RRTC on Policies Affecting Families of Children with Disabilities
PI: Ann Turnbull, EdD
Ann Turnbull, EdD, of the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (commonly known as the "Beach Center"), which houses the RRTC on Policies Affecting Families of Children with Disabilities, used RUA funding to support the expansion of a "community of practice" among families of children with disabilities, practitioners, policy leaders and researchers. A community of practice (CoP) is an association of learners who are jointly working on expanding knowledge and understanding of a topic. In this case, the RRTC organized a CoP on family support in early childhood programs. The next step in the process was to move from face-to-face meetings of the CoP to a "virtual" meeting place using a specialized on-line program to facilitate discussion and identification of best available research, and family and professional wisdom about various family supports. Information about how to join this CoP is available at www.beachcenter.org, and users can review and add their own "wisdom" about families of children with disibilities.
Their RUA evaluated the CoP processes, and this research is described in their final report. Another important output of the CoP was the production of a "how-to-manual", Community of Practice Development Manual: A Step-by-Step Guide for Designing and Developing A Community of Practice.
Dr. Turnbull's proposal for the RUA gives an overview of the genesis for this research utilization activity and how it fits into the RRTC's larger scope-of-work. Findings from a Beach Center study on family "quality of life" were published in 2003 in Volume 41(3) of the journal Mental Retardation. The article was later summarized in one of the center's Research Highlights.
After a less formal discussion at the Alliance for Full Participation Summit in August 2005, some participants in this RUA's CoP gathered in January 2006, when the Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas hosted a National Summit on Family Support for Enhancing Families' Quality of Life. The Beach Center summarized the proceedings. Dr. Turnbull gathered CoP members again in October 2006 at the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) Conference, held in Little Rock, AR. [The DEC is one of 17 divisions of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).] Dr. Turnbull presented the Family Support Consensus Framework that was emerging from CoP activities. Discussion among CoP members at the conference was also summarized. The participants met again in Washington, DC on February 28, 2007 at the Early Childhood Family Support Community of Practice (CoP) Inter-agency Meeting, which convened representatives from over two dozen agencies, organizations and research entities. Early progress on the RUA was outlined in an overview paper on CoP activities shared with the RUSH project in April 2007, the project's first quarterly report (May 2007), second quarterly report (August 2007), and third quarterly report (December 2007).
Dr. Turnbull and Beach Center staff have presented at several national conferences about the CoP (see list on p.21 of their final report). Beach Center staff also offered a preconference workshop on Oct. 27, 2008 at the Division for Early Childhood Conference in Minneapolis.
