ATIA 2025 Pre-Conference Seminars

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm and Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

This interactive experience explores strategies for teaching even the youngest students’ language by engineering environments, so all communicators have opportunities for rich, meaningful practice of language in the context of everyday routines. Explore how to design educational experiences using interactive technologies which empower the learner and their support network to achieve their lifelong language goals. Participants will take an in-depth look at building the skills of communication partners and how training centered on coaching empowers parents and educators to take ownership of promoting the use of AAC systems in every lesson and activity all day long in all environments.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe five contemporary tools to teach vocabulary to those learning language using AAC.
2. Describe one contemporary, evidence-based strategy used to teach those learning language using AAC.
3. Identify and develop one or more practice of coaching communication partners of those learning language using AAC.

Featured Speakers:

Chris Bugaj Loudon County Public Schools

Rachel Madel Rachel Madel Speech Therapy Inc.

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm and Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

Individuals who face multiple challenges of severe physical disabilities along with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) and Complex Communication Needs (CCN) often struggle with access to communication and learning. This 1.5-day course will look at challenges and practical strategies for teaching access both non-electronically, through systematic partner-assisted scanning, and in parallel, two switch step scanning electronically. How do you directly teach and practice motor learning? How do you engage individuals in active participation? How do you accommodate and compensate for characteristics of CVI? Strategies for developing switch access based on the “Stepping Stones to Switch Access” (Burkhart) will also be discussed.

Note: There will be an additional $20 fee included in the seminar registration to cover the cost of materials.

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain one difference between answering yes/no questions and using yes/no movements as an access method.
2. Describe three strategies for teaching movements, for example: nodding and shaking one’s head to communicate accept and reject for partner-assisted scanning and using two switches to access electronic means of communication and learning.
3. Discuss three considerations and accommodations for individuals with CVI, CCN and severe motor challenges in terms of learning electronic and non-electronic access strategies.

Featured Speaker:

Linda Burkhart Augmentative Communication and Assistive Technology Consultant/Specialist

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm and Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

This 1.5-day pre-conference experience is designed for people new to the field of Assistive Technology (AT) or first-time attendees. Participants will explore the fundamentals of AT service delivery processes including Consideration, Assessment, Planning Trials and Implementation. Emphasis will be placed on human functions, barrier analysis, and applying feature matching to leverage AT to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities. AT Tools will be highlighted based upon their functionality including physical Access, Visual/Hearing Access, Communication, Cognitive & Social Access. Case studies and examples will be plentiful as well as hands on opportunities and practical application of concepts.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify a minimum of three processes that surround good assistive technology assessment practices common to multiple settings.
2. Describe features of at least ten assistive technology tools that could meet the needs of individuals with disabilities.
3. Recommend at least two strategies for building personal learning networks through information resources and interpersonal connections.

Featured Speakers:

Kelly Fonner Kelly Fonner Consulting	Brian Wojcik Assistive Technology Partnership
Mike Cole Use Your Words P.C.

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm and Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

Discover amazing tools, materials, and techniques for rapid creation of AT solutions. Explore 100+ solutions that can be quickly made using everyday materials. Make 10 different multi-use solutions to accommodate for physical sensory or cognitive limitations.
This 1.5 day workshop will discuss and demonstrate maker techniques to create solutions that embrace the “…ABLE” principles: adjustable, portable, collapsible, reusable, affordable, repurpose, full, washable, repositionable, etc.

Each participant will receive a mini MacGyver tape kit with 10 specialty tapes and a coroplast kit and will make and take 10 multi-use devices.

Note: There will be an additional $50 fee required for materials to be collected at the seminar.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe at least 20 AT devices that can be made in five minutes or less.
2. Identify at least 10 different adhesives and plastics that can be used for making hundreds of AT solutions.
3. Make 10 different multi-use AT devices to take home.

Featured Speaker:

Therese Willkomm University of New Hampshire

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm and Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

Improve student outcomes! This session will offer ideas and strategies to systematically increase AT capacity. We will provide practical tools and templates. Participants will identify their most pressing AT needs and the ways in which they want to build new program capabilities. Our focus will be to help teams develop a coherent approach to AT services across the agency. While this workshop is intended for AT teams supporting school, district, and state departments of education, others are welcome. There will be ample time for collaborative work as you develop components of a 3-year AT services plan.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify three changes you want to make to improve your agency’s AT services.
2. Develop one initial 3-year plan which includes a minimum of four improvement strategies to increase AT capacity throughout the agency.
3. Apply the four aspects of Fullan and Quinn’s Coherence model, a research-based paradigm, to facilitate systems change within your agency.

Featured Speakers:

Gayl Bowser Independent Consultant	Janet Peters Kansas Infinitec
Aaron Marsters Department of Defense Education Agency

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm and Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

Hot topics at this collaborative training include the following:

• Theoretical application of AT assessment frameworks and models for culturally responsive AT service delivery.
• Resources and strategies for acquiring technologies for training and evaluation.
• Best practices for accessibility implementation and regulations on accessibility compliance.
• New and emerging technologies for people with visual impairments.

This training is designed at the intermediate and advanced level primarily for professionals working in the visual impairment technology arena. Others are welcome to attend.

Learning Objectives:

1. Recommend at least one theoretical application of existing AT assessment frameworks and models to support culturally responsive AT service delivery.
2. Identify at least three resources available to acquire assistive technologies for training and evaluation.
3. Discuss at least four new and emerging assistive technologies for people who are blind or who have low vision.

Featured Speakers:

Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky UMass Boston	Sean Tikkun Northern Illinois University
Stacy Kelly Northern Illinois University	Sarahelizabeth Baguhn American Foundation for the Blind

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm

The pre-conference session, hosted by three aging-focused research centers, will introduce participants to the concept of aging and aging with a disability and how technology can reduce barriers and facilitate engagement in preferred activities. An introduction to aging and how technology can support engagement in desired activities will be provided. Using universal design techniques to develop these technologies to enhance access will be discussed. Technology-related needs of older adults will be examined. Various projects from each of the three research centers will be discussed, along with methods to evaluate technology use among older adults.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify at least three challenges faced by older adults living with disabilities and how technology can be utilized to meet unique needs.
2. Discuss two different strategies that can be utilized to actively engage older adults with disabilities in the design of technology and technology selection methods.
3. Describe four technologies that can be utilized to meet the unique needs of older adults and support engagement in preferred activities.

Featured Speakers:

Laura Rice University of Illinois	Wendy Rogers University of Illinois
Jon Sanford Georgia State University	Sara Czaja Center on Aging and Behavioral Research
Walter Boot Weil Cornell Medicine	Neil Charness Florida State University
Amanda Lazar University of Maryland

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm

Learning through play and developing social connections form the basis of childhood everywhere. Expressing oneself is fundamental for engagement in all activities. This session will focus on the design and use of devices to support and enhance communication and optimize participation during play in the US and abroad. Case studies will emphasize feature matching, and the selection of a continuum of supports based on available resources and the context in which they will be implemented. Participants will leave with resources and skills to develop and customize a range of access solutions ranging from light tech to high tech.

Note: There will be an additional $20 fee required for materials to be collected at the seminar.

Learning Objectives:

1. List three or more easily found materials that can be used to stabilize, display, or contain toys, communication supports, or leisure time items to provide physical access.
2. Identify three or more environmental adaptations that can be used to increase participation in play, communication, or leisure time activities.
3. Describe three or more tool features that can be represented more than one way from light tech to high tech.

Featured Speakers:

Judith Schoonover Adaptations and Tools for Participation Consultant	Charlie Danger Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Sally Norton-Darr SND Solutions, LLC

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm

A common thread in the AT world is the lack of awareness amongst members of IEP teams of the available assistive and inclusive technology tools and how to leverage them for every learner. How can we better equip them to select, acquire and use AT? Our session serves to provide a bridge between the “expert” and “coaching” models, equipping participants with the structure, tools, knowledge, and support to build their own plan for an Inclusive Technology Ecosystem. The facilitators will model this approach and provide continued learning opportunities after the live session via continued dialog through our #CommunAT.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe and apply the AT process in order to impact a minimum of five areas for improvement for educators to meet the unique needs of each learner.
2. Collaborate with colleagues and facilitators to identify at least three areas of improvement to facilitate an Inclusive Technology Ecosystem in their school.
3. Identify Name at least three new tools they wish to apply and use in their settings to impact inclusive learning for all including AI-based IT/AT; learner tools; problem solving processes.

Featured Speakers:

Elisa Wern Alachua County Public Schools	Leslie DiChiara North Bellmore UFSD
Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles Kennedy Krieger Institute	Mia Laudato CITES Senior Technical Assistance
Kelli Suding CAST

Wednesday, January 29 from 8 am-4 pm

Establishing solid foundations for learning during early childhood is crucial for a lifetime of success. In this session, participants explore how assistive technology (AT) helps build the foundation and enhances early childhood education. Discussions will include consideration, assessment, and implementation aligned with CEC’s Division of Early Childhood recommended practices and OSEP guidelines. Through interactive learning, attendees engage with tools for AT consideration and assessment. Examples of successful systems of AT implementation will be shared, with opportunities for planning provided. Attendees leave with practical examples and materials for implementing light-tech solutions in early childhood education.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe three or more relationships between assistive technology consideration, assessment, and/or implementation in early childhood education and the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Early Childhood (DEC) recommended practices and OSEP’s guidance around AT devices and services in IDEA Part C.
2. Analyze three sample system models of assistive technology provision in early intervention, itinerant services, and preschool settings for components that could apply in their own LEAs.
3. Assess for and create three or more light-tech assistive technology communication and/or participation supports for sample students with disabilities across an example early childhood classroom.

Featured Speakers:

Matthew Newton Virginia Department of Education’s T/TAC at Virginia Tech	Kathleen Wright Virginia Department of Education’s T/TAC at Virginia Tech
Kristy Hill Virginia Department of Education’s T/TAC at Virginia Tech	Sharon Jones Virginia Department of Education’s T/TAC at VCU

Thursday, January 30 from 8am-12 pm

Alternative and Augmentative Communication is daunting to those who are not familiar with these systems. Though for their users, they are essential. Because where do you want to be that you can’t talk? In class when you know the answer? In PT when you would rather do your stretches first? In OT when you would rather not smell Play Doh today because it makes you sick? In the nurse’s office after the Play Doh made you sick? It is important for ALL of us to be on our student’s communication team, so join us and learn AAC, for the Non-SLP!

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe three differences between low tech and high tech AAC devices and when one might be preferred over the other.
2. Demonstrate using three modeling skills with a partner within the session.
3. Name two ways they can incorporate AAC into their practice.

Featured Speakers:

Sayard Bass Southwest Cook Count CASE

Beth Speaker-Christensen AAC Helper LLC

Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

Teach literacy to nonspeaking, complex communicators with significant motoric and sensory needs? Absolutely! Dive deep into how our small public high school assesses and teaches explicit emergent literacy skills to our students, regardless of cognitive or communication level. Discover how you can use our Carter School Cognitively Demanding Task Matrix (CDTM) to meet your students where they are on their learning journey. Apply this instructional tool to specific literacy lessons, staying mindful when students get stuck, all the while challenging them with rich literary content.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the five levels of the Carter School Cognitively Demanding Task Matrix.
2. Discuss how the CDTM can be used to develop at least one cognitively demanding literacy lesson in each of the following literacy routines: alphabet instruction, shared reading, predictable chart writing, independent writing.
3. Demonstrate two or more ways in which the CDTM can individualize literacy instruction for students with significant motor and/or sensory access needs.

Featured Speakers:

Sarah Wakabayashi Carter School – Boston Public Schools	Kimberly Kulasekaran Carter School – Boston Public Schools
Kevin Crowley Carter School – Boston Public Schools	Michael Kelly Carter School – Boston Public Schools

Thursday, January 30 from 8 am-12 pm

From Prompt to Practice: Strategies for Designing Accessible Digital Content” is a half-day workshop exploring AI’s benefits in instructional design and compliance with ADA and Section 508 standards. Participants will learn AI prompting to create accessible digital content and engage in activities to transform their own materials into accessible formats. The session includes hands-on practice and provides a collection of open educational resources. Ideal for educators and instructional designers, this workshop equips participants with practical skills and resources to enhance inclusivity in education.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify and apply at least three AI prompting techniques to create accessible digital content.
2. Evaluate and transform one piece of their own content (digital or non-digital) to meet ADA and Section 508 accessibility standards using AI tools and human analysis.
3. Compile a list of at least five open educational resources (OER) that are designed with accessibility in mind and explain how these resources can be integrated into their own teaching or content creation practices.

Featured Speakers:

Dr. Chris Smith North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS)	Dr. Thomas Cooper North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS)
Meghan McGrath North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS)