On Wednesday, October 9, 2024, a non-partisan forum with candidates/surrogates for President, Vice-President, United States Senate and all five Connecticut Congressional Seats answering questions on disability topics, will be taking place at the Bristol Event Center in Bristol, CT. Diane Smith will be moderating this event and will be asking questions that have been developed in advance by the Cross Disability Lifespan Alliance.

Registration for this event is open and can be completed by clicking here for English speakers or by clicking here for Spanish speakers.

UConn Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) faculty, staff, and graduate students attended the 2024 Division for Early Childhood Conference (DEC) in New Orleans, LA. Faculty, staff, and graduate students presented multiple sessions about various projects, including the Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Center for Equity (ECIPC-Equity) and Learn the Signs. Act Early. (LTSAE). Our presentations featured:

• Bethanne Vergean, CDC Learn the Signs. Act Early. Developmental Milestones for
Families, poster session
• Mary Beth Bruder, PhD, “Let’s Play Together: Engaging Families and Young Children
in Inclusive Play Using Technology”
• Mary Beth Bruder, PhD, Bethanne Vergean, “A Tale of Two Tools:  CDC Milestones & ASQ-3”
• Mary Beth Bruder, PhD, and Darla Gundler, “An Overview of the Early Childhood
Intervention Personnel Center for Equity”

We want to welcome our 2024-2025 CT LEND trainees! ✨ Trainees were introduced to LEND staff and met past trainees to hear about what they can expect from the program. Our Director, Mary Beth Bruder, PhD, provided an overview of the UConn UCEDD and CT LEND. We are so excited to spend the school year with our new trainees!

Over the course of Monday, July 15 and Tuesday, July 16, the third cohort of the Connecticut Aspiring Leaders Academy met for their orientation retreat!

July is Disability Pride Month! Disability Pride Month is held in July because it marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark legislation for inclusion. This month we honor the disability community’s history and achievements while also acknowledging their struggles and the work to break down the barriers that still exist. Throughout the month we’ll be sharing different pieces of disability history and highlighting individuals with disabilities! 

On Wednesday, October 9, 2024, a non-partisan forum on disability topics featuring candidates/surrogates for President, Vice-President, United States Senate and all five Connecticut Congressional Seats will be held and moderated by Diane Smith.

The Connecticut Aspiring Leaders Academy’s concluded last week when the second cohort participants presented their capstones!

Congratulations to all of this years graduates!

If you would like to view their capstones, you can click here!

Yesterday members of our Connecticut Early Childhood Intervention Leadership Academy met.
 
The objectives for the meeting were to: Identify the steps of strategic planning; identify what is needed to scale up and implement the practice, program, or policy, in multiple locations, service sectors or populations with fidelity as documented through an evaluation plan; and identify steps to sustain the scaled-up practice(s), programs, or policies with fidelity, fiscal accountability, and positive evaluation outcomes for all eligible infants and young children with risk conditions, delays, and/or disabilities and their families who represent diverse backgrounds.

35 faculty from 21 universities gathered in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands last week for the ECIPC-Equity and University of Virgin Islands HBCU & MSI Faculty Cohort Convening.

June is Pride Month! Each year, Pride Month is celebrated in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, which set into motion the fight for gay rights in the United States.

Whether you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally, you can celebrate Pride by attending fun, pride events, donating to an LGBTQ+ supporting charity, or even reading books or listening to podcasts about the history of Pride and gay rights.