Preface

RESNA 28th Annual Conference - Atlanta, Georgia

Welcome to the RESNA 28th International Conference! This year's conference includes over 200 presentations on all facets of assistive technology through workshop sessions, scientific platform sessions, interactive poster presentations, integrated demonstrations, and a Clinical Practicum on Seating & Mobility.

This Proceedings of the RESNA Conference attempts to capture some of the information that will be exchanged during the activities and events of the Conference. The program has three conference tracks: Research, Practice and Policy. Each track has three full days of programming encompassing 7 topic areas:

In addition, the winning papers for the Student Scientific Paper competition are also included.

RESNA 2005 resulted from the efforts of many people. Barb Crane, in particular, has led the conference planning and organizing at both the local and national levels. Many thanks go to Ray Grott, Practice Chair Track, and Jamie Prioli, chair of the Policy Track. Thanks, as well, to the topic coordinators for the review process of the scientific papers: Denis Anson, Mike Babinec, Nell Bailey, Alisa Brownlee, Katya Hill, Nancy Meidenbaurer, Alex Mihailidis, Ed LoPresti, Anita Perr, and Skip Simonds. Thank you to the numerous reviewers of the individual scientific papers for their efforts in determining the final program. A special thanks to Glenn Hedman and David Law for leading the Student Design Competition and Lisa Simone for leading the Student Scientific Paper Competition. Thanks, as well, to Susan Johnson Taylor for her leadership in the Instructional Courses. Finally, the efforts of  Marybeth Leongini,  Rosina Romano, Tonya Vaughn, Larry Pencak and the rest of the RESNA staff are greatly appreciated.

I hope you enjoy the Conference!

Shirley G. Fitzgerald, PhD

Chair, Research Track