Tina Naami is CPD's 2010 Trainee of the Year

Tina Naami

Tina Naami had been working in the disability field for quite some time when she entered the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program. But she didn’t know much about autism.

That was about to change—so much that she chose autism as the focus of her leadership project, developing information that she hopes will benefit an entire country. Her growth in the URLEND program led to her award as the CPD’s 2010 Outstanding Trainee.

 “I was impressed with her because she really came into the program without much of a background at all in autism,” said Paul Carbone, URLEND’s discipline coordinator for Pediatrics at the University of Utah. “We could see her knowledge grow with every seminar.” He was Naami’s discipline coordinator when she was an URLEND trainee. (Naami is still at the University of Utah, working on a doctorate in social work.)

As she continued through the program, Naami’s knowledge and interest grew until she decided to develop a resource booklet for professionals and parents of children with autism. The finished booklet is tailored to meet the needs of people in Ghana, her home country.

She used her own personal connections in Ghana to find out how best to tailor the information for people there, Carbone said.

In Naami’s home country—as in the United States—there are children and adults with autism. “These issues are there, but the resources are not there,” she said. When she returns, she hopes to teach at one of the universities in Ghana and continue research in the field. She also plans to continue as an advocate.

Her plans are to start by breaking down the information from her booklet into brochures. She will also talk to experts within her country and find the best ways to create awareness for autism.

Ghana has strengths that can be built on, and Naami can build on them, said Judith Holt, URLEND’s co-director. She describes Naami as a leader who is passionate, engaging and likely to make a difference. “She’s a visionary. She sees what could be, or what can be.”

Naami appreciates the experience she gained through the URLEND program. After working in the disability field for quite some time, she learned many new things from the experience. “Professionals from different fields can work together to improve the lives of people with disabilities,” she said. “And that’s important.”

Assistive technology helps tots gain more control of their environment

It's not just the technology, it's the technique: simple strategies are coupled with the gadgetry to help the child learn.

Whether it’s a simple switch or a high-tech communication device, technology can do a lot to help a young child with disabilities gain a little control over his world.

After two-year-old Dane spent eight months in the CPD's Techno Tots program, his mother Kacee Udy explains it this way: “He's learned that if he pushes a button, something happens.” It might activate a line of toy penguins that march up a ladder or play a recorded message, but it's interesting, and he caused it. “It's the same thing with communication. He's learned that if he says something, then something happens.”

Suddenly, crying slipped a lot lower in his communication strategy. Kacee said it's not just the technology that's made the difference, it's the strategies she's learned. For example, she started with sounds that are easy for her child to say and she uses repetition to reinforce what Dane learns. In the eight months he's been in the program his vocabulary has grown from two words to 45—and Udy said the Techno Tots classes have done a lot to make it happen.

Techno Tots classes are offered through the CPD's Up to 3 program.

Read the whole story on the CPD website.