDD for 16 years, managing numerous grants and contracts and successfully leveraging public and private funds. (Appendix 16)
The CDD Deputy Director assists the CDD Director in mentoring other division directors, oversight of the CDD development office and representation of the CDD when appropriate. The CDD is organized into nine divisions that consist of related programs and projects. (Appendix 17) Faculty and staff are assigned to specific programs and projects according to their expertise, experience and interests. Most divisions consist of programs that address all four core function areas. Division directors are responsible for the oversight and planning for that particular division; ensuring the appropriate core functions are implemented and staff time is allocated appropriately; and report to the CDD Director or Deputy Director.
The CDD Director, deputy director and all division directors (the Aligning Group) meet quarterly for full day retreats for center-wide strategic planning and monthly for shorter meetings. Division directors meet with CDD managers in their divisions, monthly, to address Center policies and procedures, strategic directions and other administrative issues. Brief biographical sketches of key CDD leadership and faculty are located in the Appendix 18-30.
Pat Osbourn, MA, SLP/CC, CED is the CDD Deputy Director and directs the Autism Programs
Division. Ms. Osbourn has a 20+ year of working with children with developmental disabilities as both a speech pathologist and an educational diagnostician. This division encompasses both typical and atypical neurodevelopment and seeks to provide excellence in teaching, research and service, for both families and professionals, in specific areas of neurodevelopmental disability, including Autism Spectrum Disorder. The director of the Administrative Division, Joel Nudi, MBA oversees administrative and operational support services including accounting and award/proposal processing, human resources, policy/procedure development, and facility and resource management. He has more than 30 years of experience in managing programs and projects.
The Technology Services Division (TS) is led by Dan Wenz, MBA. Mr. Wenz has 10+ years of
experience managing projects teams, providing technology support, administering systems, participating in procurement processes and implementing information security best practices. The mission of this division is to promote security, accessibility and dissemination of information and to provide technology services, for programs, to support development and disability related research, education and service for individuals and their families.
Christy Barden, BSN, directs the Medically Fragile Division (MFD). Ms. Barden, a nurse, has a 20 + year history of working in the field of case management, administering programs, supervising staff and systems and policy development. This division provides individualized, statewide service coordination for
individuals who are medically fragile and their families through community and state partnerships, teaching, quality assurance, utilization review, and advocacy.
Anthony Cahill, Ph.D. directs the Disability and Health Policy Division (DHP). Dr. Cahill has over 20 years of experience providing policy-relevant information to policymakers at the federal, state and local level. The mission of this division is to inform public policy related to disability in numerous areas including health promotion, emergency preparedness, access to health care and others through applied policy analysis and dissemination of information.
Sophie Bertrand, M.A. directs the Early Childhood Learning Network Division (ECLN). Ms. Bertrand has over 30 years of experience in the field of early childhood services for young children with disabilities and their families. The division provides an integrated set of associated and complex programs and projects funded to develop and provide ongoing disability and early childhood related training, technical assistance and resources for early childhood professionals statewide.
Tanya Baker-McCue, M.Ed. directs the Family and Community Partnerships Division (F&CP) and is
the parent of children with special needs. Ms. Baker-McCue has extensive experience in parent-to-parent support, mentoring parents in education and advocacy, policy development for issues affecting people with developmental disabilities and their families. This division works to promote full participation of people with disabilities and their families in their communities through systems change, building community alliances, and providing accessible training and technical assistance.
Marcia Moriarta, Psy.D. leads the Early Childhood Home and Family Services Division (ECH&FS).
Dr. Moriarta is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics. She has specialized expertise in infant and early childhood mental health and is endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Mentor (IV) by the NM Association for Infant Mental Health. In this division she oversees a continuum of home-based prevention, intervention and treatment programs for infants, toddlers and their
families with and at risk for developmental delays and disorders with an emphasis on evidence-based and promising practice models.
The Leadership and Clinical Operations Division (LCOP) is directed by Sandy Heimerl, PT, DPT, MS. This division provides both pre-service and in-service didactic and clinical experiences to develop leadership skills in the area of disability research, education and service. Dr. Heimerl has over 35 years of experience working with children with developmental disabilities and their families as a physical therapist.
All positions in the CDD are filled by staff or faculty and selection is dependent on the skill and expertise needed for the job. Recruitment for staff and faculty positions is done locally and nationally through various formats (newspapers, journals, web sites, etc) and in accordance with the University’s Human Resources Department guidelines. Staff and faculty are compensated with competitive salaries based on University guidelines, have access to professional development activities and University coursework, and receive a rich benefits package. The University classifies certain Faculty positions as “underutilized” when specific minority groups are under-represented in that job category. In these cases, additional efforts are made to identify recruitment sources that target members of the under-represented group. NM is a minority-majority state and we typically have a large pool of applicants for any given position who are of Hispanic heritage. Occasionally, positions are advertised to encourage applicants from a specific cultural background. The CDD has many years of experience of successfully employing individuals from throughout New Mexico who represent the ethnic demographics of their community, to work on CDD projects while living in their home community. The CDD has a number of employees who have disabilities, including cognitive disabilities, or who are parents or family members of a person with a disability. We work closely with New Mexico’s Self Advocacy Center, provider agencies throughout NM and appropriate state agencies to identify individuals with DD who might be interested in and appropriate for available employment opportunities at the CDD. Through the leadership of the CDD, a university job title of Family
Specialist was developed to facilitate the hiring of individuals based on their experience as a parent or family member, rather than the attainment of a degree. The CDD currently employs 14 Family Specialists.
The CDD is located in an off-campus office complex approximately 2 miles from the UNM Health Sciences Center. The Center occupies approximately 38,000 square feet of office space and is equipped with clinic rooms, observation areas with two-way mirrors and remote control video-taping capabilities, telehealth equipment, training and conference rooms and office space. It is located on a major bus line, has ample parking and is fully accessible to individuals with disabilities and their families. Housed within the CDD is the only specialty library in NM focusing on disability related topics, which consists of a large collection of books, videotapes, training manuals and periodicals available for use by self-advocates, family members, students and providers.
The University of New Mexico, the largest and most comprehensive institution of higher learning in the state of New Mexico, houses the state’s only medical school. The CDD draws upon the university’s vast resources, such as its libraries, classrooms, media facilities, and administrative support.
The CDD maintains working relationships with New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) and New Mexico State University (NMSU). Graduate Social Work students from NMHU and NMSU participate in coursework at the CDD, both on-site and through telehealth. The CDD participates in the Early Childhood Higher Education Task Force that includes both two and four year institutions statewide.
Collaborative partnerships have been developed with a wide range of communities, agencies and individuals. Programs collaborate with the New Mexico DDPC and DRNM and partner on specific initiatives with several other agencies including the following: the UCEDDs and/or LENDs in Texas, Montana, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Oregon, Hawaii, Washington and North Carolina; the Navajo Nation, two Apache tribes, several Pueblo tribes, the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs; New Mexico state agencies such as the Department of
Health, Department of Children, Youth and Families, and the Public Education Department, including the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation; advocacy groups including the ARC of New Mexico, Parents Reaching Out, People First, the Self-Advocacy Center and the New Mexico Autism Society.
COMSUMER ADVISORY BOARD
The CDD is guided by a 15 member Consumer Advisory Board (CAB). Seventy five percent of the members are individuals with disabilities and family members and membership represents the geographic and cultural diversity of the state (Appendix 31). The CDD’s Director and key management staff attend each meeting to report on center activities and solicit input and feedback. A family member employed by the Center co-chairs, along with a self-advocate, the CAB including planning, coordinating and facilitating the meetings. Members meet 2-4 times a year as a formal group and individual members are invited to participate in task forces and work groups frequently throughout the year. In response to recommendations made by the CAB members, the Center has incorporated increased supports to strengthen the participation and effectiveness of the group. Individual supports have included such accommodations as developing agendas and minutes in large print and in easy to understand jargon free language, slowing down the pace of the meetings, repeating concepts to increase understanding as well as having each member say their name before speaking to assist in member recognition. Other accommodations have included,
development of an orientation packet to orient new members, matching new members with more
experienced members, making sure that members get the information they need prior to the meeting; and for those that desire, provide pre and post meeting preparation and debriefing as well as longer breaks to accommodate physical needs. Individuals with disabilities and family members are reimbursed for their travel and related expenses as well as provided stipends to honor their time.
Each agenda item is developed to encourage time for input on the five year plan from the membership and staff report back how that input was used. For example, the CAB members recently
reviewed sections of the draft, UCDEDD Self–Determination Self-Assessment Checklist, to identify new ways that the CDD could increase the participation of family members and self-advocates in training and dissemination activities throughout the center. In response, the new 5 year plan reflects goals and objectives in which self-advocates and family members are more directly involved in planning, implementing and evaluating training goals.
Goals and objectives of the new 5- year plan were developed with the input of the CAB through a facilitated process.. Revised goals and objectives were then reviewed again with the CAB at the January 2012 meeting for final input and discussion. In the future, agenda items will be developed to discuss specific parts of the current 5-year plan and each goal will be covered in depth, including evaluation data, at a minimum of one meeting a year. Family members and self-advocates are often involved in the evaluation of individual projects, participate in the design of specific projects and products and may be employed to perform some of the duties of the project. Also throughout the year, meeting time is allocated to gathering input from the CAB members regarding current and developing concerns.
COORDINATED ACTIVITIES WITH THE STATE DD NETWORK
The CDD collaborates in many different ways with our DD Network partners, the NM Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC) and Disability Rights NM (DRNM). The DDPC provides stipends for family members and self-advocates attend and present at the SW Conference on Disability, the 3 agencies assist with planning the conference and participate in conference activities. The DD Network has worked together to support the NM Allies in Self-Advocacy and are currently working on an outreach and waiting list campaign since almost 6,000 individuals are waiting for services through NM’s DD Waiver. DRNM helps teach a course organized by the CDD as well as mentor trainees. Through the Autism Oversight Team, DRNM and the CDD advocate for system changes that support specific individuals returning to NM from out of state residential placement. The NM DDPC and CDD collaborate on the following: NM LEND Public
Policy Institute, Partners in Policy Making, Information Center and Babynet and on transition issues such as post-secondary education and employment. The CDD also partners with the Native American Disability Law Project on peer advocacy in Native communities.
EVALUATION AND REPORTING
During the past five year grant period, the CDD has significantly increased and improved resources devoted to evaluating programs and projects. For FY13-17, program evaluations at the Center will follow the logic model outlined (pp. xx-xx), which shows CDD’s five major goals, based on the objectives of the DD Act of 2000. Specific objectives within each goal, as well as anticipated annual and five-year outputs, outcomes, and benchmarks are also listed. The benchmarks will be used to identify thresholds of success for each objective. Appropriate indicators for each objective were chosen based on validity, measurability, feasibility and relevancy.
Evaluation Process: A program evaluation specialist supports the Director, division directors and program managers in devising appropriate evaluation plans, presenting evaluation findings, and following up on performance data, for all new and ongoing projects. She is supported by a data manager who produces dedicated databases for each program to enter and store data. Regular trainings for CDD staff on data entry and collection are held. CDD staff are required to enter their performance data into NIRS quarterly. Data is reviewed initially by the data manager and evaluation specialist, gaps or unexpected results identified, and the status of current quarterly data provided to senior staff for further review. Along with the CDD’s overall Consumer Advisory Committee, most programs are overseen by an individual advisory board. Along with program managers, boards oversee and review all facets of a program’s evaluation, including process, outputs and outcomes. Appropriate proposed research and evaluation plans require approval by UNM’s Health Sciences IRB unit, The Human Research Review Committee (HRRC).
