ICI Assists with Self-Determination for Wisconsin Students with IDD

Renáta Tichá and Brian Abery (pictured), in collaboration with principal investigator Satomi Shinde from the University of Wisconsin—River Falls, have received $96,000 in funding from the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership for a one-year grant entitled, Improving the Self-Determination of Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Wisconsin. Tichá and Abery, who are the project's subaward principal investigator and subaward co-principal investigator, respectively, will work with Shinde to develop an education and technical assistance program for middle and high school teachers in 10 schools (five middle schools and five high schools) in Wisconsin, providing them with strategies to support self-determination among their students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). “This project offers us the opportunity to apply what we have learned about self-determination over the last 15 years of working with adults with IDD to a younger group in the hopes of supporting their transition from school to work and inclusive community living,” says Abery. Tichá and Shinde were fellow PhD students in the Special Education program at the University of Minnesota a decade ago. “This presents an opportunity to reconnect in an area of common interest of supporting special and general education teachers to incorporate self-determination into their daily inclusive teaching practice,” says Tichá. The University of Wisconsin—River Falls is the lead institution on this project.