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CEU’s for BrainStorm, the CTD Convention

Don’t forget you can earn continuing education hours at CTD’s convention!

In the past CTD has offered breakout sessions during our convention as an educational component to our program. This year we are adding value to these already informative sessions by certifying them with professional associations.

Convention-goers who attend the breakout sessions will receive professional development credit (CEUs) from the Commission of Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, National Association of Social Workers, Texas and Commission for Case Management Certification. Take a look below for a brief description of the two session offered by CTD.

Consumer Directed Services: Community Service Delivery Option to Maintain Independence

This course informs rehabilitation counselors and other social services professionals of recent laws and regulatory changes regarding community service delivery options, so they may best serve their clients with disabilities. It focuses on a somewhat new service delivery option for Medicaid recipients, called Consumer Directed Services (CDS). Persons working with the aforementioned clients are legally required to share information on all service delivery options that are available to them. Once rehabilitation counselors and other related professionals are made aware of, and become increasingly familiar with this option, they will be able to offer CDS as a viable choice for people with disabilities who wish to receive their services in the community, while having more choice and control over their budgeted services.

The following topics are addressed:

  • Legal requirements
  • Effective coordination with case managers and clients
  • How to help your clients live with dignity in the community of their choice
  • The ins and outs/benefits and risks of this service delivery model
  • Agency responsibilities
Effective Interactions With People With Disabilities

This course addresses ethical principles such as social action, cultural competence and social diversity within the context of interacting with people with disabilities. Professionals gain insight into the culture and dynamics of disability with the opportunity to ask questions in a non-judgmental environment.

The following topics are addressed:

  • Etiquette and techniques you never learned in school!
  • Contemporary (and unacceptable) use of language
  • Person-to-person etiquette (Ex: How do you shake the hand of a person with quadriplegia?)
  • Telephone communications with persons with deafness, hearing impairments and speech impairments
  • Demographics
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

As an added bonus people who sign up for CTD’s CEUs may also sign up for any class being offered by the Brain Injury Association of Texas, our convention partner.

In addition to the accreditation from the above professional associations their CEU courses will offer credit from: Certification of Disability Management Specialists Commission, Commission on Certification of Work Adjustment and Vocational Evaluation Specialists, Texas Speech Hearing Association, Texas Physical Therapy Association and DSHS.

Here are the speakers they will host.

  • "A Preliminary Study of Burnout and Coping Strategies in TBI Rehabilitation Workers" Jose Levy, MA, BCBA, CBIST- Fielding Graduate University, Austin, TX
  • "Intrathecal Baclofen Therapy Across the Brain Injury Continuum" Dr. Cindy Ivanhoe-Medical Director, Mentis Neurorehab and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
  • "Self Awareness Poster" Jerilyn Iliff, CCC-SLP, AACBIS-CORE Healthcare, Dripping Springs, TX
  • "Brain Injury in the Criminal Justice System" Joanne McGee, PhD-Clinical Director, ResCare Premier, San Marcos, TX
  • "The Role of Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and Other Functional Neuro-Imaging Techniques in Rehabilitation Following Acquired Brain Injury" Patrick Plenger, PhD, ABPP-CN-Clinical Neuropsychologist, Clinical Director, Pate Rehabilitation, Dallas, TX
  • "Inside Insight: Approaches to the Treatment of Patients with Impaired Self-Awareness" Sid Dickson, PhD, ABPP-CN-Clinical Neuropsychologist, Clinical Manager and Elizabeth Raymond, OTR, CBIS-Occupational Therapist, Team Leader, Pate Rehabilitation, Dallas, TX
  • "Going Beyond Evidence-Based Treatment: Improving Efficiency and Relevance of Neurorehab" Laney Holderby, OTR, Angela Graybill, MEd, CCC-SLP and Andrea Zeringue, PT, MPT-Pate Rehabilitation, Dallas, TX
  • TBA Karen J. Kowalske, MD, Board Certified PM&R-Professor and Chair for PM&R, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
  • "Promoting Quality Improvement in Neurorehabilitation: Outcome Measurement Standards, Issues and Applications" Charles Walker, PhD-Corporate Director of Clinical Affairs, NeuroRestorative Specialty Services at UTHCT, Tyler, TX
  • "Educating Students with TBI: Practice, Policy and Parental Advocacy" Elaine P. Adams, PhD-Presiding Officer, TX Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council, Barbara Kaatz, Program Specialist, IDEA Coordination-TX Education Agency and Jeffrey Miller, JD-Policy Specialist, Advocacy, Inc. Austin, TX

Academy Awards Features CTD’s Legless Lizard A.K.A. Legislative Lizard

Oscar statue

Ausinite and CTD member Mikail Davenport is best known for his Legless Lizard Advocacy Campaign during the 2007 legislative session. In an effort to raise awareness for disability issues Davenport, living with post-polio, cycled a 950 mile trek across the State of Texas without the use of his legs. This trying and emotional effort catapulted CTD’s endurance advocate to the forefront of the national newsfeed.

The media spotlight during the campaign helped Irene Taylor-Brodsky catch wind of the awe-inspiring effort causing her to fly from Oregon to Texas to document CTD’s advocacy campaign. Interviews and footage of the cycling trip were used in Taylor-Brodsky’s Oscar nominated film in the Documentary Shorts category, The Final Inch. In the case that you do not believe the words your eyes just read I’ll reiterate the sentence… CTD and one of our members, Mikail Davenport, have been nominated for an Academy Award!

CTD was proud of Davenport at the time for his herculean advocacy effort and cannot express enough gratitude to all of the individuals who helped us in this unique advocacy opportunity. We hope you cheered loundly on Sunday night for Mikail, CTD, Irene Taylor-Brodsky, and all of the people who fight to bring opportunity and equality to people with disabilities here at home and around the world.

Come to the CTD Convention And Advocate at the Capitol!

  • Reduce the Medicaid Community Services Waiting Lists!
  • Livable Wages for Community Care Attendants!
  • Reform of the State School System and Rebalance Long Term Services and Supports from Institutions to the Community!
  • Are you from San Angelo, Galveston, Bryan/College Station, Collin County or the Texoma region? From those five priority areas, three new centers for independent living would be established.
  • Are you offended that Texas claims sovereign immunity from the ADA and its protections against discrimination based on disability? Then support the ADA bill filed by Rep. Strama and Sen. Hinojosa!
  • Plus many more key issues!

Legislative Spotlight on Disability Voting Issues

You may recall that last session, there were dozens of bills filed that, if implemented, would make it difficult, if not impossible, to have a private, independent ballot. As always, CTD is on the forefront of voting issues and this session, it comes down to three major issues that will disproportionately affect Texans with disabilities: Seeking to reduce accessibility of elections in elections when there is no federal race on the ticket, instituting more stringent rules for voting and increasing the penalty for committing (even unintentional) voter “fraud.” The last two have been dubbed under the moniker “Voter ID”, which has received a lot of press attention as of late.

Please note that these are just a fraction of the onerous bills CTD opposes:

HB 125 Author: Betty Brown and SB 363
Author: Troy Fraser
Seeks to increase identification requirements before you can vote at the polls.
HB 355
Author: Jimmie Don Aycock
If a political subdivision has a population of less than 1,500, they do not have to provide accessible voting machines at their polling places.
HB 419
Author: Betty Brown
For a city election, if the city’s population is less than 5,000, they do not have to provide accessible voting machines at their polling places.
***Last session, the Secretary of State’s Office testified that only 12 cases of voter fraud had been brought to them and that of those, 11 did not constitute intentional fraud. However, one legislator wishes to make voter fraud, which would include someone working at an independent living center who helps more than one person with a disability fill out their voter registration card a felony! See below:
HB 1143
Author: Betty Brown
Changes any case of “voter fraud” from a Class B Misdemeanor to a Third Degree Felony.

You can find out who your legislators are and write them by going to the Raise Your Voice! Section of the CTD website – they need to hear from you on these important issues! www.cotwd.org