2018 TASH Conference

This session will explore caselaw, writings and opinions from parents’ and school districts’ perspectives that followed this momentous U.S. Supreme Court decision. The presenters will discuss strategies that parents and advocates can bring with them into IEP Team meeting; mediation and due process hearing processes. They will solicit audience participation and welcome the sharing of different strategies that they may have employed in those processes and the perceptions of those in the audience who have observed directly the behavior and perception of school districts regarding the Endrew F.

Jean Fogelberg Bowen opens this four-part self-determination track by sharing highlights from her famous and confounding Fax that launched the journey of self-determination.

Doreen Rosimos will share how it all got started along with stories from the New Hampshire self-determination project.

Debbie Gilmer will share how self-determination has helped to transform  supports and services in Maine.

Self-determination - is it dead or alive after initial funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 1993?  A brief history along with recognition of three self-advocates who are the true heroes of the movement will be presented.

This session will focus on the original Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) grant research and self-determination outcomes.  Jim  Conroy will share the empirical research that documented increased participant satisfaction with services and supports along with decreased programmatic costs.

What does self-determination look like from the perspective of self-advocates and families?  Panel members will talk about how making self-determination a reality for themselves has impacted their lives.

Panelists: David Taylor, Sheila Fisher, Teresa Moore 

This interactive session will focus on the writings and reflections from Tom  Nerney including Affirmation of Community and his forthcoming book, Threshold of Freedom.

Given the recent popularity and attention given to school choice, the National Council on Disability (NCD) – an independent federal agency that advises the President and Congress – undertook a study of how students with disabilities fare in such arrangements. Come learn the major findings and recommendations to policymakers regarding the experiences and outcomes of students with disabilities whose families make use of voucher programs and/or enroll them in charter schools in lieu of traditional public schools.