May Conference Attracts Education, Health & Human Service Professionals

On May 2-3, 2013, hundreds of education, social service, and health professionals in the state of Michigan and surrounding areas will participate in the fourth annual transdisciplinary teaming conference hosted by Oakwood Helathcare’s Center for exceptional Families (CEF) and UM-Dearborn’s School of Education and Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC). This year’s conference theme is Making Inclusion Work in Early Childhood Education with Transdisciplinary Teaming to Support Children with Challenging Behaviors.

The theme of the conference is inspired by the accomplishments of the ECEC/CEF partnership, which began in 2006 and has grown impressively over the years, and the conference is designed to meet the needs of a broad array of professionals who might participate as members of transdisciplinary teams, including early childhood and special education teachers; early interventionists; parents; occupational, physical and speech/language therapists; social workers; psychologists; and students preparing for careers in these fields. Conference participants have opportunities to learn research-based strategies, techniques and best practices for including children with special learning needs within natural environments and general education settings.

The keynote speakers this year are Mary Louise Hemmeter and Pamela McCaskill. Dr. Hemmeter is associate professor of special education at Vanderbilt University and principal investigator at the Center on the Social & Emotional Foundations of Early Learning. Her talk is titled, “We Are All in This Together: Preventing and Addressing Challenging Behavior." Dr. McCaskill is a clinical psychologist at McCaskill Family Services. She will speak on “Unraveling the Truth about Oppositional, Defiant and Angry Children.”

Breakout sessions featured best practices in inclusive education. Among the leaders of the breakout sessions were several UM-Dearborn faculty and ECEC/CEF staff members who will present strategies for professionals working with children with and without disabilities and their families in school and non-school settings.

The conference will take place May 2-3 in the Social Science Building (SSB) on the main campus of UM-Dearborn. To learn more, or to register for the event, visit the Inclusion Conference webpage. For more information, see a related story in the UM-Dearborn reporter.