Each year, the TASH Conference brings together our constituents 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 leaders, experts, and advocates from every corner of the disability community. Conference attendees are influential in their fields and communities, and play an important role in the provision of services and supports for the millions of individuals and organizations around the world; and include professors and researchers from leading institutions; those involved in local, state, and federal governments and public policy; special and general educators, and school administrators; self-advocates, adult service providers; students, family members, and many others. This year’s conference theme, Building Diverse and Inclusive Communities, reminds us that equity, opportunity, and inclusion relies on the input of broad perspectives and experiences.
This presentation explores revisions of a special education and an APE program through the work of a US DOE personnel development 325K grant to support students with high- intensity needs in diverse and inclusive settings. Faculty will share data outlining the success of embedding CEC High-Leverage Practices into courses.
Teacher candidates in an online graduate program can be effectively-prepared to educate students with severe disabilities in academic content. Teacher candidates are provided with preparation to include a diverse variety of students with severe disabilities in academic lessons in general education. These candidates master skills to plan, teach and assess students with disabilities in academic content through online learning strategies. This approach is successful to prepare students for successful edTPA results.
Early childhood special educators work with diverse families. The skills to implement family-centered practices, build on family capacity, and collaborate with families across systems is critical for positive child and family outcomes. One way to increase and support a diverse early childhood workforce is to address barriers in higher education.
This session focuses on transforming teacher education to reflect the skills, competencies and dispositions necessary for teachers to assume the role of inclusion specialist. We will describe results from an emergent evaluation of learning experiences designed to develop teaching and advocacy skills leading to agentic behaviors whereby special educators transform segregated services to inclusive systems change. We seek to identify and explain the process and critical influences of teachers' growth toward inclusion. The TASH Conference theme of "Building Diverse and Inclusive Communities" is addressed in this presentation by sharing our creative and innovative methods for teachers and teacher preparation professionals to combat the barriers to inclusion that persist in U.S. Schools. Participants will leave with creative ideas for promoting and engaging in agentic action towards inclusive practices.