About Us

This project has been produced by the Consortium for Children and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs and an interdisciplinary team of AT and Telehealth experts across the country.

The Consortium is one of 40 national Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (RRTC) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), a program within the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS). The Consortium brings together researchers, clinicians, policy analysts, and families of persons with disabilities from four nationally known organizations: Georgetown University, Center for Child and Human Development, Brandeis University, The Heller School, the University of Florida, Institute for Child Health Policy and Family Voices.

The mission of the Consortium is to improve rehabilitation outcomes for children and youth with disabilities and special health care needs through focused and applied research, training for professionals and providers of care and active dissemination of this work. These activities are focused on improving the system of care for children and youth with disabilities and special health care needs, their families and the service providers who support them.

The interdisciplinary team designing this AT curriculum is comprised of experts in the fields of informational technology, assistive technology, telehealth, rehabilitation engineering, and service provision. The team consists of includes Rachel Brady, Toby Long, Jean Minkle, Penny Reed, John Richards, Mike Rosen, Steve Sulzbacher, and Joy Zabala.

Rachel Brady, MS, PT is a Research Associate with the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development for research projects related to assistive technology and use of telehealth in rural areas. Ms. Brady is also the Project Director for the Child Find activities of the District of Columbia Early Intervention Program at Georgetown University Medical Center. She has expertise in early intervention service provision and early intervention professional development.

Toby Long, PhD, PT is the Director for Training and the Director, Division of Physical Therapy of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University. She is an adjunct physical therapy faculty member at the University of Indianapolis, Rocky Mountain University of the Health Professions, and at the University of Maryland. She received her degree in physical therapy from Boston University, a master’s degree in special education from George Washington University and her doctoral degree in human development from the University of Maryland. She is a recognized leader in the field of early intervention, service delivery to children with disabilities and their families, and the training of professionals in state of the art service delivery. Dr. Long is the Past President of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association and has published extensively in the area of early intervention. The second edition of her book Handbook of Pediatric Physical Therapy is available through Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

Jean L. Minkel, MA, PT, directs Minkel Consulting, Inc. The firm provides consultation services to service providers and policy makers in the field of assistive technology. She provides training and has helped make innovations about wheelchairs and seating devices. She is the author of publications on wheeled mobility.

Penny Reed, PhD, is a private consultant in the field of assistive technology. She was the first director of the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative and past director of the Oregon Technology Access Project, a statewide technical assistance program. Dr. Reed 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 the author of many publications about assessment and assistive technology in educational settings including Assistive Technology Pointers for Parents, (Reed & Bowser, 2000) Assessment for Assistive Technology in Teaching Individuals with Physical, Health, or Multiple Disabilities (Reed & Best, 2001) and is editor of Assessing Students' Need for Assistive Technology: A Resource Manual for School District Teams (2000).

John Richards, MA, AITP, is the Director of Information Technology for the MCH Group at Georgetown University, providing services to the MCH Library and the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center, the Georgetown School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the National Center for Cultural Competence as well as other projects at the Georgetown University, Center for Child and Human Development. Mr. Richards is the Principal Investigator for a number of distance learning projects including Well-Child Care: A Bright Futures Curriculum for Providers in MCH and Medicaid/EPSDT Settings and the HealthCheck Provider Education System. He is the author of State MCH-Medicaid Coordination: A Review of Title V and Title XIX Interagency Agreements, 2nd Edition.

Mike Rosen, PhD, is the Director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Service, the Assistive Technology Research Center, and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telerehabilitation at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, DC. He performs research, training and clinical services around assistive technology and telehealth technology for people with disabilities.

Steve Sulzbacher, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics Research Affiliate, Center on Human Development and Disability. He conducts research to demonstrate the use of telehealth consultation to rural school districts serving children with low-incidence special health care needs. He provides regular Telehealth consultation to rural practitioners and clinics on Early Diagnosis and Intervention for Children with Disabilities in Remote Communities.

Joy Zabala, EdD, ATP, is a consultant to the Center for Technology Education, Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to use Technology Grant and the National Assistive Technology Research Institute. Dr. Zabala is the online mentor for the Commonwealth Center for Instructional Technology and Learning at the University of Kentucky, Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling, which houses the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services (QIAT) list serve she founded and continues to serve as the webmaster and facilitator. She developed the SETT Framework for making effective assistive technology decisions.

This is a publication of the Consortium for Children and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education under grant number H133B001200. The opinions contained in this publication are those of the grantee and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Education.