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2006
TASH Conference
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TASH TECHs are practical, full-day sessions held from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm on Wednesday, November 8th. Registration is in addition to the full conference fee.
T-1 Building Bridges for Restraint Elimination: Sharing our Knowledge Across Systems and Settings
Presenters: David Allen, Beth Caldwell, Charles Currie, Amanda Rodier, and Wanda Mohr
This all day symposium is designed to provide the opportunity to share knowledge, information and advocacy strategies on how to eliminate the use of restraint in the fields of education, mental health, and cognitive and developmental disabilities. It will bring together advocacy power with what is known about research and practices in the three main service systems of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Education. This pre-conference session is presented in partnership with The Mandt System.
T-2 Integrating Related Services in Inclusive Education
Presenter: Beverly Rainforth
Participants in this workshop will learn (a) guiding principles of transdisciplinary teamwork and integrated therapy, (b) planning strategies that involve related service providers as supports for inclusive education, and (c) systemic supports needed for related service providers to become integral members of the educational team. Principles will apply to all related services, but illustrations will focus primarily on occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech/language pathology. This workshop is relevant to all team members and administrators involved with inclusive education.
T-3 Cultural, Social, and Historical Frameworks that Influence Teaching and Learning in U.S. Schools
Presenters: Shelley Zion and Beth Harry
Culturally responsive school personnel are aware that the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse children in the U.S. are overlaid with a history of exclusion and oppression, and that students have been stigmatized and devalued based on their association with excluded “minority” groups. Workshop participants will:
- Increase awareness of the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse children in the U.S.
- Learn to openly address issues of racism as well as classism and to examine their own assumptions and beliefs.
- Identify opportunities and resources for understanding culture and culturally responsive practices.
- Examine school practices for evidence that supports an ethics of care, respect, and responsibility in the professionals who serve culturally and linguistically diverse students.
- Examine ways to engage in substantive transformation of our current educational systems by looking at changes in fundamental assumptions, practices and relationships, both within the organization, and between the organization and the outside world, in ways that lead to enhanced student outcomes.
T-4 Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) & Evidence based Behavioral Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Presenter: Daniel Openden
Interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) that have been identified as Evidence Based Practices have generally been based on procedures of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). However, there is widespread misunderstanding about what constitutes an ABA program. In this workshop, Dr. Openden will first discuss ABA as a scientific approach for improving socially important behaviors. Second, examples of Evidence Based Practices that employ ABA procedures will be identified and described. Third, critical elements of comprehensive approaches to intervention will be delineated so that parents and service providers can ensure that these elements are included in programs for children with ASD. Finally, Dr. Openden will describe Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) as one example of a comprehensive, evidencebased approach for children with ASD that is based on procedures of ABA. In particular, Dr. Openden will highlight procedures for improving the pivotal response of motivation to produce generalized improvements in language and social skills and reductions in disruptive behaviors. Participants will be provided with practical information about how to apply motivational procedures for teaching social communication and facilitating the inclusion and participation of children with ASD in home, school, and community settings.
T-5 A Working Life: Towards a Lifestyle of Employment for all Persons with Disabilities
Presenters: Michael Callahan, Norciva Shumpert, John Butterworth, and Ellen Condon
This TASH Tech Session will focus on the importance of and strategies to accomplish a working life for all persons. TASH’s organizational history regarding employment will be reviewed as well as the fit of working with the broader array of our values as advocates for full citizenship. The session will also feature service and support strategies that might be utilized to achieve employment for persons who find contribution for pay to be challenging. The role of support personnel such as job trainers, personal assistants, job developers and others will be distinguished and discussed as well as the role of funding sources such as Medicaid.
T-6 International Inclusive Education Symposium: Toward Shared Understanding
Presenters: Anne Smith, Swati Jain, Diane Ryndak, Elizabeth Kozleski, and Ashley Malloy
Disability rights advocacy, the UN Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015 lead by the UNESCO Education For All initiative, and World Bank poverty reduction strategies have helped to create a context for nations around the world to pursue policies and practices that promote increased access and participation of individuals with disabilities in education, community living, and employment settings. Inclusion has required us to question the nature and meaning of disability as well as how we construct human service systems across medical, education, employment, community living, and social welfare sectors.
The movement toward inclusion has far-reaching implications as well as benefits for students, families, schools, and communities and raises many complex questions for researchers, policymakers, program implementers, and citizens.
- What are inclusive ideologies?
- How do these ideologies impact on policy, practice, and research around the world?
- How do strategies to promote inclusion vary across cultural, social, and political contexts?
- Are there universal strategies to promote inclusion?
- How can we ensure that large scale social change for inclusion remains grounded in the needs and desires of the individual?
- How can we partner and support networks around the world to promote the full participation of people with disabilities around the globe? Individuals and Teams from around the world will present and exchange information.
Presenters: Lewis Jackson, Liz Altieri, Diane Ryndak
This interactive presentation addresses techniques and innovations for designing, delivering, and successfully maintaining courses that are delivered primarily online, but also through other distance technology formats. Because it will be interactive, we encourage participants to bring and share their materials and experiences. The presenters will also share how their universities are meeting the challenges of online delivery, including creating communities of learners, influencing teacher practices, and designing materials and delivery strategies that optimize information transmission.
T-8 Transition and Post Secondary Education Options for Students with Intellectual Disabilities
Presenters: Meg Grigal, Caren Sax, Elizabeth Getzel, Donna Martinez, Teresa Whelley, and Debra Hart
This TASH Tech will provide participants with a general overview on postsecondary education options for students with intellectual disabilities and will emphasize evidenced-based practices and strategies that support students with intellectual disabilities in gaining access to and having success in postsecondary education. A sample of topics that participants will learn about include:
- A national perspective on postsecondary education options
- How to get postsecondary education options happening in your community (e.g., establishing interagency teams, cross system collaboration, and resource mapping)
- Empowering youth (e.g., youth development and self-determination skills)
- Empowering families and ensuring they understand the difference between the K-12 system and the postsecondary education world
- Tools for disability support personnel and faculty (e.g., universal course design strategies, work-based learning planslinking academic content to a work context or ‘making it real’)
- Evaluation and data collection strategies
- Postsecondary education resources The day will be structured around presentations and an ongoing open dialogue around topics presented and participant questions.
Presenter: Tia Nelis
This workshop will talk about developing leadership skills for self-advocates. Included in the discussion will be a look at how self-advocates can channel their leadership skills into new directions after their board term has ended. Come talk and learn about some things to look forward to and share some ideas.
T-10 My Life Going Far
Presenters: Angela Rapp Kennedy, Edward Willard and Melonee Clark
The State of Maryland is committed to bringing self-determination to the state, and will showcase Maryland’s New Directions Waiver. Learn about the systems change work, the process of obtaining an “independent plus waiver,” and hear success stories. Operated by the national office of TASH through a training grant from The Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council, project staff will discuss training events they have developed and their participation in writing policy. Angela Rapp Kennedy, Assistant Director for State and Federal Relations, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Developmental Disabilities Administration, will share her perspective. You are invited to take an active part in this day long dialogue.
T-11 Adults with Significant Cognitive Disabilities Controlling and Managing Their Own Funding: ‘Nuts and Bolts’ of Support from Families and Friends
Presenters: Ann Turnbull, Martha Blue-Banning, Denise Poston, and Luchara Sayles-Wallace
Based on the family experiences of three of the presenters (who are parents of adult sons with significant cognitive disabilities) and research that they and their research team are carrying out, this session will focus on the day-to-day realities of adults with significant cognitive disabilities having the support needed to control funding, supports, and services. Some of the issues addressed will be creating “funding packages” through merging Medicaid funding with other sources such as wages from employment, supported housing, SSI/SSDI, etc.; providing training and support for housemates and personal assistants; addressing problem behavior; developing and monitoring budgets; connecting with neighbors and community citizens; and handling crisis situations. Emphasis will be placed on creative solutions to challenges that arise in ways that families and friends can “share the load” so they remain resilient, optimistic, and continually open to new approaches.