June 30, 2021
CP State News
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OPWDD Crisis Services grant opportunity
Applicant conference on 7/9, application deadline 7/21
OPWDD has an RFP and is seeking applications from non-profit organizations authorized to do business in New York State to serve as the provider of Crisis Services for Individuals with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (CSIDD) and a Resource Center(s) in OPWDD’s Developmental Disabilities Regional Office 2 (“Region 2”).
 A Letter of Intent is required prior to submitting an application and in order to attend the Mandatory Applicant’s Conference on July 9 at 10 a.m. 
Study: Intensive Therapies help children with spastic CP 
In a study of 82 children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) on one side of the body, researchers at Burke Neurological Institute, Teacher’s College-Columbia University, and Weill Cornell Medicine learned that two intensive training therapies improved hand and arm function, allowing children to learn new, long-term life skills regardless of how the injured brain had re-wired itself.
OPWDD issues updated guidance on training, recertifications, and background checks
OPWDD has released the below updated guidance for providers related to training and recertifications and staff background checks:
July 8, 2-3 p.m.
Webinar: Preventing agitation among patients with intellectual or developmental disabilities
Join the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) for a conversation on managing agitated patients with Kelsey Ruppel, Ph.D., an expert in preventing and managing problem behavior in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Dr. Ruppel will share considerations and approaches to meet the unique needs of this vulnerable population.
Recordings of past sessions of our popular Preventing and responding to aggressive patient behavior webinar series exploring causes and impacts, liability and interventions for pediatric patients are available on the event page.
Please note this July 8 program is open to non-members of HANYS. Click here to register.
Help individuals with impaired speech use voice-activated tech
Project Euphonia is a Google Research project started two years ago with the goal of helping people with speech impairments communicate faster and gain independence. A few months ago, they reached a milestone of 1,000 hours of recordings from 1,000 participants! Their next goal? Collect speech samples from an additional 5,000 participants! For the type of research Project Euphonia is doing, having data from a large number of speakers representing a broad spectrum of speech characteristics helps the most. Learn how you can help - and maybe make some money recording speech samples for Project Euphonia - by visiting bit.ly/CPStatePE.
DSPs and other staff can get paid for their time too!
See how it works: Click the thumbnail to hear Mike from Ability Beyond talk about his experience with Project Euphonia.
NYC Ballet hosting access workshop on July 17
New York City Ballet (NYCB) artists will conduct a dance a workshop for children with disabilities on Saturday, July 17, from 10-11 a.m. at the National Museum of Dance.
This one-hour workshop will be co-led by a pair of NYCB Dancers and will include a warm-up and choreography inspired by NYCB's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Modifications and movement options will be offered throughout, and movers of all abilities and their siblings are welcome. Unlike in the past when we’ve had medical/PT/OT “buddies” pair up with our young dancers, for this workshop we will be encouraging a parent/guardian of the participant to join the workshop in offering support for their child.
CP of NYS | cpstate.org