Welcome Dr. Williams!

We are pleased to announce a new member of our Autism Technical Working Group, Dr. James Williams. He is the Chief Operating Officer and Vocational Expert at Bloom Consulting in Austin. TX. He is also a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and an Adjunct Professor at St. Edward’s University. Recently, he completed his Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from Lamar University and his dissertation was titled, Parental Factors Related to the Successful Employment of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

For the past 11 years, Dr. Williams has provided services to individuals with disabilities across the lifespan, with a particular focus on those who have autism spectrum disorders. He continues to use his professional and personal experience with Asperger's Syndrome as a catalyst to inspire and educate others to believe in the incredible possibilities for adults and children with disabilities when they receive the appropriate support and accommodations. Welcome Dr. Williams!

Research Briefs Hot off the Press!

The KTER Center is funded to test, in vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency settings, a knowledge broker model in which individuals are positioned to bridge the worlds of research and practice (Long, Cunningham and Braithwaite, 2013). As part of preparing the VR knowledge brokers, who will be known to the agency staff as “research liaisons,” the KTER Center will recruit and train VR supervisors on specific areas of research related to the employment of a) adults with autism and b) transition-aged youth.

To guide content development for the upcoming training, the KTER Center engages in several forms of outreach to VR stakeholders. The Center works closely with members of its Technical Working Groups (TWGs), consults regularly with its partners at the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR), and presents at conferences VR staff attend. As part of this set of activities designed to identify informational needs, KTER conducted focus groups with individuals receiving vocational rehabilitation (VR) services and counselors in State VR agencies. Two briefs summarizing findings are presented in this issue of KTER Today.

Technical Brief # 7: Focus group findings from vocational rehabilitation (VR) staff and young adults with disabilities: Improving VR counseling services for transition-aged youth.
Technical Brief # 8: Focus group findings from vocational rehabilitation (VR) staff and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): Improving VR counseling services for adults with ASD

On-Demand Webcast Now Available!

View the latest webcast in our series that features NIDILRR projects for Translating the Findings and Products of Disability and Rehabilitation Research and Development into Practice. In this webcast, we hear an update on the Translating Evidence to Support Transitions: Improving Outcomes of Youth in Transition with Psychiatric Disabilities by Use and Adoption of Best Practice Transition Planning – or TEST project. Dr. Sloan Smith Huckabee describes the knowledge translation strategies TEST staff members have adopted in the second year of this project to increase the use of NIDILRR-funded research.

More information: http://kter.org/resources/webcast-research-practice-nidilrr-community-test-project

Link to On-Demand Webcast: https://youtu.be/s38GDUCrNts

NIDILRR PIs Invited to Participate in 2017 KT Survey

Thanks to the Principal Investigators (PIs) of NIDILRR-funded projects who've taken the time to participate in the 2017 KT CoP Survey of NIDILRR Grantees administered by AIR’s Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, (NIDILRR award #90DP0027). Invitations were sent out via an email on May 23 and 31^st with the title “2017 KT CoP Survey of NIDILRR Grantees” and a reply-to to Tracy Bauman. Please get in touch with Steven Boydston, if you are a NIDILRR PI and did not receive your invitation.

(Note: this survey does not apply to our other readers who are not PIs of NIDILRR-funded awards.)

Conference Connections

As part of its Conference Connections activity, the KTER Center seeks to promote networking among NIDILRR's employment portfolio grantees at the conferences they attend. If you know you will be presenting at an upcoming conference, such as the ones below, or even just attending, please let Steven Boydston know, and we'll work with you to develop a short announcement in our next "KTER Today" newsletter. KTER staff will be at all of the conferences below. We'll look for you there!

VR Summit Conference

Date: September 6-7, 2017
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Omaha, NE
https://peqatac.org/summit-conference/
Don't miss the free pre-conference workshop on September 5 sponsored by WINTAC (Workforce Innovation Technical Assistance Center).
Fall 2017 NCRE/RSA/CSAVR National Rehabilitation Education Conference
Date: October 26-28, 2017
Location: Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel Arlington, VA
https://ncre.org/fall-2017-conference-overview/ (Expired link 6/2018)
The deadline for submitting proposals is Monday, July 17, 2017 by 11:00 PM PT, more information can be found at the Conference Overview link above.
2017 KT Online Conference
Mark your calendars! The 2017 online KT Conference will be held on October 30, November 1, and 3, 2017.
This year’s conference will be focused on effective measurement solutions for your KT strategies.
http://ktdrr.org/conference2017/index.html
CSAVR Fall 2017 Conference
Date: November 11 – 15, 2017
Location: Hyatt Regency Greenville, SC
http://www.rehabnetwork.org/events/fall-2017-conference/ (Expired link)
The deadline for submitting proposals is close of business, Monday, July 31, 2017.
NARRTC’s 40th Annual Meeting and Conference
Date: March 26-27, 2018
Location: Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City, Arlington, VA
Watch the NARRTC homepage for updates as they come available. http://narrtc.org/

The contents of this newsletter were developed under grant number 90DP0077 from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.