Life Span Institute Blog

More than 300 universities and colleges offer programs for students with intellectual disabilities. KU is home to Transition to Postsecondary Education, the state's only inclusive postsecondary education program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Jomella Watson-Thompson is leading one of only five federally-funded national centers of excellence on youth violence prevention with the Youth Violence Prevention Research Center-Kansas City (YVPC-KC).

People frequently assume guardianship is the best or only option for adults with disabilities who need supports with decision making.  However, the highly restrictive nature of legal guardianship arrangements is often not well understood, and people are often unaware of how difficult and expensive guardianship arrangements can be to change.

Colleagues and administrators gathered on Feb. 16 to honor Life Span Institute Director John Colombo for his service in interim roles during the past five years at KU.

Research by KU scientists and others has long reinforced that career development opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities provide not only financial benefits, but improved physical and mental health, and better quality of life. Researchers also have established that with appropriate supports, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can participate in competitive integrated employment.

More than 100 researchers, staff and graduate students from the KU Life Span Institute gathered in person for the 2023 Collaboratory on Jan. 12 to learn about the health of institute, discuss ways the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their work, and to focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in research. Director John Colombo gave an overview of the Life Span Institute and its 12 research centers. 

During the holidays, we are often inundated with opportunities for merry-making, but too much of some seasonal spirits can leave you feeling wrung out.

Staff from the KU Life Span Institute joined dozens of individuals with disabilities, advocates and professionals from across the state Aug. 10-12 at the Kansas Disability Caucus in Topeka, Kan. The event aims to provide opportunities for Kansans with disabilities to learn, share, and provide solutions to issues faced by the disability community. 

Matt Mosconi, interim associate director and senior scientist at the KU Life Span Institute, has been selected to help lead the scientific program for the International Society for Autism Research, or INSAR, over the next two years.

This post will illustrate how to use reports and calculated fields in REDCap to “flatten” data across events and arms. It will cover the basics of setting up Events and Arms in a project, and then illustrate the problem with the default data “report” of all data. Finally, it will step through adding calculated fields in specific instruments to copy data across events.