TASH Amplified

Season 5, Episode 1 — 28 August 2025

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 in the history of research on inclusion for people with disabilities and how they impacted the field.

Craig H. Kennedy is a professor of educational psychology and pediatrics at the University of Connecticut. He received his terminal degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara (Education), master’s degree from the University of Oregon (Special Education), and bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara (Experimental Psychology). He spent much of his academic career at Vanderbilt University where he was a professor of special education and pediatrics and served as Department Chair and Senior Associate Dean. He has also served as Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Connecticut and Dean of Education at the University of Georgia.

He is a board-certified behavior analyst whose research focuses on health conditions and challenging behavior in people with autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. His early research focused on establishing and developing video modeling and peer support strategies as evidence-based practices. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities and is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Journal of Behavioral Education. He is a long-time member of the American Psychological Association (APA), Association for Behavior Analysis, and TASH. He is also the inaugural recipient of the B. F. Skinner New Researcher Award from the APA and Alice H. Hayden Early Career Award from TASH. During his career he has published over 180 scholarly papers and secured over $17M in extramural support for his teaching, research, and service.

Announcer: You’re listening to TASH Amplified, a podcast that seeks to transform research and experience concerning equity, inclusion and opportunity for people with disabilities into solutions people can use in their everyday lives.

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 in the history of research on inclusion for people with disabilities and how they impacted the field.

[music plays]

Craig Kennedy: Greetings. My name is Craig Kennedy and I’m the Editor-in-Chief of TASH’s research journal, Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, which also goes by the Initialism, RPSD.

RPSD is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and few journals in the history of special education have reached this milestone and we are thrilled to be able to celebrate the journal and TASH’s successes. When TASH was created, the organization’s first president and his colleagues, Norris Herring, Wayne Saylor, Doug Guess and Lou Brown, created a research journal that would blend research, policy and advocacy, and that became RPSD. This configuration of emphases, the research, policy and advocacy was unique at the time, but has become commonplace in applied social sciences. So, like many instances, RPSD and TASH were ahead of their time.

Many of the papers published have changed the way we think about, and support people with extensive support needs. Importantly, RPSD is a peer-reviewed journal, and what that means is that papers that are submitted for possible publication in the journal undergo a rigorous peer review process in which independent experts comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the paper and whether or not, with revisions, it could be published. The papers published are typically very rigorous and very innovative. And most submissions do not meet that standard. In fact, about 20% of the articles submitted to RPSD are eventually published. That makes RPSD a very selective peer-reviewed research journal. And scholars know that if a paper is published in RPSD, the paper is innovative and rigorous.

To celebrate our 50th anniversary, we wanted to highlight the impact RPSD articles have had on the field. People correctly say that research innovation is a methodical and long process. And it is. From the kernel of an idea, to its testing, to its refinement, its replication, and eventually its recognition as an evidence-based practice is a long process.

However, there are sometimes papers published that simply change the way we think about how to support people with extensive support needs, that the moment you read the paper, you realize that I wasn’t thinking this way about the field or what we could do, and this paper is showing me a new way to improve practices or think about ability, disability. And we wanted to celebrate some of those seminal high-impact articles the journal has published.

To do this, the senior editorial board, myself, Fred Spooner, Sarah Ballard, Elizabeth Biggs, Megan Burke, Rob Pennington, Jenny Root, and Zach Rosetti, the associate editors and statistical consultants for the journal, decided to select one high-impact article to highlight in each of the four issues of RPSD being published in its 50th year. Now, we knew it would be a difficult task because there have been many very significant papers published in RPSD over its history. So to identify article articles, we adopted a Delphi technique, a technique which has been used since the 1960s in an effort to canvas the articles published and guide our selection process. Ultimately, after several months of work as a group, we arrived, through consensus, on the four articles to highlight. Those articles are:

And it’s important to remember that there were many other papers we could have chosen because of their significance, but these four truly rose to the top.

To help contextualize these articles, we asked three to four individuals to comment on a particular article’s impact from their perspective. We asked three distinct generations of researchers: early career, mid-career, and senior investigators, who are active in publishing research in RPSD to comment and how the focal article impacted them. Then, when possible, we asked an advocate or self-advocate to also comment on the impact of the article from their vantage point.

Each of the selected articles will be featured in an issue of RPSD in 2025, along with the commentary pieces. We hope this helps highlight the profound effect of RPSD and the research it publishes on the field of extensive support needs. We hope you enjoy and learn from these special sections of the journal.

And finally, I would like to thank Mike Brogioli, the Executive Director of TASH and the TASH Executive Board for their ongoing support of RPSD. Their support is critical to the Journal’s success. So I hope you enjoy this podcast series and its parallel RPSD articles and hope it provides the opportunity to reflect on how research impacts our everyday practices and improves the lives of people with extensive support needs.

Thank you.

Announcer: You’ve been listening to TASH Amplified. For more about the series, including show notes, links to articles discussed, a complete transcript and a schedule of episodes, visit tash.org/amplified. You can subscribe through iTunes or your favorite Android podcast app to have the series delivered automatically to your device so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with your friends and on your social networks.

Today Dr. Craig Kennedy introduced our four-part retrospective on key publication in the field of research on inclusion. You can read the original articles as well as the retrospectives at SAGE’s archive of RPSD issues. If you are a TASH member, you can access the SAGE RPSD archive by first logging in to your membership account at TASH.org.

TASH is a values and research-based advocacy association with a 50-year record advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. TASH is a coalition that unites researchers, educators, people with disabilities, family members, service providers, and others in the cause of guaranteeing that people with disabilities are able participate in all aspects of life. In addition to Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, we offer a practitioner journal, Inclusive Practices, local chapters coving a number of states, a series of webinars our annual legal symposium, and our annual conference. The 2025 TASH Conference will be in Denver, Colorado, from December 4th through 6th, and will feature about 700 attendees and 300 presentations by researchers, self-advocates, family members, educators, agency personnel and other experts and advocates. You can learn more and register for the conference at tash.org/2025TASHConf. You can receive updates from TASH on this podcast and our other activities by following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, BlueSky or other social network.

Music for TASH Amplified is an original composition and performance by Sunny Cefaratti, the Co-Director and Autistic Self Advocacy Mentor at the Musical Autist. You can learn more about the Musical Autist at www.themusicalautist.org.

This has been a sample of the colleagues and conversations available through TASH. It is only because of the excellent work that our members do that we can bring you this information. For more resources such as this and to become a member, visit tash.org/join.

We’ll hear from another outstanding advocate again soon.

[music plays]

This interview was originally recorded on 28 January 2025.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Do you have an idea for an episode? We would like to hear from you! Fill out our suggestion form and let us know.

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 experience as a sibling to her brother with disabilities, Evan.

Season 4, Episode 2 — 14 October 2020

Alison Barkoff is the Director of Advocacy at the Center for Public Representation in Washington, D.C. She works on policy and litigation related to community integration and inclusion of people with disabilities, including Olmstead enforcement, Medicaid policy, employment, education and housing. She serves as a co-chair of the Long Term Services and Supports Task Force of the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities and is the policy advisor to the Collaboration to Promote Self Determination. She leads the HCBS Advocacy Coalition and the Coalition to Advance Competitive Integrated Employment. Ms. Barkoff also served as an appointed member of the federal Advisory Committee for Competitive Integrated Employment of People with Disabilities. From 2010 to 2014, she served as Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. In that position, she led the Division’s efforts to enforce the right of individuals with disabilities to live, work and receive services in the community. During her time with the federal government, Ms. Barkoff also worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on finalizing rules governing Medicaid-funded community-based services and with the Department of Labor on implementation of new fair wage rules in Medicaid-funded disability service systems. She has previously worked at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and at a number of other public interest organizations on Olmstead enforcement, disability discrimination, Medicaid, employment, and special education cases. She has an adult brother with an intellectual disability and has been involved in disability advocacy most of her life. She speaks nationally and publishes articles on disability and civil rights issues.

Serena Lowe is the founder and prime consultant at AnereS Strategies LLC and is currently serving as the Interim Executive Director of TASH. She has spent the past 23 years focused on public policies aimed at improving the wellbeing of low-income working families, individuals with disabilities, seniors, children, immigrants, refugees and populations with multiple barriers to the economic mainstream. For the past eight years, Serena has served as a Senior Policy Advisor focused on disability rights at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), and more recently at the Administration for Community Living within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

Prior to ACL, Serena worked in a variety of roles in the field of federal government relations, working for the U.S. Department of Labor, a Fortune 100 global biopharmaceutical company, a top 20 national lobbying firm, and two former Members of Congress. She is a past Executive Director of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD).

Serena holds a B.A. in International & Public Affairs from Westminster College, a joint-graduate degree (M.P.H. in International Health Policy and M.A. in International Development Policy) from George Washington University, and a PhD in Public Administration from American University.

Complete transcript forthcoming

This interview was originally recorded on 6 October 2020.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Do you have an idea for an episode? We would like to hear from you! Fill out our suggestion form and let us know.

Season 2, Episode 2 — 7 August 2017

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 issue is free to members and non-members alike for the month of August. To read the entire issue, visit tashorgstg.wpengine.com/iep.

Amy L-M Toson, Ph.D. has been working both nationally and internationally for well over fifteen years in the area of inclusive community and school capacity building and systems change. She began her career as a community inclusion facilitator and K-12 inclusive education teacher. She then moved into the role of consultant and professor working with families, teachers and leaders across the globe facilitating effective inclusion for all learners, paying special attention to those who are traditionally marginalized and segregated, such as students with intensive support needs. Currently, Amy is an Assistant Professor and Special Education Ph.D. Program Chair within the College of Education and Leadership at Cardinal Stritch University. She researches and teaches doctoral courses on multi-dimensional capacity building, leading/building inclusive systems and communities, doctoral research symposium, and legal and political analysis. Amy received her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida within the Departments of Educational Leadership/Policy Studies and Special Education in 2013. She now resides in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas and is taking up action for building inclusive communities across the lifespan there.

Donald Taylor is responsible for membership and chapters at TASH and is the producer of Amplified.

Announcer: You’re listening to TASH Amplified, a podcast that seeks to transform research and experience concerning inclusion and equity for people with disabilities into solutions people can use in their everyday lives.

TASH just released the latest issue of our quarterly member magazine, Connections, the theme of which is “The Individualized Education Program as a living document”. Today we are talking with Amy Toson, the guest editor of the special edition, about what the IEP as a living document means and how to implement such a vision.

Musical introduction

Complete transcript forthcoming

Announcer: You’ve been listening to TASH Amplified. For more about the series, including show notes, links to articles discussed, a complete transcript and a schedule of episodes, visit tashorgstg.wpengine.com/amplified. You can subscribe through iTunes or your favorite Android podcast app to have the series delivered automatically to your device so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with your friends and on your social networks.

Today we talked with Amy Toson, the guest editor of the latest issue of our membership magazine, Connections, on “the IEP as a living document”. We’re sufficiently excited about this issue that we are making it available to members and non-members alike, free for the month of August. To read the entire issue, visit tashorgstg.wpengine.com/iep. You can also read about our other IEP-related campaign there, dedicated to raising awareness of the recent Supreme Court decision concerning special education, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. The campaign takes its name from a sentence from Chief Justice John Robert’s unanimous decision, where he writes, “The IEP is not a form”. Prepare for the upcoming school year by visiting tashorgstg.wpengine.com/iep.

TASH is a values and research-based advocacy association with an over 40-year record advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. TASH is a coalition that unites people with disabilities, researchers, educators, service providers, family members and others in the cause of guaranteeing that people with disabilities are able participate in all aspects of life. In addition to this podcast series, we offer a scholarly quarterly, Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, a popular magazine, Connections, local chapters coving 18 states, a series of webinars and regional conferences, and our annual conference. The theme for our 2017 annual conference is “Still We Rise for Equity, Opportunity, and Inclusion”. The conference will be in Atlanta, Georgia, from December 13th through 15th, and will feature about a 1,000 attendees and 300 presentations by researchers, self-advocates, family members, educators, agency personnel and other experts and advocates. You can learn more and register for the conference at tashorgstg.wpengine.com/conference2017. You can receive updates from TASH on this podcast and our other activities by following us on Facebook or on twitter at @TASHtweet.

Music for TASH Amplified is an original composition and performance by Sunny Cefaratti, the Co-Director and Autistic Self Advocacy Mentor at the Musical Autist. You can learn more about the Musical Autist at www.themusicalautist.org.

This has been a sample of the colleagues and conversations available through TASH. It is only because of the excellent work that our members do that we can bring you this information. For more resources such as this and to become a member, visit tashorgstg.wpengine.com/join.

We’ll hear from another outstanding advocate again in two weeks.

Musical coda

This interview was originally recorded on 1 August 2017.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Do you have an idea for an episode? We would like to hear from you! Fill out our suggestion form and let us know.