LOMAH Disability Podcast

Latest Episodes:

#87 - Adult Transition Planning in the IEP - Does It Work? Sep 17, 2019

Show notes

Transition planning begins during the teen years and becomes part of the IEP between the ages of 14 - 16. Does the process work? Are we focusing on the right areas?

Mary Susan McConnell, Ed.D, shares results and implications of her research which aimed to answer 3 key questions:

1) Actual Post Secondary IDEA Outcomes

2) Identifying the Most Significant Challenges Upon Leaving the System

3) Parental Input on the Effectiveness of Transition Teams and Suggestions for Improvement

Find Mary Susan on her website, Facebook, and Instagram as Mary Susan McConnell. Find Mary Susan's podcast by searching Mama Bear Podcast. It is the show with the Grizzly Bear.

Find Kim on Instagram as Journey2Lomah

Related LOMAH Podcast Episodes:

Episodes 86 - 97: Transition Planning Series

Episode 69: Self Determination with Complex Communication Needs

Episode 49: Person Centered Planning

Episode 31: Transition Planning to Guide IEP Goals

Episode 30: Legal Rights After 18

Episode 25: Think College

Episodes 22 & 23: Housing - 4 Things to Start Doing Now with the Autism Housing Network

Episode 21: The Family Home & ADU Housing Model

Episode 18: Housing: 5 Takeaways

#86-Transition Planning for Adulthood in the IEP Sep 09, 2019

Show notes

Transition planning sets the stage to get students where they want to be upon aging out of the school system. Depending on the state, transition planning becomes a part of the IEP by the age of 14 or 16. Some school districts take the transition planning process and knock it out of the ballpark. Some school districts barely meet minimum requirements. Regardless of your situation, the more you know, the better you can prepare and advocate for a successful transition into adulthood.

The transition series will include episodes on what the research shows regarding transition, utilizing assessments to drive goals, preparing for special needs college programs, putting technology in the IEP as transition supports, self determination, and the roles of parents.

Follow Kim on Instagram at journey2lomah for behind the scenes of the creation of her daughter's transition plan.

Related Episodes

Episode 69: Self Determination with Complex Communication Needs

Episode 53: Is Technology the Caregiving Solution

Episode 49: Person Centered Planning

Episode 32: High School Time Crunch

Episode 31: Transition Planning to Guide IEP Goals

Episode 30: Legal Rights After 18

Episode 29: College of Adaptive Arts

Episode 28: College and High School - A Student's Perspective

Episode 26&27: Transition Programs at UC

Episode 25: Think College

#85 - Health Series Recap Aug 02, 2019

Show notes

The health series included 3 episodes focusing on caregivers and 9 episodes focusing on individuals with special needs. What did you miss? What's coming next?

*Journey with LOMAH over on instagram @journey2lomah

Episodes in the Health Series:

#74 - Caregiver Emotional & Mental Health

#75 - Obesity in the Disability Community

#76 - Caregiver Physical Health

#77 - Your Body Your Boundaries

#78 - Dignity and Hygiene

#79 - Better Medical Visits for Patients with Special Needs

#80 - Winning Insurance Battles

#81 - When Your Faith Feels Fragile

#82 - Better Dental Exams for Patients with Special Needs

#83 - The Thoughtful Use of Medical Cannabis

#84 - Menstrual Manipulation and The Pelvic Exam

#84 - Menstrual Manipulation & The Pelvic Exam for Women with Disabilities Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

Many women and teens use hormones to manipulate their menstrual cycle and so it makes sense this can also be an option for women with disabilities. What ethical considerations come into play and what options are available? What about the pelvic exam? Is it a recommended procedure for this population? How can it be performed with the utmost dignity for patients with differing abilities?

The first part of the show will cover reasons for menstrual manipulation and the ethics of making that choice. The last half covers options for menstrual manipulation including considerations that may be specific for those with differing abilities. Also discussed is how to support an individual with disabilities through the pelvic exam.

To navigate this territory with us is Dr. Michael Policar. Dr. Pollicar is a Professor Emeritus of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, as well as Clinical Fellow at the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), where he is an advisor on clinical and reproductive health policy topics. He has served on expert advisory panels of the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs, contributing to the CDC Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraceptive Use (2016), the CDC Selected Practice Recommendations (SPR) for Contraceptive Use (2016), and Providing Quality Family Planning Services: Recommendations of CDC and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (2014). He is a member of the Quality/Utilization Advisory Committee of the Partnership Health Plan of California and the California Breast and Cervical Cancer Advisory Council.

***Related Episodes***

#77: Your Body Your Boundaries - Teaching Sexual Health to Individuals with Special Needs

#79: Better Medical Visits for Patients with Special Needs

#80: Winning Insurance Battles

***Find Kim in Instagram at @journey2lomah***

***Links to content mentioned in this episode are at www.lomah.org/podcastseason3/84

#83 - Medical Cannabis Jul 23, 2019

Show notes

Cannabis has been used as a medical treatment since ancient times yet still has an attached stigma. Laws are inconsistent from state to state and regulatory gaps with distribution and use exist. How do we responsibly approach this agent as a medical option?

Joining us for the discussion is Dr. David Traver.

Dr. Traver is a board certified pediatrician by The American Board of Pediatrics and an award winning Fellow of The American Academy of Pediatrics. He believes strongly in practicing as a member of a diversified health care team for each patient so he collaborates with many different health care practitioners, both in academic centers as well as in private practice.

Dr. Traver spent two years at Stanford University Medical Center's Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. There, in The Pervasive Developmental Disorder Neuropsychiatry and ADHD Clinics, he became familiar with the treatment and management of individuals with Autism and ADHD utilizing psychopharmacology. Dr. Traver has been directly involved with autism research for the past fifteen years.

If you are on instagram, find Kim as journey2lomah where she is sharing behind the scenes of their family's journey and partnering with listeners who are doing the same.

#82 - Better Dental Visits for Patients with Special Needs Jul 16, 2019

Show notes

There are over 52 million people with disabilities in the U.S. and only 10 percent of dental professionals are prepared to treat them. What is being done about this and is there anything care providers can be doing to better support dental health?

Guest Kyle Guerin is the Executive Director of the Pacific Dental Services Foundation. The Pacific Dental Services Foundation improves oral healthcare to four distinct underserved populations, one of which is patients with special needs. They are leading the charge to make oral healthcare more accessible to people with special needs through training, advocacy and the first dental clinic dedicated to providing care to this underserved population. To date, they have trained over 1500 dentists and have opened a clinic in Arizona.

In this episode, we learn the clinic's roots are from a dentist, Dr. Jacob Dent, who has a son with autism. Dr. Dent began to take his knowledge and creativity as an autism dad to transform his practice into one that could effectively and creatively treat patients with disabilities.

Kyle then shares tips to finding a dentist who can treat our loved one and how we can, as caregivers, come alongside the dentist prior to the visit to set them up for success.

Related Episodes:

#78 - Dignity & Hygiene

#79 - Better Medical Visits

Find Kim and the LOMAH Podcast on Instagram as journey2lomah

#81 - When Your Faith Feels Fragile Jul 05, 2019

Show notes

When our faith and beliefs about God take a hit, how should we respond?

Our guest, Diane Dokko Kim is a disability ministry consultant, national speaker, and author of Unbroken Faith: Spiritual Recovery for the Special-Needs Parent. As the mother of children with multiple disabilities including autism and ADHD, her two-fold passions include encouraging families, and equipping local churches into becoming inclusive faith communities.

You host, Kim, has read Diane's book three times and her copy is highlighted, underlined, and has margins filled with ink. Diane and Kim chat about swimming upstream in Christian culture and reaccuring faith struggles they both keep trying to shake. They discuss the structure of the book and why and how Diane choose the format.

Connect with Diane at dianedokkokim.com where she blogs on being, "wrecked, redeemed and repurposed."

Find Kim on Instagram at journey2lomah

#80 - Winning Insurance Battles Jul 02, 2019

Show notes

When you enter the world of differing abilities you also enter the not so pleasant world of insurance. What are the tips and tricks to ease the pain of this experience and most importantly, get your claim approved?

This episode is one you will want to tag, earmark, and save to revisit again and again. It may require more than one listen to absorb all that you are getting ready to learn about the mystifying and often frustrating world of health insurance.

To demystify the world of denied insurance claims and equip us is Karen Fessel, the executive director and founder of the Mental Health and Autism Insurance Project, a nonprofit with a staff of insurance ninjas talking on insurance companies on behalf of the disability community.

In addition to serving as the executive director of MHAIP, Karen co-moderates the ASDinsurancehelp and ASDMedi-Cal Yahoo users groups. Karen holds a doctorate in public health from UC Berkeley. Her prior work experience includes developing technology assessments and treatment guidelines for the Permanente Medical Group and conducting research projects at the Department of Public Health and UCSF. On the public policy front, Karen co-chaired the autism subcommittee on insurance with the East Bay Autism Regional Task Force and served as a parent advocate on the initial Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) Autism Advisory Workgroup. She is the proud parent of a 22-year-old son with Asperger's and an 18-year-old daughter.

***Join Kim on Instagram at Journey2Lomah***

#79 -Better Doctor Visits for Patients with Disabilities Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

Patients with disabilities are often misdiagnosed and sent for diagnostic tests that can not be preformed. Operation House Call is a program that trains the medical field to better treat patients with disabilities.

Operation House Call is part of the curriculum at the Yale School of Nursing, Boston University Medical School, UMass Medical School, Tufts University, and Simmons University. As of May, 2019 Operation House Call is available nationally for medical programs wishing to offer the curriculum.

On the show today is the director of Operation House Call, Maura Sullivan. She is going to share with us the impact the program is having on medical students and nurses who are educated via the 5 components of the curriculum which include an orientation led by self advocates, website courses, a 2 hour immersive visit to the home of a family who has a member with an intellectual or developmental disability, a reflection stage, and feedback from the host family.

In addition to discussing operation house call, Maura shares pending legislation that could have a very positive impact on the medical care the disability community is receiving and she also gives us a few tips and tricks to make our next medical visit run smoothly.

*Kim can be found between episodes on instagram at journey2lomah

Related Episode:

#70 - Do This Not That: Lessons from a Self Advocate

#78 - Dignity & Hygiene Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

Many individuals with disabilities are dependent on caregivers to present them to society with the dignity they deserve. Some hygiene and care will require creativity, persistence, and continual reminders it matters and our loved one is worth it.

Geege Tayor is widely known in the autism community as a mother who places high standards on the way her son is presented to the world. Geege goes the mile as her son's dignity surrogate and has several hygiene tips and tricks she has refined over the last 16 years.

The first half of the conversation is a discussion about going the extra mile to ensure our loved ones are presented to the world with dignity and why it matters. The second half covers Geege's tips and tricks for dental hygiene, fashion, acne, shaving, showering, and haircuts.

Watch Geege and Pootie on their reality TV show by searching Planet Poot on Youtube or on Instagram @geegetaylor

Kim is on Instagram as @journey2lomah

Related Episodes:

#10 Dignity and Disability with Nicole Feeney

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