ODP Announcement 19-021 announces upcoming training opportunities to be held in April 2019 and are led by speech-language pathologists to promote better communication for people who do not communicate verbally.

Following the publication of Everyday Lives: Values in Action, the Information Sharing and Advisory Committee (ISAC) has become ODP’s Stakeholder Quality Council. The ISAC created a detailed series of recommendations, strategies, and performance measures to guide ODP and gauge its progress in achieving important goals put forth in Everyday Lives. These strategies and recommendations developed by the ISAC are intended to serve as a guide for everyone engaged in developing, providing, and advocating for services in the ODP system.

ISAC Recommendation 1 is to assure effective communication. Every person has an effective way to communicate in order to express choice and ensure his or her health and safety. All forms of communication should consider and include the individual’s language preferences and use of current technology.

Findings from the Independent Monitoring for Quality (IM4Q) in Fiscal Year 2016/2017 show that for those individuals who do not communicate using words, there is a formal communication system in place for 30% of the people interviewed. ODP considers this sample group as a reflection of a wider audience. As one way to help increase the number of individuals with a formal communication system in place, ODP is offering this capacity-building opportunity.

The Consider Communication training to promote better communication for people who do not communicate verbally will be held in five different locations across the state. After the in-person training, participants will be invited to attend a virtual session. These virtual sessions will allow participants to apply the concepts from the in-person training to particular individuals they support. Each person who completes the face-to-face session and the virtual session will receive a Certificate of Completion.

Please visit this website for dates, locations, and times and to register. Please direct questions to the ODP Deaf Services Mailbox.