RESNA recommits to webinar series ‘Travel budgets are much less than what they used to be. We hear all the time from ATPs that they can only go to one"
By Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Updated 9:16 AM CDT, Fri June 20, 2025
ARLINGTON, Va. – RESNA hosted a webinar on June 18 – “Return to Work Assistive Technology for Skilled Trades and Agricultural Workers” – that marked the start of its third year offering online education to its members for free.
The series, the start of which followed RESNA’s annual conference at RehabWeek in May, will run each month through November.
“During the pandemic, our members got used to education they could access online,” said Andrea Van Hook, executive director. “Even when everything went back to in-person, there was still that desire, because travel budgets are much less than what they used to be. We hear all the time from ATPs that they can only go to one conference every two years. So, we’ve pivoted.”
RESNA offered four educational webinars in 2023 and nine in 2024 – all IACET certified.
The organization selects the topics for the webinars through a call for submissions each fall. From that pool of submissions, committee members first pick topics for the annual conference and then the webinars.
“We’ve been lucky because we have an overabundance of submissions,” Van Hook said. “We have more hot topics and presenters who want to do things with RESNA than we have slots for, for both our conference and webinar series.”
RESNA adds recordings for each webinar to its learning management system, making them available to members for up to two years.
“We’re putting together a nice offering on different topics,” Van Hook said. “But what we’re trying to figure out is how to incentivize people to attend the live webinars vs. listen to the recordings, because there is a question-and-answer format and our Education Committee feels that back and forth is vital.”
RESNA also recently started hosting “Certification Pop-ups,” a webinar for those interested in sitting for the ATP exam, the last Thursday of every month.
“A couple of members of our staff review, how do you figure out if you’re eligible, how do you apply, what is the process, what does the exam entail,” Van Hook said.
As for its next annual conference, RESNA will partner with Abilities Expo in 2026 to host its Developer Showcase at the Los Angeles event and its Student Competition at the New York event. Abilities Expo recently announced plans to expand its events in the two cities, plus Chicago, to include content for clinicians, providers and manufacturers.
“We’re going to have a big presence there next year,” Van Hook said.
As of June, RESNA had four out of five webinars confirmed for 2025. All webinars are at 12 pm ET and are recorded for on-demand viewing. For each webinar, attends can earn 0.1 IACET CEU by completing a post-event survey and quiz.
- June 18 – “Return to Work: Assistive Technology for Skilled Trades and Agricultural Workers” presented by Ned Stoller, ATP, National AgrAbility Project
- Sept. 10 – “Telerehab and Telewellness for People Aging with Disability” presented by Elena Remillard, MS, Georgia Tech
- Oct. 8 – “3D Printing for Sports and Recreation Equipment” presented by Jonathan Duvall, PhD, University of Pittsburgh and HERL Laboratories
- Nov. 19, 2025 – “The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP): A Calming Tool to Enhance Sensory Regulation and Assistive Technology Outcomes” presented by Alyssa McCarthy, M.S., CCC-SLP, ATP
Comments