This year’s theme, “Celebrating 40 Years of Progressive Leadership,” acknowledges TASH’s 40 years of generating change within the disability community and anticipates a brighter, more inclusive future for people with disabilities in all aspects of life. Each year, the TASH Conference impacts the disability field by connecting attendees to innovative information and resources, facilitating connections between stakeholders within the disability movement, and helping attendees reignite their passion for an inclusive world.
We encourage you to explore this website, connect with other attendees, and build your personalized schedule. You can also download the mobile app version of the website by visiting the App Store and Google Play and searching for "TASH 2015".
Collaboration must take place among special educators and vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors for the effective transition of students with disabilities as they exit the secondary school system, an understudied area. Inquiry I: We measured statewide transition supervisors? perceptions of in-service transition collaboration competencies for special educators and VR counselors. Inquiry II: We extracted data to describe pre-service special education and VR counseling preparation programs related to transition collaboration content. These findings, used within the context of operationally defining transition collaboration practices and developing measures of analysis, can generate change to improve outcomes for youth transitioning to an inclusive adult life. OBJECTIVESAfter this session participants will be able to: 1. summarize components of interdisciplinary collaboration related to transition, 2. describe transition collaboration competencies, and 3. discuss collaborative practices related to transition. IMPORTANCE: The majority of the over a half-million students served under IDEA who exit special education each year (OSEP, 2014) will face dismal postsecondary outcomes (Newman et al., 2011). For the transition-age population with disabilities and their families improving collaborative practices is critical to connect secondary education to postsecondary inclusive life. TRANSLATING TOPIC INTO POSITIVE OUTCOMES: Collaboration among special educators and VR counselors is mandated (IDEA, 2004; Rehabilitation Act within WIOA, 2014), yet, little research has been conducted (Oertle & Seader, in press; Test, Mazzotti et al., 2009). Our findings fill an unmet need that will advance transition practices related to collaboration. Transition collaboration competencies can be used to strengthen how special educators and VR counselors collaborate to improve students? transition from the secondary school system. Educators can use the information to improve preparation and, researchers can investigate the conditions of efficacy and practice effectiveness to improve postsecondary outcomes.
