TASH Amplified

Season 5, Episode 1 — 28 August 2025 About this episode Today we begin a five-part series of episodes recognizing the 50th anniversary of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities (or RPSD ). In this first episode of our podcast series Dr. Craig Kennedy, the editor of RPSD , introduces the series, explaining this year-long retrospective examination of four outstanding publications...

This is the first in a series of podcasts in recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). TASH’s interim Executive Director, Serena Lowe talks with Alison Barkoff, the Director of Advocacy, Center for Public Representation. They have a wide-ranging discussion of employment policy and programs for people with disabilities, but Alison remains rooted throughout in her experi...

We talk with Professors Jennifer Kurth and Andrea Ruppar, two of the six authors of the article, “Considerations in Placement Decisions for Students With Extensive Support Needs: An Analysis of LRE Statements” in the May 2019 issue of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities (vol. 44, no. 1). They have collected a library of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and examined them...

Carol Schall, Assistant Professor of Special Education and Disability Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Director of Technical Assistance for the Virginia Commonwealth University Autism Center for Excellence, discusses her article, "Employees with Autism Spectrum Disorder Achieving Long-Term Employment Success: A Retrospective Review of Employment Retention and Intervention". It is...

Season 2, Episode 2 — 7 August 2017 About this episode In preparation for the return to school, the theme of the current issue of our membership magazine is “The Individualized Education Program as a living document”. We talk with Amy Toson, the guest editor of this issue, about what the IEP as a living document means and how to implement such a vision in your meeting or school. This i...

Today's episode is particularly urgent. The Senate released its bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cut Medicaid this morning. Listen to it right away, then get busy. TASH talks with Gonzalo Martínez de Vedia, a Policy Manager with The Indivisible Project, about what this bill means and how you can talk to your Senator — Republican or Democrat — to effectively convey the importance for peop...

Natalie Holdren discusses sessions she will be presenting at the Annual Conference addressing cultural and linguistic competency for school staff working with parents of diverse backgrounds on their students' Individualized Education Programs, how to make your TASH chapter more inclusive and tools to help people recognize their own cultural biases. This is a preview of the "Inclusion Means Diversi...

Mona Fuerstenau of Bethesda Lutheran Communities and Anthony Armitage of One-Classroom discuss a breadth of ways for faith communities to become agents for greater inclusion for people with disabilities, including advocating for inclusion in parochial schools, how faith communities can be networks of natural supports, and how places of worship can leverage their networks to help people with disabi...

We talk with Alice Wong and Andrew Pulrang about their numerous projects, most importantly #CripTheVote and the Disability Visibility Project. We discuss the election, the affordances of online collaboration and activism, intersectionality and disability, and the importance of culture, not just politics.

Paula Wills and Michelle Phillips of Chicago's Family Resource Center on Disabilities discuss the services that are available through the Parent Training and Information Center to parents trying to navigate the education provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Prior to being the Executive Director at the Family Resource Center on Disabilities, Michelle Phillips was a skeptic...