COLLEGE OF  DIRECT SUPPORT 

Internet-Based Learning for Direct Support Professionals, People with Disabilities, Families & others in South Dakota

What is the College of Direct Support (CDS)?

CDS is a high quality, comprehensive, cost-effective, engaging and on-demand training curriculum for people who support individuals with disabilities. The training is delivered in a web-based format and is available anytime, anywhere.

CDS offers carefully designed training in content areas that have been identified as critical for success at assisting people to live self-directed lives in communities of their choice. The curriculum is authored by staff at the University of Minnesota. Each course is reviewed by a group of four to six content and training experts from the National Board of Editors who serve as editors and advisors to all course development.

CDS was introduced in December 2003 and is a collaborative effort between the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center on Community Living and MC Strategies/Elsevier, the world’s largest publishing company.

CDS also includes the “College of Frontline Supervision and Management,” a set of 4 Courses designed to train supervisors and those aspiring to move into supervisory positions.

For up-to-date news articles, course lists, eNewsletters and other information, visit their website: www.collegeofdirectsupport.com

CDS Core Values . . .

The College of Direct Support strives to reflect a core set of values in the training programs it provides.

• Inclusion and community membership.
• Full citizenship and honored rights.
• Independent and productive living.
• Safe and healthy lives.
• Choice and self-determined lives.
• Sustained valued relationships.
• Competent and effective direct support.

What is the South Dakota College of Direct Support (SD CDS)?

Our Purpose/Goal: Support people with disabilities to control their own destinies and to achieve the quality of life and respect they desire and deserve by increasing their knowledge AND the knowledge and professionalism of those who support them, through the utilization of the College of Direct Support.

SD CDS is a collaborative effort of the South Dakota Association of Community Based Services (SDACBS) and the Center for Disabilities with federal financial support as part of a grant from the South Dakota Council on Developmental Disabilities.

SD CDS is being utilized in exciting and creative ways to improve training opportunities for over 3000 support staff and frontline supervisors and 100+ people with disabilities and their families in all 19 community-based agencies, the South Dakota Developmental Center and for people choosing to self-direct their services through participation in PLANS (People Leading Accessible Networks of Support). We believe the CDS is a vital tool in our ongoing quest to provide direct support staff with the training, the professional involvement and the recognition they deserve.

The SD CDS Project Workgroup is comprised of each agency’s CDS Learning Administrator, the Executive Director of SDACBS, a representative from the Division of Developmental Disabilities and a representative of PLANS. It is facilitated by the part-time Manager, SD College of Direct Support located at the Center for Disabilities. The workgroup meets 3 to 4 times each year to share ideas, discuss implementation progress and challenges and to plan for the future.

What South Dakota CDS Learners are Saying . . .

 “I found as I progressed through each lesson that everything we do and say to people we support and to persons we work with has a certain effect on each person that we have a opportunity to interact with. I found certain lessons that I thought did not pertain to my job was a waste of my time but that was quickly found not to be true. Every lesson created a domino effect and contained something that I could use being a DSP.”
DSP, Northern Hills Training Center

“I hope that other people, especially people with disabilities and their families, try the CDS. It is a good way for people to improve their lives and gain independence.”
Andrea Terrell, Consumer, ECCO, Inc.

“CDS has been a valuable tool for me in the last year and a half as I have transitioned from being a social worker in the field of corrections to this area of service to people with developmental disabilities. While the basic concepts of helping others to help themselves and seek their best outcomes stays the same, CDS has refined my thoughts on serving the people I now am working for. There are so many flexible, easy ways to access CDS that it seemed like an ideal training tool for individuals served and their Support Providers.”
Jean-Claire Hamblin, Family Support 360 PLANS Coordinator, Western Region

“Each lesson that I have completed either validates or refreshes the understanding that I have obtained over the 25 years that I have worked in this field. I applaud CDS for providing the tools that help to ensure that a high ‘standard of service provision’ can be expected by any consumer and/or their advocates no matter from whom they receive services or supports.”
Karla Kessler, Service Coordinator, ECCO, Inc.

Tom Scheinost, Executive Director, SDACBS, recently stated: “Primarily as a result of our success in implementation of the CDS in South Dakota, I see potential for this training becoming a greater resource to consumers, families, special education programs, higher education/technical institutes, and a host of other entities that will, in the future, greatly have a positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities.”

To learn more about the
South Dakota College of Direct Support
and how you might become involved, contact:
Eileen Van Soest
Manager, SD College of Direct Support
Center for Disabilities
Sanford School of Medicine
The University of South Dakota
1400 W. 22nd St.
Sioux Falls, SD 57105
605 357-1476
Eileen.VanSoest@usd.edu
A University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education,
Research and Service