Director's Welcome

Lucille Zeph, CCIDS Director

Welcome to our website. The Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies is Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. CCIDS was established at UMaine in 1992 to bring together the resources of the community and the university to enhance the quality of life for individuals with disabilities and their families in Maine and beyond.

Read the entire Director’s Welcome here.

CCIDS Interim Associate Director Susan Russell Selected for 2013 UCEDD Leadership Development Institute

Susan Russell, Interim Associate Director of the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies has been selected to participate in the 2013 University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) Leadership Development Institute. Russell will join 25 other leaders in a week-long intensive executive development program at the University of Delaware in early June. In addition to serving as the Center’s Interim Associate Director since 2011, Russell is also the Interdisciplinary Training Director for Maine trainees in the New Hampshire Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program Partnership. She is currently pursuing an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. at the University of Maine with a focus on disability studies, public policy and family studies.

Hagner, Kurtz, Cloutier and May Publish Research on Person-Centered Planning for Transition-Aged Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

A research study by David Hagner, Alan Kurtz, Heidi Cloutier and Janet May, “Person-Centered Planning for Transition-Aged Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Journal of Rehabilitation. Person-centered planning is a process that can allow individuals with disabilities to participate more actively in their transition planning, and more active participation in planning is associated with more positive vocational rehabilitation outcomes.

The co-authors, from the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability and the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, are collaborating on a three-year National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) project, Implementation of Family-Centered Transition Planning for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

University of Maine LEND Trainees, Faculty and Training Director Meet with Disability Policy Experts and Maine Congressional Delegation

University of Maine trainees, faculty and the Maine training director from the New Hampshire Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Program Partnership recently attended the 2013 Disability Policy Seminar in Washington, DC to participate in in-depth sessions with disability policy experts and to meet with Maine’s Congressional Delegation, including U.S. Senator Angus King (see photo below). Students selected as LEND trainees demonstrate promise for leadership in teaching, research, clinical practice and/or administration and policymaking. Please visit  the NH LEND Program Partnership web page for more information.

(l-r) Janice Grant, faculty member Dr. Stephen Gilson, Debra Rainey, Marnie Morneault, John Wilcox, Senator Angus King, Tiffany Belanger, Jennifer Cammack, interdisciplinary training director Susan Russell, and Jennifer Maeverde.

CCIDS Co-Sponsoring May Workshop on Aging, Dementia and Developmental Disabilities

An educational workshop on aging, dementia, and developmental disabilities will be held on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at the Spectacular Events Center in Bangor, Maine.  The event is designed to provide helpful information to families, direct support workers, clinicians, program staff, and administrators concerned about adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The Maine workshop is a joint effort of the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices (NTG), the Charlotte White Center, Momentum, the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council, the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, and the University of Maine Center on Aging.

Read more about the Aging, Dementia and Developmental Disabilities workshop here.

CCIDS Website Highlights

• Maine Girls Collaborative Project Education Forum Resource List
• Outcomes of a Family-Centered Transition Process for Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders (2012) (PDF) David Hagner, Alan Kurtz, Heidi Cloutier, Caroline Arakelian, Debra L. Brucker and Janet May. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities 27(1) 42–50. DOI: 10.1177/1088357611430841
• An Analysis of Disability-Related Provisions in the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) – CCIDS Policy Brief (PDF)
• Growing Ideas Tipsheets
• Learning Ideas Tipsheets
• Maine Autism Spectrum Resource Center (Maine ASRC)
• Maine’s Expanding Inclusive Opportunities Initiative for Children, Families and Communities
• Inclusion in Early Childhood Settings Community of Practice (for members)
• Visual Supports Learning Links and Checklist