Current Research
Current and recent projects
AAC Peer Support Project
AAC Peer Support Project - the first year of this project we worked with CommunicationFIRST to develop a set of recommendations for Peer Support models for people who need or use AAC. The project included AAC users, disability organizations, researchers, clinicians, self-advocates and family members who formed a Consortium. We recently received additional funding to make an action plan for creating a national peer support network.
Health disparities in the adult IDD population in Oregon
Health disparities in the adult IDD population in Oregon – this project looks at how differences in health, access to health care, or quality of health care affects people with disabilities.
National Core Indicators (NCI) project
National Core Indicators® - Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (NCI-IDD) project - this is how we help Oregon's Office of Developmental Disabilities Services find out how well they are meeting people's needs.
REKNEW research group
REKNEW research group – these projects research ways Augmentative and Alternative Communication or AAC can support children and adults with acquired or developmental disabilities as they experience complex communication impairments.
REKNEW project highlight:
BCI-FIT: Brain-Computer Interface-Functional Implementation Toolkit
The REKNEW lab, under the leadership of Dr. Betts Peters, partners with Northeastern University, Michigan Technological University, and the University of Washington to develop and evaluate a new communication system known as a brain-computer interface for persons with minimal movement and speech. The system uses brain signals to select rapidly displayed letters for message construction in people who are locked in. The BCI-FIT partners have formed the Consortium for Accessible Multimodal Brain-Body Interfaces, called CAMBI. They are currently testing the BCI communication system in the homes of people with severe speech and physical impairments.
Sexual and reproductive health research
Sexual and reproductive health research – this work helps us understand more about needs among people with disabilities. We are also working to develop tools to help support reproductive health.
Research for all
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Research directory
Find OHSU researchers working in the field of disability in the Disability Research Directory
Past projects
Collaboration with the Oregon Office on Disability and Health
Learn more about health disparities research projects done in partnership with the Oregon Office on Disability and Health.
Communication research
Classroom AAC: developing an augmentative and alternative communication intervention for preschoolers with severe disabilities
The goal of this four-year research program was to develop an AAC intervention for preschool children ages three to six with complex communication needs which could be easily implemented by teachers and speech-language pathologists during typical classroom activities.
Delivering early language intervention to young children and their families in rural communities
This project examined whether delivering an early intervention through a hybrid in-person and telehealth model increased caregiver language strategy use and rate of child communication, for families and their children living in rural communities.
Delivering enhanced milieu teaching to children with down syndrome via telepractice
This project examined whether delivering enhanced milieu teaching through a hybrid in-person and telepractice model increased caregiver language strategy use and rate of child communication.
Quality assurance and evaluation
Health care transition
Health care transition is the process of moving from a pediatric system of health care to an adult system of health care. It is often a complex and confusing process for families, especially for those who experience disability. Learn more about our quality improvement activities within the Lifespan Transition Clinic.
Lane vs. Brown settlement agreement
We conducted 348 in-person interviews with youth and adults with disabilities who were impacted by this class action lawsuit around employment practices in the state of Oregon. The UCEDD provided technical assistance to the court monitor in survey development, and joined with the Court Monitor, the state of Oregon, and Disability Rights Oregon to train surveyors and implement the independent review. Findings from the Lane Independent Review interviews will inform Oregon’s work to move more people towards competitive, integrated employment.
Medicaid waiver evaluation
Oregon uses Medicaid funding to provide home and community-based services (HCBS) to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who would otherwise need care in an institutional setting. In order to meet federal requirements, Oregon restricts the kinds of entities that can provide case management for people receiving HCBS through a 1915(b) Medicaid waiver. We partnered with OHSU’s Center for Health Systems Effectiveness to conduct an independent evaluation of access to services under the waiver, quality of services under the waiver, and cost effectiveness of the waiver to facilitate another five year renewal of the waiver program.
Oregon Needs Assessment
The Oregon Needs Assessment tool was developed at the instruction of the Oregon Legislature to have a single tool for evaluation of service needs for people entering the DD system or continuing with state Medicaid services. Our work has been to analyze pilot data on inter-rater reliability of the instrument, guide additional data collection and conduct further analyses of inter-rater reliability, and review and provide recommendations on quality assurance plans for implementing the Oregon Needs Assessment.