2004
Mid-Year Meeting
Sheraton South Portland Hotel
Portland, Maine
May 12-14, 2004
Building Supportive Communities
for Individuals Facing Behavioral Challenges
Meeting Presentations
These 2004 Mid-Year Meeting presentation files (as submitted
by the session presenters) are in PDF (
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and PowerPoint (
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format. To view a file, click on the appropriate icon.
KEYNOTE REACTOR PANEL:
New England's Vision of Services for People with Challenging Behaviors
Panel Participants:
| Jane Gallivan | Program Director, MR Services, Maine BDS |
| Stephanie Horridge | Community Social Services Administrator, Rhode Island DMHRH/DDD |
| Gerry Morrissey | Commissioner, Massachusetts DMR |
| Peter O'Meara | Commissioner, Connecticut DMR |
| Theresa Wood | Director, Vermont DDMHS/DDS |
Panel Presentations:
For the past twenty-five years, the New England states have
been the seedbed of many noteworthy innovations in serving people with developmental
disabilities. In recent years, each of these states has pursued its own unique
pathway toward improving services and supports to individuals with a combination
of developmental disabilities and severe behavioral disorders. The panelists
sketched out the principal features of the approach currently employed in
her or his state to organize, finance, and deliver services to dually diagnosed
individuals. They also described new initiatives that are currently underway
or being developed and comment on the status of preliminary discussions regarding
the development of an interstate collaborative aimed at improving service
access and quality for individuals with co-occurring developmental and behavioral
disabilities within the New England region.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS:
SESSION I-A: Improving Services to Persons with Co-Occurring
Conditions
through Interagency Collaboration
| Ken Ritchey | Director, Ohio DMR/DD |
| Kevin Casey | Deputy Secretary for Mental Retardation, Pennsylvania OMR |
Presentation:
Too often, persons with co-occurring developmental and behavioral
disabilities have fallen through the cracks between the public mental health
system and the public developmental disabilities system and, as a result,
have been unable to gain access to the specialized mix of behavioral interventions,
effective medication management and carefully tailored long-term supports
they require to function effectively with their home communities. Ohio and
Pennsylvania are two states that have worked hard over the past few years
to close this gap by enhancing the level of collaboration between the state/local
mental health and developmental disabilities service systems. Director Ritchey
and Deputy Secretary Casey reviewed the steps that have been taken in their
respective states to forge a stronger partnership between the state/local
mental health and developmental disabilities service systems. They also identified
a number of yet-to-be-resolved challenges that lie ahead.
SESSION I-B: Meeting the Challenge of Serving Persons with Dual Diagnoses
| Kathryn duPree | Deputy Commissioner, Family and Community Services, Connecticut DMR |
Presentation:
The presentation showed information regarding successful interagency
planning and the step down program, the Woodbridge project which has been
in operation for 2 years.
SESSION II-A: AAMR's Positive Support Training Curriculum
for Supervisors and Direct Support Professionals
| David Rotholz | Project Director, Center for Disability Resources,
School of Medicine Pediatrics, University of South Carolina (UCEDD) |
| Joanna Pierson | Executive Director, The Arc of Fredrick County |
Presentation:
The meeting attendees found out what strategies are recommended
for training supervisors of direct support staff as well as direct support
professionals in the values and practices of positive behavior support; gained
insights into the effective use of a new twenty-six module, two-tier curriculum
that has been developed, tested, and implemented in collaboration with the
South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs; and learned about
a parallel effort to implement the curriculum in Maryland spearheaded by The
Arc of Fredrick County.
SESSION II-B: Person-Centered Positive Behavior Support
| Mary Lee Fay | Administrator, Seniors & People with Disabilities,
Office of Home & Community Supports, Oregon DHS |
| Dave Mackowski | Behavior Support Services, Oregon Technical Assistance Corporation |
Presentation:
Oregon Technical Assistance Corporation and the State of Oregon
have developed an integrated approach to developing and providing positive
behavior supports to individuals with challenging behaviors in community settings.
This session offered an overview of that process and presented an example
of a Behavior Support Plan that integrates principles of Person-Centered Planning
with those of Positive Behavior Support.
SESSION II-C: Maine's New Electronic Case Management Tracking and Reporting System
| Jane Gallivan | Program Director, MR Services, Maine BDS |
| Terry Sandusky | MR Information Manger, MR Services, Maine DBDS |
| Rick Hayward | Enterprise Information System Project Manager,
MR Services, Maine DBDS |
Presentation:
This session presented an overview of the State of Maine Enterprise
Information System (EIS) used as a full statewide electronic case management
system that tracks person centered plans, funded supports and services, expenditures,
and reportable events (Incident Management) for individuals living in the
community. Mr. Sandusky conducted a live demonstration of the system, its
tracking, monitoring, and review functions of services and events including
investigations and follow up. Connections to QA/QI activities and the "
Quality Framework" for waiver services were also reviewed Mr. Hayward
reviewed the technical infrastructure of the system.
SESSION III-A: Serving Behaviorally Challenged Individuals: Using Performance Indicator Data to Pinpoint Systemic Strengths and Weaknesses
| Sarah Taub | Project Director, Human Services Research Institute |
Presentation:
Through the administration of the National Core Indicators (NCI)
Consumer Survey, a vast database of information about system performance is
amassed each year. The most recent dataset (2002-2003) includes nearly 10,000
surveys administered across seventeen states. This presentation utilized the
NCI dataset to spotlight trends in services to people with behavioral challenges.
SESSION III-B: Preparing Direct Support Professionals
to Work
with Individuals Who Have Behavioral Challenges
| Barbara Asnes, MSW, JD | Project Manager, Behavioral Health Sciences Institute |
| Elise Scala | Project Manager, Maine PASA |
| Julie Moulton | Direct Support Professional, Support Solutions |
Presentation:
The Behavioral Health Sciences Institute (BHSI) and Maine Personal
Assistance Services Association (PASA) jointly presented on training issues
and needs relating to behavioral supports. Testing and training information
will be presented, along with information about ongoing assistance in the
areas of behavioral supports and training. Examples of how these issues have
impacted both the quality and quantity of services to persons living in the
community will be presented.
SESSION III-C: Furnishing Inpatient Assessment and Psychiatric Treatment Services to Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
| Lauren Charlot, LICSW, PhD | Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UMass Memorial Medical School |
| William O'Brien, MSW | Executive Director, UMass Memorial Behavioral Health System |
Presentation:
This presentation discussed the various administrative strategies that were implemented to allow the Neuropsychiatric Disabilities Unit (NDU), a 10-bed acute inpatient psychiatric service for people with intellectual disabilities to develop at an academic medical center, the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, at a time when state and hospital resources were shrinking. The major focus of the presentation was on the unit's comprehensive assessment and treatment model, referencing the psychiatric and medical comorbidity of the patient population and the dramatic need for accurate diagnostic assessment and treatment. The role of medication interactions and the general use of psychotropic medications was reviewed. A variety of data was shared regarding patients who have been admitted to the program. Specific case examples was also shared.