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Interdisciplinary Personnel Preparation
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Interdisciplinary Personnel Preparation

Goal: Work with University departments and disciplines to develop interdisciplinary degrees, certificates, and experiences.  Interdisciplinary training promotes the inclusion, independence, productivity, and social participation of people with developmental disabilities as valued members of their community.

Early university based interdisciplinary training activities led to the establishment of a developmental disabilities track in Psychology and Education at UMKC, and the development of an interdisciplinary two-course core sequence taught by Institute faculty.   Infusion of course work by faculty is supplemented by the use of modules by other departments of UMC and UMKC faculty.

The following programs are representative of the Institute's interdisciplinary personnel preparation projects.  The links following each will take you to a complete profile of that project:

Academic Service Learning  Evaluation
The University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) has set as one of its priorities the integration of its academic learning into the community and providing service to the greater Kansas City area.  To achieve this a grant was written to the AmeriCorps to obtain funding for such a program at UMKC.  This program provides funding to faculty who integrate academic service learning experiences into their curriculum.  The Institute has the role of evaluating the program outcomes. 
go to project profile

Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Quality Improvement Initiative
The Missouri Department of Mental Health has identified efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery as a primary goal for the organization.   This collaboration project between the Institute and the Change and Innovation Agency is assisting the Missouri Department of Mental Health in improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of their organization and clinical services.  go to project profile

Interdisciplinary Training Center on Gerontology and Developmental Disabilities (ITC)
The goal of this project is to maintain an effective interdisciplinary training center on gerontology and developmental disabilities.  The Center's purposes are to address personnel preparation needs and to provide a centralized mechanism for the integration and advancement of knowledge in the area of aging and developmental disabilities.  The ITC provides information on Aging and DD on their web site.  The Center has conducted workshops in Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome, medical decision making, retirement, assistive devices, physical aspects of aging, person-centered planning, psychotropic medication, and advanced directives using the person-centered planning process.  go to project profile

Missouri Partnership for Leadership Education (LEND)
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eginning in 1995, the Institute has offered leadership training to allied health professions through the Maternal and Child Health, Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program, operated at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.  This is a joint program between two University of Missouri campuses and represents a comprehensive interdisciplinary training program with targeted competencies in urban and rural health care. This education program improves the quality of lives of children with neurodevelopmental and related disabilities and their families, through interdisciplinary leadership training of health and allied health professionals.  go to project profile

Leadership Certificate in Disability Studies
Disability Studies focuses on the sociopolitical analysis of disability.  The UMKC Leadership Certificate in Disability Studies is a 12 credit hour graduate level program of study that will enable students to examine the social meanings we give to variations that exist in human behavior and appearance and the consequences of those meanings.  The interdisciplinary curriculum includes the humanities, social sciences, law, administration, and education. go to project profile

Undergraduate Certificate in Disability Studies
This certificate program delivers a concentration of courses on developmental disabilities in the College of Arts and Sciences Program for Adult College Education (PACE).  Graduate students take the block of courses for graduate credit by arrangement with course instructors.  The block is designed to increase awareness of the life experiences of people with disabilities and their families, develop knowledge concerning human growth and development, psycho-social aspects of disability, human service systems, interdisciplinary processes, and disability policy and law.  The course schedule is listed on the web site.  Students earning a BLA with a concentration in disability studies receive a certificate in Disability Studies. go to project profile

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