Growing older with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Implementing and evaluating a project ECHO for dementia education.

The needs of the rapidly expanding population of adults growing older with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families span both the IDD and the aging service systems. The use of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) for professional education can bridge gaps and span boundaries between them at the macro, meso, and micro levels. A series of 10 ECHO sessions over 12 months was developed, incorporating key content on IDD and AD/ADRD for 145 providers in over 20 agencies.