Professional Documents
Culture Documents
, Bearman, R., Steiner, B.D., Frasier, P.Y., & Slatt, L. (2009). Academic Medicine, 84(6), 754-764.
Project : Are You Ready? Disaster Preparedness for Families of Children with Disabilities By Jessica Jagger, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Objective: To develop a guide for families of children with disabilities or special health care needs following the three steps of preparedness from the Department of Homeland Securitys Ready America campaign Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed. Project Development: This guide synthesizes a number of resources from federal, state, and community leaders in emergency preparedness and in disability. There are also direct links to helpful tools so that online users of the guide can click to link to the Family Emergency Plan from Ready America that you can fill out online and print, for example. In the guide, families can take it one step at a time to Get a Kit, Make a Plan, and Be Informed, considering throughout the process the unique needs of their child or children with disabilities such as equipment, medication, comfort items, and other supports and resources. The development of this guide was informed by ongoing discussions with families, literature review, and more than three years of experience working with the disability community and the emergency management community to increase awareness and preparedness. The guide was designed to be concise and manageable for busy families and accessible through the internet. Leadership Lessons: This project allowed me to put more than three years of advocacy and research on the topic of emergency preparedness into a practical application. I was able to discuss the topic with families to ensure that it was a useful tool for them. It was a valuable learning opportunity for me because it allowed me to translate research to practice and explore the issues and challenges of emergency preparedness through the eyes of families of children with disabilities.
Project: Reading Workshop for Hispanic Parents By Carmen S. Alverio, Ph.D., M.S., CCC/SLP
Objective: To teach Hispanic parents how to support early language development through reading. Project Development: A series of five workshops were developed and delivered to six Hispanic parents of young children with developmental disabilities or speech/language delays. Each parent received two books, and a tool kit with activities related to the books. Reading and related crafts and activities were discussed, demonstrated, and practiced in the workshops. The parents practiced reading with their children and learned creative ways to promote early language skills. A pre and post evaluation revealed many positive outcomes, including an increase in frequency and duration of reading with their children, as well as a recognition of the importance of reading for language development. Leadership Lessons: A good leader assists others to become leaders. While training the parents how to read to their children and how to elicit language through reading, it was very gratifying to witness how these parents became teachers of their children. Learning new strategies and realizing the importance of reading, empowered them to be active participants in their children's education. These parents became leaders who with their new learned literacy skills would impact their children cognitively and emotionally.
References
Couto, R. (2000). Community health as social justice: Lessons on leadership. Community Health, 23, 1-17. Goldstein, A.O., Calleson, D., Bearman, R., Steiner, D.B., Frasier, P.Y., & Slatt, L. (2009). Teaching advanced leadership skills in community service (ALSCS) to medical students. Academic Medicine, 84 (6), 754-764.