Inspiring a lasting legacy of life quality for the benefit of future generations.
Children and adults with developmental disabilities require specialized treatment options and educational supports in order to realize their full potential. Consistent with its mission and vision, TERI engages in applied research designed to discover therapies and teaching techniques that will significantly enhance the life quality of these individuals and their families. It will also impact those who teach and support them by providing effective strategies and techniques that can be used in the classroom, home, and community. This research is focused primarily in the areas of educational, behavioral, and therapeutic supports for children with autism and other developmental disabilities, but will include health and fitness, sensory integrative techniques, and transition to adulthood.
Movement Research
In 2003, the agency furthered its commitment to changing lives through research by drafting a new research initiative as a blueprint for the future. This initiative involves partnerships with local universities, researchers, and research hospitals, including Children's Hospital and UCSD to support the work in progress at these institutions. It also establishes a Research & Development Department within the agency that will expand its focus on applied research over the coming decades. Through these interdisciplinary partnerships and renewed commitments, TERI will positively impact individuals and their families on a national and international level, and leave a lasting legacy of life quality for the benefit of future generations.
Current Studies
- The effects of movement on attention to task for children with severe autism.
- Parent and teacher conceptions of adulthood for transition aged children 16-22.
- Use of the Supports Intensity Scale to determine adult behavioral supports.
- Assesing subjective well-being in adults with profound developmental disabilities.
These concurrent studies are designed to support our mission and vision of identifying support systems and techniques that will significantly improve the life quality of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families. While some focus on a cure, we are focused on assuring happy and productive lives across the lifespan.
Past Studies:
TERI has conducted research on sensory integrative techniques and their impact on maladaptive behavior in adults with significant disabilities. Our findings showed that positive, adaptive behaviors were improved as a result of ongoing involvement in structured, sensory based programs. These findings led to our current research on sensory integration and a commitment to adding to the research base regarding the effectiveness of these programs for this population.
Stephanie & her student
Finding and maintaining qualified staff is critical in the field of services to persons with developmental and learning disabilities. TERI designed and researched an immersion training program for staff who are new to the field of developmental disabilities. Our research revealed that this training program increased staff retention; reduced turnover in staff who had received the training; and resulted in high quality on the job staff performance ratings. TERI has shared the immersion curriculum and the research results at numerous conferences nationwide.
Children with severe autism often express their thoughts and feelings in ways that differ from the general population. TERI conducted research on happiness indices in children with autism in order to determine if certain behaviors, which appear to be negative and are often treated as socially inappropriate are, instead, indicators of positive subjective well-being. The study showed that, like most of us, children with autism laugh and smile when happy. Unlike the general population, however, children with autism also run, jump up and down, flap their hands, and show a significant increase in activity level when happy. This information is valuable for teachers and careproviders in assuring that these forms of nonverbal communication in children with autism are understood and reinforced, rather than redirected.
Many adults with developmental disabilities, particularly those who were institutitionalized as children in the 1960's and 70s, have lost contact with family members. Due to the significant nature of their disabilities, these adults are unable to share their life stories-their strengths, loves, fears, and history-with those who care for them. TERI researched the effectiveness of compiling and using adult life stories as a training tool to help connect paraprofessional staff with severe developmental disabilities. This study showed that using life stories as a training tool for building empathy between paraprofessionals and adults is an effective strategy. These results were presented at several state and regional conferences.
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