MORE FROM THE STACKS
Areva Martin, Esq., Dr. Shaun R. Harper, and CORE graduates and staff.
Special Needs Network Awarded $11 Million to Expand C.O.R.E. Workforce Development Program
Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Special Needs Network (SNN) has received an additional $11 million from the California Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDS) to expand its pioneering C.O.R.E. (Centering Opportunities, Resources, and Equity in Early Intervention) program. Administered by the Lanterman Regional Center, this funding will enhance SNN’s innovative workforce development initiative, aimed at training and placing BIPOC clinicians in behavioral and allied health roles to tackle systemic inequities in California’s healthcare workforce. Additionally, the C.O.R.E. program aims to raise awareness about the critical shortage of clinicians and the importance of providing culturally sensitive therapeutic care to ensure that underserved communities receive equitable, impactful support.
Led by SNN President and Civil Rights Attorney Areva Martin, Esq., in collaboration with SNN Advisory Board Member Dr. Arysha Vahabzadeh, M.D., and SNN Board Member Dr. Anshu Batra, the program offers a rigorous, 100-hour training curriculum. This multidisciplinary program includes anti-bias and anti-racism training and focuses on building a culturally competent workforce to deliver early intervention therapy to children ages 0-5 and nonverbal adolescents.
“Special Needs Network has shown remarkable leadership and accountability in meeting the needs of California’s diverse communities,” said Melinda Sullivan, Executive Director of the Lanterman Regional Center. “With this funding, we’re taking meaningful steps to bridge access gaps by empowering practitioners who understand the cultural sensitivities of the communities they serve.”
The C.O.R.E. program unites leading experts in DEI, applied behavior analysis, occupational therapy, and developmental science to provide state-of-the-art training. As one of the nation’s foremost experts on race, equity, and leadership, Dr. Shaun Harper heads USC’s Race and Equity Center, which certifies C.O.R.E. fellows in culturally competent care. This team has developed a rigorous 100-hour training program, which includes DEI certification, professional coaching, and virtual and in-person learning modules, making C.O.R.E. a premier training initiative in the field.
With the $11 million funding, SNN will double the number of C.O.R.E. fellows to reach 500 BIPOC practitioners across California. Each fellow will receive training support and up to $10,000 in student loan forgiveness after a one-year commitment.
Disability & Health Webinar Series: Disability, Nutrition & All of Us
We are proud to announce the next conversation in the Disability & Health Webinar Series! Join us on Wednesday, November 20th from 2:00–3:30pm ET/ 11:00am-12:30pm PT for Disability, Nutrition & All of Us. This special conversation will focus on the importance of good nutrition for people with disabilities, and how diet intersects with our unique health needs. We will look at the social drivers that affect access to nutrition through a disability lens. We invite community members, disability advocates, and health care providers to tune in. Learn more about how All of Us is helping to improve research on nutrition for more personalized care.
Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities
EDITOR’S NOTE: There are literally thousands of journals published around the world that relate to the disability community. It is virtually impossible to capture even a fraction of them. HELEN receives "stacks" of journals and selectively earmarks what we feel are "must read" articles of interest for our readers. It's a HELEN perk!
HELEN has long recognized the need to consistently monitor the status of achieving health equity for persons with disabilities. In fact "health equity" was one of the foundational goals of the creation of HELEN.
In 2022 the United Nations issued a seminal report on HEALTH EQUITY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES - https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/364833/9789240063624-eng.pdf?sequence=1
HELEN is providing an "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY" for your edification.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities
Persons with disabilities have the same, and equal, right to the highest attainable standard of health as any human being. This right is inherent, universal, and inalienable, and is enshrined in international law through human rights treaties, and in domestic legal frameworks including national constitutions.
“The WHO Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities analyses the factors that contribute to systemic health inequities for persons with disabilities and outlines important policy and programmatic actions and recommendations to reduce these inequities.”
While substantial progress has been made in many countries in recent years, the world is still far from realizing the right to the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities who continue to experience a wide range of health inequities. During the past decade, the contributing factors to these inequities have persisted and compared with the general population, many persons with disabilities continue to die prematurely, have poorer health, and experience more limitations to their functioning. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the disadvantaged position of persons with disabilities within and beyond the health sector, and the need to act urgently.
The WHO Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities analyses the factors that contribute to systemic health inequities for persons with disabilities and outlines important policy and programmatic actions and recommendations to reduce these inequities.
Autism Diagnoses Remain Flat Among Children Born During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Key takeaways:
Children born before and during the COVID-19 pandemic had similar autism screening positivity rates.
Prenatal exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection was tied to a lower rate of positivity in one cohort.
Positive screenings for autism spectrum disorders did not increase to a significant degree among children born during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results of a cohort study published in JAMA Network Open.
Notably, positive autism screening rates remained similar to their pre-pandemic levels among children exposed to mothers with SARS-CoV-2 infection as newborns, researchers reported.
Children born before and during the COVID-19 pandemic had similar autism screening positivity rates. Image: Adobe Stock
“Autism risk is known to increase with virtually any kind of insult to mom during pregnancy, including infection and stress,” Dani Dumitriu, MD, PhD, an associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Columbia University, said in a press release. “The scale of the COVID pandemic had pediatricians, researchers, and developmental scientists worried that we would see an uptick in autism rates. But reassuringly, we didn’t find any indication of such an increase in our study.”
“Researchers reported a link between exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and a lower rate of M-CHAT-R positivity in the COMBO-EHR group (adjusted OR = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.22-0.68). ”
In the analysis, Dumitriu and colleagues compared the data from two cohorts from the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COMBO) Initiative — one being an electronic health record group (COMBO-EHR) and the other a prospective research group (COMBO-RSCH).
The COMBO-EHR cohort comprised 1,664 children born in New York City between January 2018 and September 2021.
Meanwhile, the COMBO-RSCH cohort included 385 children born between February 2020 and September 2021.
The researchers determined autism risk based on responses to the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised (M-CHAT-R) autism screener. Screenings occurred between 16 and 30 months of age.
All children were screened between 16 and 30 months of age.
Dumitriu and colleagues found that there were no differences in the proportion of M-CHAT-R-positive screenings between children born before the pandemic and those born during the pandemic in either cohort.
“COVID is still quite prevalent, so this is comforting news for pregnant individuals who are worried about getting sick and the potential impact on autism risk,” Dumitriu said.
Researchers reported a link between exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection and a lower rate of M-CHAT-R positivity in the COMBO-EHR group (adjusted OR = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.22-0.68). They also observed a similar but insignificant association in the COMBO-RSCH cohort.
“We suspect that having COVID during pregnancy may have influenced parents’ assessment of their child’s behaviors,” Dumitriu said. “Parents who did not have COVID may have experienced higher stress — due to the constant worry of getting sick and the vigilance around preventing infection — and may have been more likely to report concerning child behaviors.”
She pointed out that the study did not look at autism diagnoses, only the risk for developing autism.
“It’s too early to have definitive diagnostic numbers,” she said. “But this screener is predictive, and it’s not showing that prenatal exposure to COVID or the pandemic increases the likelihood of autism.”
Dumitriu also added that she thinks it is unlikely that increases in autism diagnoses related to COVID-19 will occur as the children continue to grow.
“Children who were in the womb early in the pandemic are now reaching the age when early indicators of autism would emerge, and we’re not seeing them in this study,” she said in the release. “And because it’s well-known that autism is influenced by the prenatal environment, this is highly reassuring.”
References:
Firestein M, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.35005.
Pandemic-era babies do not have higher autism risk, finds study. Available at: https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/pandemic-era-babies-do-not-have-higher-autism-risk-finds-study. Published Sept. 23, 2024. Oct. 8, 2024.
Sources/Disclosures Collapse
Source:
Firestein M, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.35005.