University of Colorado Anschutz
JFK Partners at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Mission Statement
The mission of JFK Partners is to lead the way in evidence-based interdisciplinary clinical care, education, research, and community partnerships to enrich the lives of children, youth, and adults with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and special health care needs. Our vision is to promote the individuality, inclusion, active community engagement, and health and well- being of all people of diverse backgrounds with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and their families. Research efforts at JFK Partners are centered around description, diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of developmental disabilities.
Ongoing Projects
The purpose of this study is to gain knowledge about the functioning of individuals with ASD through follow-up assessments of SEED 1-2 participants. This study will evaluate the reliability of childhood measures of intellectual status by comparing SEED participants’ current functioning (aged 8 to 22) with their abilities when they were preschoolers. These data will be used to examine factors that affect the stability of intellectual status, and its ability to predict transition outcomes.
This research study will investigate a Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) group treatment to determine if it is more effective than therapy services that adolescents with ASD and intellectual Disability (ID) are already receiving at school, in the community, or from their doctor. This CBT intervention has been adapted for the learning and language needs of teens with Autism and ID.
For children with developmental disabilities, audiologists often report that they have difficulty measuring behavioral hearing thresholds. The current lack of behavioral procedures that are effective for evaluating hearing in children with developmental disabilities is a significant public health problem, resulting in delayed diagnosis and difficulty fitting amplification in this population. The purpose of this project is to determine the feasibility and reliability of measuring behavioral hearing thresholds in children with developmental differences with an innovative, observer-based procedure.
Debbie Mood and Angela Bonino were selected for an AB Nexus grant. These are collaborative grants between Boulder and Anschutz to encourage collaborations across the two campuses. The project is for implementing an ASD screening program at Children’s Hospital Colorado during an audiology visit. This project will allow us to screen 100 children and then complete a developmental workup on those children who screen positive for ASD.
Provides support to PCPs to identify and manage children with ASD in underserved regions of the state, particularly rural and frontier areas.
Partnering with Disability Law Colorado and CO Developmental Disability Council to improved knowledge about, and access to, COVID-19 vaccines for people with IDD in underserved regions of the state.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the feasibility and initial efficacy of the Birds and Bees Program, a parent-mediated sexual and reproductive health program for youth with ASD.
Qualitative methods will be used to evaluate priorities, expectations, and needs for adult models of neurodevelopmental specialty care. Interviews will continue until thematic saturation is reached. We will also perform chart review of approximately 60 patients seen in the Adult DD Clinic. We will characterize demographics, diagnoses, and social determinants of health; we will use the Frailty Index, an age-agnostic measure, to describe medical complexity.
CRE Members
Caitlin Middleton
Lindsey Devries