November 13th & 14th, 2008 was held at the Richmond Convention Center, Richmond VA.

Here is the postcard provided for the conference with a few more details. Still more details to come!

Topics in Assistive Technology
November 13-14, 2008
Richmond Convention Center, Downtown Richmond

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TechKnowledgy 2008 was Virginia's annual state-wide AT conference sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education’s Training and Technical Assistance Centers and the Hospital Education Program at Children’s Hospital in Richmond.  The first day of the conference featured a wide selection of practitioner and commercial workshops highlighting the benefits and practical use of assistive technology.  The second day featured nationally recognized speakers in the field of assistive technology.  For more information about the conference, please review the conference program and additional speaker information and handouts below.

TechKnowledgy 2008 Conference Program

Invited Speakers

Penny Reed, Ph. D., National Consultant in Special Education and Assistive Technology, Roseburg, http://www.educationtechpoints.org
Penny is a national consultant in the field of special education specializing in assistive technology services. She was founder and director of the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative, a statewide technical assistance project on assistive technology funded by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction from 1993 to 2003. She has been a teacher, consultant, and administrator in the field of special education for over thirty years. Much of her experience involved working with children with physical and multiple disabilities, which led to her interest in assistive technology. Dr. Reed has worked for local school districts, education service agencies, and state education agencies and has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses at the post secondary level. In 1992 Dr. Reed received the National Leadership Award from the Technology and Media Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Reed regularly consults with state education agencies in several states and provides training on a variety of topics related to assistive technology with a special focus on helping school districts improve their delivery of assistive technology services. Dr. Reed is a member of the Leadership Team for Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services ( www.qiat.org) and in that role works with others to develop guidelines and materials to help school districts evaluate and improve their assistive technology services. She has authored many books on assistive technology. In the past two years, Dr. Reed has co-authored the content for two websites on assistive technology, one for Georgetown University ( www.teachingat.net) and the other for The Center for Technology in Education at Johns Hopkins University (URL not yet available for the public). She maintains a website (www.educationtechpoints.org) through which she can be contacted.

Keynote Address | What's in Your Toolkit Chart
Workshop 2: AT Assessment Made Easy | WATI Assistive Technology Consideration Guide
Workshop 6: Creating an Environment for Effective Assistive Technology Implementation and Use | Technology Training Preferences Probe | Supporting and Training Others to Consider and Use AT

Pati King-DeBaun http://www.creativecommunicating.com
Pati describes herself as a “speech language pathologist by training, an O.T. at heart, and a special education teacher by necessity.” She is known for her hands-on and practical work with children and the use of case and video samples in her instruction. Pati speaks/consults internationally on the topics of interactive communication, augmentative communication, and early literacy for children with disabilities. Instrumental in developing a wide range of innovative literacy and communication materials for children with disabilities including the Storytime Series, Pati is owner of the company Creative Communicating.

Workshop 3: Autism, AAC and Literacy in Early Childhood Programs
Workshop 7: Supported Reading: Building Language and Literacy Skills for Diverse Populations in Early Childhood Programs

Gretchen Hanser
Gretchen is the associate director of school-related services at the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC. She is also the project director of the Deaf-Blind Literacy Model Demonstration Classroom Project. Gretchen has worked in a variety of educational settings, including assistive technology teams, focusing on communication and literacy for students with the most intellectual disabilities. Gretchen recently received her doctorate from the Teacher Education program at the University of New Hampshire.

Workshop 4: Literacy and Communication Instruction for Students with intellectual disabilities, Including Deaf-Blindness: Yes They Can | Sample Emergent Literacy IEP Goals | Generic Reading Interaction Overlay

Workshop 8: The Power of the Pencil: Getting Writing on the Radar for Students with intellectual disabilities, Including Deaf-Blindnes | Mini Flip Chart

Tammy Worcester, http://www.tammyworcester.com
Tammy Worcester has over twenty years of educational experience. She began her career in the classroom, teaching various grades from kindergarten to middle school. While teaching, Tammy also served as the technology coordinator for her K-8 school. For the past ten years, Tammy has worked for ESSDACK, an educational service center, as an Instructional Technology Specialist, providing staff development and training in the area of technology integration. Her website, “Tammy’s Technology Tips for Teachers” ( www.tammyworcester.com ) is a popular online resource for teachers around the world. Tammy has developed several software applications for teachers and is the author of several best-selling technology resource books that are published and marketed nationally.

Tammy is extremely innovative and resourceful and specializes in finding unique and creative ways to use traditional computer tools in the classroom. She enjoys sharing her ideas with teachers throughout the nation and has a presentation style that can be described as inspiring. Tammy’s experiences as a parent, a teacher, a technology director, and a training specialist have allowed her to develop a strong sense of best educational practices. Those skills, coupled with her technology expertise, enable her to collaborate with other educators to build models of effective technology implementation that will have the potential to truly transform schools.

Workshop 1: Cool Computer Activities for Language Arts and Social Studies
Workshop 5: Math + Science + Technology = Learning