Cerebral Palsy Course Strengthens CDS Curriculum as Second Disability Intensive Course Offering

ATLANTA, Georgia, November 30 - The College of Direct Support (CDS), an internet-based curriculum for
direct support professionals and managed in partnership by MC
Strategies/Elsevier and the University of Minnesota's Research and Training
Center, announced today that its second Disability Intensive Course (DIC) on
"Cerebral Palsy" is now available for administrators and learners to use as
part of the online curriculum. It is the second of the DIC courses added to
the CDS course lineup. The CDS had released a DIC course on "Autism" earlier
this year.

The DIC courses are different in nature from the traditional CDS course
format of multiple lessons.

A DIC is a specialized course within the CDS Curriculum that focuses on a
specific disability or condition - like cerebral palsy. Unlike other CDS
courses, a DIC has one longer lesson instead of multiple lessons. These
courses define and describe the nature of a specific disability or condition
and have information about the causes, characteristics, and symptoms of the
disability or condition. They share stories of people who have this
disability or condition and how it might affect their family members. These
courses will help Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) and family members
understand how each disability affects people in their day-to-day lives and
how co-occurring disorders with this disability or condition affect people as
well.

A DIC will help identify strategies that work well when supporting people
who have the disability. Finally, DICs offer suggestions for many specific
resources that will help learners continue their studies towards
understanding this disability or condition and the role they play in
supporting individuals more fully.

The "Cerebral Palsy" course introduces DSPs and others to the disability.
Cerebral palsy is a very common disability. It is a brain disorder that
affects body movement and also affects muscle coordination. Cerebral palsy
can begin in infancy or early childhood and can also be acquired at a later
age when a specific part of the brain is injured. It is a permanent
condition, but it does not get worse over time. Learners will learn to
recognize common characteristics of cerebral palsy and it will also describe
the main types of cerebral palsy. Finally, it will help DSPs and others
understand some of the typical supports needed by someone who has cerebral
palsy.

For additional information, you may visit
www.collegeofdirectsupport.com or call Bill Tapp, National Director of
the CDS, or Tom King, Director of Communications, at +1-877-353-2767 (toll
free). You also can send an email to Tom King at
tking@collegeofdirectsupport.com.

About the College of Direct Support

The College of Direct Support is a learning gateway for contemporary best
practices for Direct Support Professionals. By incorporating web-based
learning, backed by nationally recognized curricula, the CDS is designed to
promote a profession of direct support. The CDS is being used in more than 30
states and also in Canada. It is a partnership between MC Strategies/Elsevier
and the University of Minnesota's Research and Training Center's Institute on
Community Integration, which authors the curriculum.

CDS offers a complete lineup of courses offered on the MC
Strategies/Elsevier's Learning Management System.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and
medical information products and services. The company works in partnership
with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000
journals, including The Lancet (www.thelancet.com) and Cell
(www.cell.com ), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major
reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include
ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com),
Reaxys (www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (www.mdconsult.com) and
Nursing Consult (www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the
productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite
(www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (www.medai.com),
which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more
cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (
www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part
of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading
publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier
PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam),
REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Contact: Tom King, +1-877-353-2767, tking@collegeofdirectsupport.com

Contact: Tom King, +1-877-353-2767, tking at collegeofdirectsupport.com