2024 TASH Conference: Full Schedule

Welcome to the official website for the 2024 TASH Conference!

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 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 is Celebrate Together: Let the Good Times Roll!

Click on the "Registration and More" tab for additional information about our Conference location, registration, reserving a guest room, sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, and more! The full Conference schedule is now available for viewing. Registered attendees will receive an invitation to log in and create a personalized schedule.

11:15am CST

Writing Together: Small Group Writing Instructions for Students with IDD

Friday December 6, 2024 11:15am - 12:15pm CST

3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin H

In this engaging presentation, presenters will discuss past research on writing instruction for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and describe two recent studies on the effectiveness of an intervention package including constant time delay, sentence frames, and technology-assisted instruction on: (a) writing within a shared story reading and (b) small group writing instruction for students with IDD. Additionally, we will provide teachers with writing examples that can be implemented in their classrooms without the need for additional funding.

Presenters

Fred Spooner

Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Fred Spooner is Professor of Special Education at UNC Charlotte. Dr. Spooner has researched and written about instructional strategies for students with severe disabilities since the 1980s. Recently, he has focused on alternate assessment and linking both assessment and instruction... Read More →

Thai Williams

Friday December 6, 2024 11:15am - 12:15pm CST
3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin H Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

Breakout Sessions

Primary Topic Inclusive Education
Themes of Interest Research to Practice
Key Words Writing, Assistive Technology, Academic Instruction, Communication
Presentation Type Research

11:15am CST

Deciding What to Teach: Prioritizing Outcomes For Students with CSN

Saturday December 7, 2024 11:15am - 12:15pm CST

3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin A

To help teachers identify priority grade-aligned learning goals to be taught in general education settings for students with complex support needs, we developed a priority planning intervention and tested it with 41 teachers. We determined if the priority planning intervention changed teacher planning for inclusive academic instruction, identified the general education content teachers prioritized, assessed the social validity of the priority planning intervention, and measured the extent to which students learned prioritized goals when taught entirely in general education classrooms. Our findings revealed that teachers were more likely to develop instruction based on the general education curriculum after the intervention. Teachers developed primarily math, communication, and academic vocabulary goals. Students were successful in learning those prioritized goals when taught entirely in general education settings, and teachers reported the intervention was helpful and efficient.

Moderators

Jennifer Kurth

Professor, University of Kansas

Inclusive Education

Presenters

Samantha Gross Toews

Assistant Professor, Cal State University Northridge

Samantha Toews is an assistant professor at California State University Northridge in the Special Education Department. She was previously a special education teacher at WISH Charter School. Her research focusses teacher preparation and professional development to promote inclusive... Read More →

Roxanne Loyless

Doctoral Student, The University of Kansas

Roxanne Loyless is a second-year Ph.D. student in Special Education at The University of Kansas. Her research interests center on inclusive education practices, strategies, and supports for students with significant support needs.

Saturday December 7, 2024 11:15am - 12:15pm CST
3RD Floor - Ballroom: Celestin A Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

Breakout Sessions

Primary Topic Inclusive Education
Themes of Interest Capacity Building for Inclusion
Key Words Academic Instruction, Planning, Complex Support Needs
Presentation Type Research

4:15pm CST

Using SETTT for Success to Plan Effective Professional Development

Saturday December 7, 2024 4:15pm - 5:15pm CST

4TH Floor - Imperial 5D

The SETTT for Success project is an OSEP-funded grant to support trainers of teachers of students with extensive support needs (ESN) in planning academic-focused professional development (PD). Trainers plan PD using the SETTT for Success PD cycle, a series of phases trainers complete to use data to determine PD priorities, use backwards design to design and develop PD, and then evaluate the effectiveness of their PD. The PD is designed to target comprehensive academic instruction, defined by this project as building conceptual understandings across and within content areas to know when, why, and how to apply knowledge to solve problems and answer questions. Initial findings show the SETTT PD cycle is useful for trainers in planning academic-focused PD. In this presentation, we will describe the SETTT PD cycle, the resources available to implement the cycle, and invite participants to apply the PD cycle, using SETTT PD resources, to their own local context or a case study example.

Presenters

Lindsay Ruhter

Doctoral Candidate, University of Kansas Center for Research

Saturday December 7, 2024 4:15pm - 5:15pm CST
4TH Floor - Imperial 5D Hyatt Regency, 601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70113

Breakout Sessions

Primary Topic Inclusive Education
Themes of Interest K-12 Education
Key Words Professional Development, Professional learning, Extensive Support Needs, Academic Instruction
Presentation Type General