Creating Accessible and Trauma Friendly Postsecondary Learning Experiences
In this session we will explore how to create trauma sensitive, accessible learning environments for postsecondary education. Session participants will explore the overlap between trauma and disability, how this impacts learning, how to foster authentic connection with students that supports their learning, how to communicate with students, and how to support executive functioning. Tips for how to set up courses in Canvas to be user friendly will be shared.
Speakers
Krista Puruhito
Associate Teaching Professor
She/her
Krista Puruhito is an educational psychologist, disability advocate, and parent of children with disabilities. Her work, teaching, and advocacy center around improving the lives of individuals and families with disabilities and deconstructing barriers to accessibility. She is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics.
She has broad interests in learning and motivation, disability advocacy, PTSD in NICU families, and inclusion of individuals with disabilities across environments and the lifespan.
Dr. Puruhito is working with Dr. Adero Allison in the Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services Department to develop courses for neurodivergent students and certificate programs for students with intellectual disabilities. You can learn more about the GATE program for neurodivergent students here and the certificate programs for students with intellectual disabilities here.
Dr. Puruhito also serves as the faculty sponsor for the Special Olympics at ASU Student Club.
London Skiles
Instructional Designer
they/them
London Skiles is an instructional designer, accessibility consultant, and disability rights advocate. Their research interests focus on how individuals navigate educational spaces, specifically the ways in which policy, procedure, and design foster or hinder access for marginalized learners.
They have worked extensively in accessibility to develop training and professional development opportunities that equip faculty and staff to make design decisions that support diverse learners. Recent presentations and training address systemic inequities that impact neurocognitive and neurodevelopmental disabilities, neuroinclusive collaboration, and trauma-informed course design and facilitation.