SBIR-II: Disability Access
PI: AnnMaria De Mars, PhD

AnnMaria De Mars, PhD of Disability Access, Inc., a NIDRR-funded project held by Dr. Erich Longie's small business Spirit Lake Consulting) of Fort Totten, ND, used RUA funding to increase the knowledge of and participation in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process by tribal members with disabilities and their families. De Mars and Longie disseminated information through a Web-based training tool, and measured the impact of this tool on users' knowledge and behavior as related to IEP processes.

For more detail on this RUA's scope-of-work, view the proposal. Progress on their work is detailed in their first quarterly report, with an update in the second quarterly report. In the third quarter report, Dr. De Mars and her colleague Dr. Erich Longie summarize results of their information use survey, give some preliminary analysis of the data collected on the impact of their Web-based tool, and report on a variety of other dissemination activities. Their final report discusses the efficacy of their Web-based tool and includes all of their measures, as well as a copy of the slides they used to explain the tool. A Word version of the slides is also available. Participants were trained in the IEP process and pre/post data were collected in order to measure the extent of the knowledge participants acquired in the process.

In the appendices of their report, De Mars and Longie included other presentations. An example of their dissemination efforts during the course of the RUA was a December 14, 2007, webcast that the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR) hosted. This webcast focused on the implications of their work for methods of doing research among Native American communities.