April 2015

Meet Dr. Linda McDowell: New Director of the Center on Deaf-Blindness

On February 16, 2015, just two weeks after Dr. Linda McDowell's arrival at TRI, Carol Dennis sat down with her to learn about the person who now serves as the director of TRI's Center on Deaf-Blindness (CDB).

"[Deaf-blindness] generally comes as a surprise to a family," said Dr. McDowell. "And a lot of times, there will be other disabilities as well. Along with the vision and hearing impairment, there will also be a physical disability, health issues -- there's such variety -- every student is so very individual, every student is just so very unique. You know, it's just fun to finally find a way to understand what's important and what motivates and what the interests are of each individual student. . . . I still can't say it often enough that it's about getting to know the person first."

Watch the video or read the transcript here...

Newly Published Breakthrough Study Offers Hope to Families of Children with Autism

As National Autism Awareness Month begins in April, a newly published breakthrough study in the peer-reviewed journal Autism Research and Treatment is giving hope and respite to parents of children with autism. This federally funded study conducted by TRI at Western Oregon University confirms previous small-scale studies reporting the effectiveness of a breakthrough treatment for young children with autism.

This research-based treatment, developed by Dr. Louisa Silva, is for use by parents, professionals, and early childhood special education programs, starting at the time of autism diagnosis. This treatment has been proven to reduce the severity of autism by one third in the first five months. The study shows that treatment with parent-delivered specialized sensory massage for children under the age of six is delivering positive results in four key areas:

• Autism severity reduces by 32%, resulting in improved behavior and language
• Parenting stress reduces by 44
• Sensory problems improve by 38%; sensitivity to touch and texture improves by 49%
• Children are more affectionate with their families and more comfortable in social situations

Read more...

Hello from the National Center on Deaf-Blindness!

The National Center for Deaf-Blindness held our annual staff meeting in Oregon last week. We worked hard, but we also took a moment to celebrate together in the early spring sun!

Student-Based Health Center Will Increase Health Access

Article and photograph by Emily Mentzer, Polk County Itemizer-Observer

Walls came down on Thursday at what will be the new student-based health center for Central School District, kitty-corner from Central High School.

Five youths from Central High School donned hard hats, visors, gloves, and bright orange vests, grabbed a sledge hammer and began the destruction, knocking down walls in what will be the child development Early Head Start part of Central Health and Wellness Center.

The center will open with full dental, medical, and mental health services on June 15 if all goes well, said Brent DeMoe, Polk County Family and Community Outreach manager.

While the center will provide much needed services to families in the Monmouth and Independence ZIP codes -- 60 percent of students and parents missed school and work time to attend medical appointments, DeMoe said -- perhaps the biggest service will be infant-toddler care for teen parents.

The program will be in partnership with Western Oregon University Teaching Research Institute, said Jon Reeves, Head Start director.

"The focus here is to serve the children of teen parents, get the parents back in school and have their young babies close," Reeves said. "Then they'll learn infant-toddler care and parenting while they're going back to school."

Read more...

TRI Welcomes New Staff

Hannah Anonson has joined the Center on Early Learning at TRI as an Early Childhood Project Specialist. She will be providing technical service and support to Oregon's Quality Rating & Improvement System as wel as the Central Coordination of the Child Care Resource & Referral System.

Nate Winegardner will be working with the Center on Early Learning as a Bilingual Early Learning Specialist. He is joining us from the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, where he served as a Program Manager with the Head Start program.

Read more...

Mentoring Program Fast Facts for March 2015

Oregon is committed to an educational system that recruits and retains educators of the highest quality in order to provide all children with effective teachers and administrators. The Beginning Teacher and Administrator Mentoring Program was established in Oregon in 2007 and expanded in 2013. It is administered by the Center on Educator Preparation & Effectiveness at TRI.

The Fast Facts provide a monthly snapshot into the impact of the Mentoring Program. This report is based on data collected, summarized, and analyzed from various dara sources, including annual surveys sent to six groups involved with the school district mentoring programs.

View the Fast Facts...

Adventures at the Child Development Center

All photos by Taylor Leech and Cassie Kroeker, TRI

What have we been up to at the Child Development Center?

We made cornbread muffins for our Parents' Lunch.

A parent donated some Jelly Beadz to our classroom, so we put some in water and watched them grow.

We had fun finger painting...

And playing with bubbles at our water table.

We are learning more every day about what it means to be a good friend!

To see more of our adventures, visit the Child Development Center on Facebook!