TRI's Amy Parker Helps TASH Celebrate 40 Years of Progressive Leadership


TRI's Amy Parker Helps TASH Celebrate 40 Years of Progressive Leadership

December 29, 2015

Amy Parker


TRI's Amy Parker participated in two presentation at this year's TASH Conference, "An Online Community to Support Individuals with Complex Communication Needs" and "Open Hands, Open Access: Online Training for Educators of Individuals with Deafblindness."





From the conference website - "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.


Amy Parker's Participation:


Communication Matrix Community Logo


An Online Community to Support Individuals with Complex Communication Needs



Alexandria Cook - Oregon Health & Science University

Amy Parker - Coordinator, National Center on Deaf-Blindness

Charity Rowland - Oregon Health & Science University

Family members and professionals who support individuals with complex communication needs (CCN) are often challenged in finding high quality, accessible resources in local communities. To address this need, a free, virtual Communication Matrix (CM) community has been launched. The CM Community includes many features that users will find useful in supporting individuals with CCN. Attendees were introduced to this open and unique use of technology as an intervention for professionals and family members that provides just in time tools to support people with CCN.




OHOA Logo

Open Hands, Open Access: Online Training for Educators of Individuals with Deafblindness


Maurice Belote - Project Coordinator, California Deaf-Blind Services

Julie Maier - Educational Specialist, California Deaf-Blind Services

Amy Parker - Coordinator, National Center on Deaf-Blindness


Practitioners and family members who support students with deaf-blindness often struggle when it comes to accessing local resources to meet the needs of this unique population. Open Hands Open Access (OHOA) is a federally funded online training initiative developed by the National Center on Deaf-Blindness designed to provide free, high quality, relevant learning materials to support interveners (i.e., 1:1 paraeducators with specialized knowledge/skills in deaf-blindness) and other team members.

This session provided an overview of the national movement for interveners as a related service and OHOA, including a demonstration of available OHOA modules and details on national training cohorts.

Participants gained knowledge of practical tips that technical assistance providers or trainers may use to increase engagement and learning with adult participants, thereby increasing effective support to students with deaf-blindness.


Click here for more information about the 2015 TASH Conference.

2015 TASH Conference Poster



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