Texas Tech searching for special education teachers, professionals for Project TEDD

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Texas Tech is searching for teachers and professionals with experience in special education for Project TEDD.

Project TEDD, which stands for Training Educators in Dual Diagnosis, was pioneered by Texas Tech. The initiative aims to train teachers and professionals to educate students with intellectual disabilities and complex mental health needs, so they can show other teachers what to look out for.

“A grandmother was saying how she knew her grandson was autistic, but she knew something else was wrong,” Dr. C.L. Wayne Moore, the Project TEDD project manager, said.

Moore said Project TEDD was developed after students with intellectual disabilities’ mental health needs were going unnoticed.

“It’s very difficult to detect, and, therefore, we found the opportunity to fill that need by developing this nationally peer review curriculum,” Moore said.

Project TEDD will train special education professionals to identify, refer and support students with dual diagnosis. These students may have intellectual disabilities and mental health needs.

“Apart from the parent, the teacher sees the student quite a lot of the time,” Moore said. “It’s important for the teacher to receive the training, first of all, to recognize certain behavioral aspects performed by the student.”

With Project TEDD, teachers have the training to identify dual diagnosis.

“This may trigger in their mind; there could be mental illness here, this is not simply autism” Moore said.

Moore stated when teachers notice these behaviors, they can begin to assess the next steps for the students.

“Something is addressed, they receive the professional support they need, and then they begin to shine more brightly,” he said.

Every participant of the training will also be expected to train at least five other teachers, parents or professionals from their school district.

“It helps everyone, because you have a team that’s involved with the student, all of the experts in the various areas,” he said.

This one-day workshop trains special education teachers and professionals to become trainers of other teachers on identification, referral and support for students who are diagnosed with intellectual disabilities and complex mental health needs (dual diagnosis). Participants completing the workshop will receive $100. All workshop attendees will be expected to train at least five teachers, parents or related professionals from their school district and will receive an additional $100. The five-year goal of Project TEDD is to have 2,000 special education teachers, professionals, or parents trained in dual diagnosis across Texas.

The nomination deadline is Sept. 6 and packets can be completed online or downloaded and sent to projectedd.educ@ttu.edu. A separate nomination packet must be submitted for each nominee.

Those who wish to nominate someone can do so here.

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