Latinos, Disabilities, Research, and NIDRR

For Hispanic Heritage Month 2014, which began on September 15^th, 2014, we will focus on NIDRR research that focuses on Latinos with disabilities and on Latino researchers in the NIDRR community (past and present). These projects include several Field Initiated Projects (FIP) that focus on service provision for Latino children and their families, rehabilitation readiness tools for Latinos with psychiatric disabilities, and that deal with providing effective communication for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and Hispanic through the Texas Trilingual Initiative. Our blog series Answered Questions will also be centered on Hispanic Heritage Month and disability research.

Today, we will focus on an FIP funded by NIDRR from the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of Florida called RAICES/Promotoras (H133G030014) (Mario Hernandez, PhD, is the principal investigator).  This project is now closed and has finished its research activities. As an active project, RAICES/Promotoras developed and tested a “method of service provision that integrates a model known as Promotoras with a locally funded school-linked case management approach known as the Family and School Support Team (FASST).”  (NARIC Abstract) The RAICES project targeted at risk Latino children who were Spanish monolingual, had limited English speaking skills, and had serious emotional disabilities in grades K-5 and their families in rural Hillsborough County, Florida. This project sought answers to the challenges faced by case management programs such as FASST in identifying, mobilizing, and sustaining informal resources to support families. By linking and engaging Latino families with schools through programs like FASST, the Promotoras model found a way to improve local services, making them more culturally competent and relevant to the community.

To learn more about the RAISES/Promotoras project, please visit their website. You can also check out their Orientation Guide, their Trainer’s Curriculum Guide in English and Spanish, and their Trainee’s Curriculum Manual in English and Spanish.