The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center offers a vast collection of tip sheets and printable resources free of charge to families, health care professionals, educators, and self-advocates on its website, and it’s continually growing its collection by adding new materials. Here are some of the newest additions to the VKC’s library of resources.
Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities 2024-25 Partners in Policymaking®: Resource Guide for Exceptional Education
Each year, the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities, a fellow member of the Tennessee Developmental Disabilities Network alongside the VKC, offers a free eight-month Partners in Policymaking® (PIP) leadership and advocacy training program. Participation in Partners in Policymaking is designed for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) as well as parents, adult siblings, and family members of individuals with IDD, with the end goal of amplifying voices of people with disabilities and their families and bringing positive change to every Tennessee community and to all the systems and services that affect their lives.
Vanderbilt Consortium LEND family advocate trainee and special education teacher assistant Kristie Kirby took part in the most recent cohort of the Partners training program to learn more about how to best advocate for individuals with disabilities, both in the classroom and in her own home.
“I am the mother to a 32-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy and schizoaffective disorder. I have taken Partners in Policymaking® and now doing LEND and advocacy classes with Vanderbilt. I am doing all this for families to learn all they can,” said Kirby. “I’m also learning for my daughter and grandchildren who’ve been diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and having deletion of some chromosomes. When my daughter was in school, I did not know any of the laws or had any help. I believed what was being told to me.
“I took Partners in Policymaking® classes to learn about all the different resources that the state of Tennessee has and to be able to help other parents with questions of where to get resources and help for their children,” she added.
The Partners in Policymaking® curriculum teaches participants how to work on solutions for disability-related issues and needs and where to go for help and information. Participants work on a group project, and Kirby and fellow participants decided to take the information they learned during the course and create the Tennessee Exceptional Education Resource Guide for fellow parents, caregivers, and teachers to use in the educational setting.
“Lindsey Lind, Mandeep Kaur, and I talked about how parents do not know where to find answers that they need to know for their children. Some parents do not know the acronyms that are used in IEP meetings. Plus, we thought, if teachers also had these resources, then they would be able to help parents better, and they would have resources that they might need,” said Kirby. “Sometimes teachers are so busy doing their work, they do not have time to research all the new things that come out for each disability. We wanted all school systems, students in college, doctors, parents, and anyone who works with our children to have this so it could help everyone. We are very pleased with how many have commented that they love it.”
Former VKC UCEDD director Elise McMillan provided mentorship as the women were developing the product.
“Kristie, Lindsey, and Mandeep did a remarkable job of compiling the most needed resources for parents and families. They brought all their personal experiences and added additional information they learned during their Partners in Policymaking classes. I applaud them for having the vision and then implementing this much needed resource,” McMillan said.
“Elise McMillan had done Partners in Policymaking® before, and (past participant) Amy Smith helped us make sure we had everything in it that they thought we needed to,” said Kirby. “Elise McMillan was a huge asset to us because she gave us ideas that we had not thought about putting in the resource guide. We are all very proud of this and hope it helps everyone.”
Click here to view the Tennessee Exceptional Education Resource Guide.
The application window is now closed for the 2025-2026 Partners in Policymaking® class, but interested participants can subscribe to TN DD Council publications or follow them on Facebook for updates. The application window will open again in spring 2026.
“I have already told many of my friends that they need to go take this course, especially the ones who are self-advocates,” said Kirby. “This class has helped me be more outspoken about the special needs community and what things we need to have for them. It was amazing to learn so many different things that we have, like Tennessee Disability Pathfinder, because I had never heard of it before. I loved learning about LifeCourse for when children get older, and I have used many of the wonderful resources with my daughter. I have stayed in contact with many of my peers, and I know that if I had a question that Partners in Policymaking® is always there to help me or anyone else in any way they can.”
For more information about Partners in Policymaking®, contact Blake Shearer, director of Leadership Development, at Blake.A.Shearer@tn.gov or (615) 955-4256.
Vanderbilt Consortium LEND Toolkit: Telehealth for Caregivers
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, video conferencing has radically changed the way we live and work. That technology has also affected the way some patients receive care, through the convenience of appointments between patients and health care professionals done over a computer rather than requiring an in-person visit to a doctor’s office. These appointments have come to be known as “telehealth” visits.
An increasing number of families are looking to telehealth when they are scheduling autism assessments for their child. These tele-assessments often ease the burden of lack of local service providers in more rural communities, or travel to a doctor’s office in another city that may be too time- or cost-prohibitive. Some even prefer the option of allowing a child to remain in the comfort of their home instead of bringing them to an unfamiliar location to be evaluated.
Telehealth for Caregivers is designed to help caregivers and families understand the autism evaluation process, recognize early indicators of autism, understand the differences between a tele-assessment or in-person evaluation, and prepare for a tele-assessment appointment through the Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).
To view Telehealth for Caregivers, click here.
Vanderbilt Consortium LEND Toolkit: Teaching School Readiness Skills to Preschool-Aged Children
Classroom participation skills help children take an active role in their learning. By encouraging these skills, caregivers can allow them to “show what they know” in an expected way. Classroom participation skills involve actively engaging with peers, teachers, and classroom materials. Preschool-aged children can be engaged in learning through environments that make them feel safe and valued.
This toolkit provides guidance and strategies for developing preschoolers’ school readiness skills and is designed to help caregivers and developmental therapists better understand early learning skills important for preschoolers approaching kindergarten. Strategies to build and strengthen these skills are provided with neurodiversity in mind.
To view Teaching School Readiness Skills to Preschool-Aged Children, click here.
Healthy Bodies: A Parent’s Guide on Puberty for Children with Disabilities
Puberty can be a stressful and confusing time, especially for families, caregivers, and young adolescents with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD). Despite delays in other areas, children with IDD usually enter puberty around the same time as other children their age.
Healthy Bodies: A Parent’s Guide on Puberty for Children with Disabilities provides helpful resources and tips on how to talk to children with IDD about these sensitive topics.
The Healthy Bodies toolkit is the most highly requested toolkit on the VKC website. There are two versions of the Healthy Bodies toolkit, designed specifically for girls and boys entering puberty. Each version also has an appendix with storyboards and visuals that readers can use when implementing the methods outlined in the text.
There have been multiple language translations of the Healthy Bodies toolkit since its inception in 2013. Families may find additional translations of Healthy Bodies for both Boys and Girls, with appendices, in Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Thai, German, and French.
Click here to find the collection of Healthy Bodies toolkit links and translations.
All VKC printable resources are free and available for viewing, downloading, and printing to families, caregivers, self-advocates, educators, and service providers unless otherwise noted. To view all VKC printable resources, click here.
For more information on requesting permission to use a VKC product as an academic resource in a research study or academic publication, please reach out to kc@vumc.org.
