Dreams Without Limits: A Photo-Essay Book About Hope, Dreams, and Life Goals

In a striking collection of photo-essays, the authors of the recently published Dreams Without Limits give readers unique insight into the hopes, dreams, and achievements of people who experience different disabilities.

Written by Laura Dahill, director of marketing and communications for The Arc Lane County and photographed by Jon Christopher Meyers, award-winning photographer and adjunct faculty member at Lane Community College, the book blends words and images in chronicling thirty nine individuals with disabilities and their families. Continue reading →

Voting in Oregon: Comprehensive ePortfolio on Voting, Disability, and Accomodations

If you are planning to vote in the November 3 election in Oregon, you must be registered to vote by October 13. Cognitopia wants every voice to be heard and every vote to count! To make this easy for you, we created the “Voting in Oregon” ePortfolio as a comprehensive resource on voting, disability, and accommodations that are relevant locally and across America.

Click on the photo or this link to view the entire portfolio.

 

Cognitopia Celebrates National Disability Employment Awareness Month

During October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Cognitopia will be sharing on social media a series of employment-related routines that were creating using the Routines tool that is available on the Cognitopia Platform for Self-Determination, a suite of web-based applications to support self-management at work, at home, and in school. 

Routines is a tool for task-analyzing any activity using text, images, or video to create systematic instructions. Routines can be used to support getting a job, being prepared for work, on-the-job performance, and understanding  the social and functional aspects of the work setting. Continue reading →

Project Inclusion: Help Improve Courses in Special Education at the University of Oregon

Too often, the lived experience of disability is not at the forefront of undergraduate learning, but a new effort is underway at the University of Oregon with support from The Tom and Carol Williams Fund for Undergraduate Education. The project is seeking the participation of community members such as individuals experiencing disability, educators, personal support workers, and advocates. Continue reading →

Diabetes Self-Management App Project: For People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) who have Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes has been, and continues to be, a national epidemic. According to the 2020 Diabetes Statistics Report from the CDC, approximately 34.3 million people (or 10.5% of the US population) have diabetes. (This has increased from 2007’s statistics of 23.6 million people or 7.8% of the U.S. population). People with disabilities are three times more likely to develop diabetes. Looking closer to home, according to Oregon’s 2018 BRFSS, 18.7% of adults with disabilities have diabetes compared to 6.8% of adults without disabilities. The good news is that the chronic disease is preventable by improving access to health promotion programs and healthcare, as well as making healthy lifestyle changes. Continue reading →

How Autistic Individuals Have Helped Direct Cognitopia’s Development

Cognitopia’s development of self-management applications has been shaped by people with autism in ways both direct and indirect. From the beginning we have used a participatory design process whereby students and adults with autism work with us on design iteration and testing. For example, for the last five years, we’ve had a deep collaborative relationship with a local transition program serving students aged 18-21 with autism, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, and traumatic brain injury. Continue reading →

The Order of Self-Determination Club in Arlington, VA Recipient of the First Annual James Keating Memorial Self-Determination Award

PRESS RELEASE

EUGENE, OR: FEB 10, 2020: Cognitopia, a small business focused on research and development of technology to support employment, education, and community living for youth and adults with cognitive disabilities, today announces that The Order of Self-Determination Club of Arlington Public Schools Office of Special Education is the recipient of the first annual James Keating Memorial Self-Determination Award. Continue reading →

Introducing Stairway to STEM: Online Resource for Autistic Students Transitioning to College and Other Post-secondary Educational Opportunities

Stairway to STEM (STS) is a National Science Foundation-funded project that launched in October 2018. Our mission is to help autistic students realize their capacity for success as they transition to college environments and beyond. We are a web-based resource, and our content includes more than 150 posts, videos, interviews, podcasts, and other materials that support students who have autism, particularly in STEM college and technician education programs. We foster student confidence, resiliency, and self-advocacy. (Sometimes we are asked about why we use both identity-first and person-first language. Learn more here.) Continue reading →

Using Self-Management and Team Collaboration Tools for Pre-Employment Transition Services and Competitive Employment

Person-Centered Planning (PCP) is a common process employed by agencies that provide supported living and employment services to individuals with disabilities. Mandated by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services at the federal level, one goal of the PCP process is to facilitate access to employment services in community settings for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and to foster active participation in developing their other long-term goals. In other words, PCP helps an individual, their family, and their support team to maintain focus on life goals and become more involved in directing individualized supports and services. Continue reading →

Engaging Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities in the Development of Self-Management Tools Through Participatory Design

Co-Authors: Tom Keating and Tobias Rickard

Why Participatory Design?

Cognitopia develops accessible software for people with cognitive disabilities to self-manage everyday activities using web-based tools that foster independence, while also enhancing support received from families, teachers, and adult service providers. In the early 2000’s, when I first began teaching in a community-based transition program, I had the opportunity to work with Cognitopia’s founder, Tom Keating, on the development of Picture PlannerTM, a visual calendaring application. Students and teachers from that transition program played an important role in shaping the development of Picture PlannerTM, and these experiences led us to the inescapable understanding that the entire development process needs to include input from the individuals who will be using the product. Continue reading →

Five Tips for Creating an Effective Routine

Within the Cognitopia Platform for Self-Determination a routine is a sequence of steps consisting of actions that lead to the accomplishment of work assignments, activities of daily living, social skills, recreational activities, or any other self-management task. In practice, the concept of a routine may be referred to as a step-by-step procedure, schedule, task list, plan, or even a goal. Regardless of the terminology, the essential principle is that any routine can be broken down into individual steps to facilitate learning. Educationally, teaching routines or breaking down activities into steps is often referred to as task analysis and is a key component of systematic instruction.  Continue reading →

Podcasting: It Can Provide Opportunities for People with Autism

Leveraging special interests is a great way to engage people with autism in the world around them. Getting someone on the spectrum to talk about their area of special interest is not difficult. Rather, the challenge lies in getting them to shift to other topics or to show interest in those around them.

One way to celebrate and showcase an individual’s passion while subtly working on developing aspects of communication is through podcasting.

Continue reading →

OSTC 2019: Igniting Partnerships for Student Success

This past March, Eugene welcomed transition specialists and educators from across the state of Oregon for two days of professional development and networking at the 2019 Oregon Statewide Transition Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was Igniting Partnerships for Student Success, a natural fit for our session on Supporting Seamless Transition Through Technology for Self-Determination and Data Sharing. Continue reading →

Intelligent Lives Screening Highlights Community Inclusion and a Q&A

Earlier this month Phil Hayes, our New England Representative, had the opportunity to participate with his family in a unique experience highlighting the inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities in greater Swampscott, Massachusetts.

At an event co-sponsored by Swampscott Public Schools Student Services, TASH New England, and Swampscott Unites, Respects and Embraces (S.U.R.E) Diversity, Phil’s wife Lisa Julien-Hayes and twelve-year-old son Cole were selected as panelists during the screening of Intelligent Lives, a film by Dan Habib that highlights the origin and history of IQ tests and their long-term impact on society. Woven into the storyline are the backstories of three young adults with intellectual disabilities as they navigate high school, college, and the workforce. Continue reading →

Healthy Cooking Becomes Routine for Residents of Independent Living Program

Surprising Gifts of a Better Meal

Living in affordable housing units at Willakenzie Crossing, residents of SAIL Housing in Eugene, Oregon call over a dozen one-bedroom and studio apartments home-sweet-home. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, SAIL stands for “Supported Access to Independent Living” and operates with a mission of supporting sustainable housing in a life-enriching environment that fosters dignity and independence for adults with developmental disabilities.

As part of the program, residents gather weekly in the community room to socialize and learn new skills. When talking about cooking and eating habits in a group discussion last year, residents collectively admitted they struggled with finding healthy meal options and knowing how to follow a recipe. Continue reading →

Transitions Cost More Than $2.3B in IDD Support Services

Cyclic Regression Causes Expensive Turnover, Painful Restarts, and Critical Struggles.

 Decrease staff training costs.
Create smoother transitions for clients.
Preserve your investments in human resources.
Have a sustained impact on client quality of life.

You have a clear and special mission to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), promote their independence, and to bring meaningful improvements to their lives. You measure success by how well you can increase their abilities and help them solve daily challenges. That’s why your organization exists, and that’s what builds a smile on your face and warms your heart. You take all the steps needed to design a high-quality program with the service payments available to drive the supports you provide. Continue reading →

Free April Webinars for Autism Awareness Month

Over the past year, many of you expressed an interest in learning more about the Cognitopia platform of apps to support self-determination and independence for individuals with autism and other cognitive exceptionalities.

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, we have two free webinars scheduled for April:

  • Tuesday, April 16: 4pm – 5pm PST
  • Thursday, April 18: 12pm – 1pm PST

Register here for either of these days and times and we’ll send you an email with event details. If these times don’t work but you’d like to participate at another time, let us know that too because we’ll be holding additional sessions at a later date.