Featuring Keynotes:
Janice Fialka and Micah Fialka-Feldman
Emphasis this year:
Parent-Professional Partnerships and Collaboration
Collaboration and Inclusion
Excellent breakout sessions and over 10 poster sessions.
Win a subscription to become a ECE Solutionary member from Kristie Pretti-Frantczak. Visit the Prek Teach and Play website to learn more!
Continental breakfast and lunch included.
Parking available in CMU lots 22 and 43 (see campus parking map linked below).
Close the Agenda
Vendors: Friday - 8:30am to 4:00pm
Registration: Friday - 8:30am to 9:00am
Welcome: Friday - 9:00am to 9:15am
Morning Keynote: Friday - 9:15am to 10:30am
The Dance of Partnership: Why Do My Feet Hurt?
Janice Fialka, Parent, Author, Social Worker
Using the dance metaphor, Janice will honestly explore the challenges and opportunities faced by professionals and families in forming partnerships. Drawing from her dual roles as a mother of an adult son with an intellectual disability and her 40 years as a social worker, Janice will explore the unique dimensions which complicate and enhance this working relationship---from both perspectives. Some of the questions she explores: Can there truly be a partnership? What does each person bring to this dance? What strengths? What constraints? How do we promote partnerships?
Auditorium
Break: Friday - 10:30am to 10:45am
Workshop Session 1: Friday - 10:45am to 12:00pm
A - Ready to Take the Next Step? Enhancing Your Credentials and Practice
Debbie Antone, T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Michigan, Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children
Learn about the degrees, endorsements and credentials that will enhance your current practice and educational pathway. Find out how T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Michigan scholarships can help you to achieve your educational goals.
(Birth-5)
Room 120
B - Parent and Teacher Engagement as Predictors of Preschool Children's Literacy and Social Emotional Outcomes: A Case Study Analysis
Michelle Brahaney, Assistant Superintendent for Special Education/ Early Childhood Services, Monroe County Intermediate School District
This session will review findings from a mixed method case study regarding parent and teacher engagement in the preschool setting. Administrators and teachers will develop an understanding of the importance of parent and teacher engagement related to preschool children's social emotional and literacy development.
(3-5)
Room 422
C - Embracing Diversity: Exploring Impact of Culture On Our Relationships with Infants, Toddlers and Families
Jennifer Champagne, Early Childhood Consultant, Oakland Public Schools
During this interactive session, we will explore how culture influences our relationships and our work with infants, toddlers and families. Our discussion will include an introduction to the Diversity-Informed Infant Mental Health Tenets and the DEC Position Statement on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness.
(Birth-3)
Room 115
D - Different People, One Team: Building Connections and Relationships
Michelle Burkhard, Owner, Grow By 1, LLC
This fast-paced session will provide many thought-provoking activities, discussions, and ideas for working with parents, children, coworkers, families and friends to form positive relationships. Practical strategies, based on research and best practices will be shared within relevant examples. Participants will leave with ideas and strategies they can use immediately to encourage good connections and positive relationships.
(Birth-8)
Room 213
E - State Updates: Preschool Special Education Indicators
Lisa Wascaz, Consultant, Office of Great Start, Michigan Department of Education
In this workshop, we will look closely at the important Results and Compliance Indicators surrounding Preschool Transition (Indicator B-12), Preschool Education Environments (Indicator B-6) and Preschool Outcomes (Indicator B-7). We will be highlighting the requirements surrounding each of these indicators and reflecting on the most recent state-level data. Participants will be given resources and time to confirm their understanding about the data collection process and the importance of each indicator.
(3-5)
Room 413
F - What Are You Trying to Tell Me? Supporting Children with Behavioral Needs in the Least Restrictive Setting
Alissa Hofstee, Behavioral Supports Consultant, Kent Intermediate School District
Are you helping to support a child who engages in challenging behavior and asking yourself, “Why does he or she keep doing that?” These situations can be very frustrating when it seems like he or she should be able to figure out more appropriate ways to behave and when the behaviors are standing in the way of expanded learning opportunities. To change the behavior, persons on the child’s team learn to first discover what is causing the behavior. This workshop will help childcare providers and preschool teachers discover that “why” of behavior so that you can then teach children how to communicate wants and needs in ways that promote communication and inclusion.
(Birth-5)
Auditorium
G - Understanding and Working with Families of Young Children: Building Collaborative Relationships
Waymond Hayes, Program Director, H-Team Consultants
This presentation consists of a systematic study of effective communication techniques, strategies for establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with families, and positive involvement techniques to be used with parents and parent figures of typical and exceptional children.
(Birth-8)
Room 215
Lunch and Poster Session: Friday - 12:00pm to 1:15pm Auditorium
Family Leadership Meeting: Friday - 12:30pm to 1:15pm Room 115
Afternoon Keynote: Friday - 1:15pm to 2:30pm
Through the Same Door: Living an Inclusive Life
Micah Fialka-Feldman, Teaching Assistant, Disability Advocate
Throughout Micah’s life he has achieved his dream of living a fully inclusive life as a student and community member. Micah will share what he needed to achieve his dream: access to technology, circles of support, meaningful learning opportunities with appropriate supports, an ability to take risks and try new things, a strong sense of disability history and culture, educators who supported him, and lots of fun too! Micah will share what it was like to be part of the new wave of students with intellectual disabilities who attend college, how he challenged discrimination in federal court, and what it took to earn a certificate in disability studies at Syracuse University where he is now a Teaching Assistant. Micah’s journey empowers us to reexamine what we believe is possible.
For more information Micah visit his website.
Auditorium
Break: Friday - 2:30pm to 2:45pm
Workshop Session 2: Friday - 2:45pm to 4:00pm
A - Positive Behavior for Parent-Provider Relationships
Stacy Gatz, School Psychologist, Eaton Regional Education Service Agency
Madison Herbart, School Psychologist Intern, University of Detroit Mercy
Recent research shows evidence of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) effectiveness with teacher performance, as well as with caregiver behavior, that promotes development and positive behavior in the child. Learn ABA strategies that can help facilitate the parent-provider relationship and increase your parents’ ability and frequency of behaviors that support encouragement and positive reinforcement of childhood development.
(Birth-5)
Room 427
B - A Collaboration in Progress: Different Perspectives on Including Children Receiving ABA in Inclusive Preschool Settings
Jessica Korneder, Assistant Professor, Oakland University
Julie Ricks-Doneen, Associate Professor , Oakland University
The presenters will describe an ongoing collaboration between faculty and college students from an ABA clinic for young children with staff members from an inclusive early childhood program. Discussion topics from this formative work will include shifts in paradigms from different approaches, parent and teacher perspectives as well as child outcome data. Teachers and providers interested in collaboration that promotes inclusion will benefit from the discussion. Faculty will gain information related to practicum experiences for students.
(3-5)
Room 215
C - Preparing Pre-Service Professionals to Work with Infants and Toddlers with Special Needs and Their Families
Claire Vallotton, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University
Tricia Foster, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy, Eastern Michigan University
Tamesha Harewood, Posdoc Researcher, Michigan State University
A competencies framework for faculty teaching pre-service professionals to work with infants and toddlers with special needs and their families. Included will be a tool to assess these competencies (knowledge, dispositions, skills) in students. Three competency dimensions include strength-based approaches to young children, family-centered practice, and policies for inclusive practice.
(Birth-3)
Room 117
D - Different People, One Team: Building Connections and Relationships
Michelle Burkhard, Owner, Grow By 1, LLC
This fast-paced session will provide many thought-provoking activities, discussions, and ideas for working with parents, children, coworkers, families and friends to form positive relationships. Practical strategies, based on research and best practices will be shared within relevant examples. Participants will leave with ideas and strategies they can use immediately to encourage good connections and positive relationships.
(Birth-8)
Room 213
E - Mindful Parents and Mindful Teacher
Charlie Sutherland, Lead Teacher, The U School
What would a "mindful preschool" look like? To what extent can teachers, parents, and children share a common language, and even common practices, around developing attentional skills? We'll look at steps we've taken so far, and discuss what could come next. Of interest to parents, teachers, and administrators.
(3-5)
Room 115
F - Coaching Strategies to Support Parent Engagement
Susan Haselhoff, Lead Parent Educator, Parents as Teacher, Berrien Regional Educational Service Agency
Quality Parent Engagement is both one of the most challenging and satisfying aspects of being a skilled home visitor. Current research is clear that interventions targeted primarily toward children or parents are not as effective as interventions targeting parent-child interactions. In this workshop, Home Visitors and Supervisors will learn coaching strategies to strengthen parent-child interactions in all aspects of the visit, through partnering, facilitating, & reflecting. The audience will be included in discussion regarding obstacles and applications of these strategies in practical terms.
(Birth-3)
Auditorium
G - PANDAS AND PANS in The School Setting: Supporting Learners with Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Mary-Margaret Crombez, Educator, Great Lakes Autoimmune Encephalitis Association
Catherine Crombez, Clinical Research Coordinator-Intern, Henry Ford Hospital
Learn the symptoms, progress and ways to support children and families through the behavior changes and challenges associated with Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS/PANS.) Parents, teachers, and administrators will learn about PANDAS/PANS, encephalitic syndromes triggered by infections as common as streptococcus (strep throat).
(3-8)
Room 120