Welcome to the 2020 TASH Conference - Virtual Edition website! We’re so glad you are here!
Each year, the TASH Conference brings together individuals with significant disabilities and their allies to share resources and success stories, learn about field-driven best practices, and network within a community engaged in shared values. The conference is attended by passionate advocates, leaders, and subject matter experts from every corner of the disability community. Conference attendees play an important role in supporting individuals with significant disabilities to overcome various barriers in order to live their best lives. Central to this work is the premise that individuals reach their optimal potential only when they are given the opportunity to live, work and thrive across the lifespan in the same communities we are all members of. The conference is intentionally designed to support the interests of professors and researchers from leading institutions; those involved in local, state, and federal governments and public policy; special and general educators, and school administrators; home and community-based service providers; students, family members, and most importantly, self-advocates with lived experience.
This year, while we are taking the conference virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that our unique approach to providing exceptional first-rate content and building strong community ties and connections across various stakeholders will yield an extraordinary event! We have taken extra steps to bring people closer together during these times, as well as to create an amazing virtual environment that expands our knowledge, spurs our creative thinking, and focuses on healthy living and having fun! Our conference theme, Feel the Power of Inclusion, reinforces the importance of our continued commitment to promoting a world of equity and opportunity for all, and is predicated on the value of bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences in an effort to build strong human connectivity and spur collective action.
Need technical assistance during the conference? Please email our support staff at helpdesk@tash.org.
This qualitative phenomenological study investigated the experiences of COVID-mandated distance learning for educators of students with significant support needs. From April to October 2020, a team of researchers facilitated on-going semi-structured interviews with approximately 20 special educators. Interviews focused on the county guidelines to implement instruction to students with significant support needs, communication with families, resources and support for teachers, teacher perception of student/family needs, and recommendations to better support teachers during periods of non-traditional classroom learning. Preliminary results indicate that this period of online instruction highlights significant needs (age-appropriate and accessible resources and consistent communication and expectations), as well as specific success strategies (teacher rapport with students/families, incorporating 21st century technological skills, and high expectations). Additional findings will be shared.