The Kansas Division for Early Childhood
Spring 2010 News Brief
Message from the President:
Hello!
The Kansas Division for Early Childhood is very fortunate to have the opportunity to co-host DEC* 2010, The 26th Annual International Conference on Young Children with Special Needs and Their Families. The Conference will be held in Kansas City, Missouri on October 14-17, 2010. The Kansas and Missouri Divisions will host the conference together. This is a wonderful professional development opportunity for the early childhood educators in our state to participate in an international conference. Peggy Miksch and Carol Ayres are the co-chairs for Kansas and will work closely with the Division of Early Childhood staff and the Missouri team. For up-dated information about the conference go to www.dec-sped.org/. I look forward to seeing you at the conference.
The KDEC Conference, “Meeting the Challenges of Early Childhood” 2010 was a huge success. This year’s conference chair, Kathy Easterly, put together a wonderful conference and brought a nice variety of presenters. The response to the conference was very positive. As education faces economically difficult times it is nice to spend two days gaining new information while building professional networks. I would like to offer a special thank you to Kathy for her hard work and to everyone who attended the conference.
KDEC continues to sponsor the Kansas Early Learning Collaborative (KELC). KELC is currently focusing on screening and inclusion. The grant money is used for many projects including direct services and training. KDEC is proud to be a part of the positive impact KELC has on our birth to three children and their families.
We are currently seeking officers for the upcoming year. Officer elections will be held in May. If you would like to become more involved in KDEC please contact me regarding the open positions of: Treasurer, Secretary, Presidential Rotation and CEC Representative. Serving as an officer of KDEC is a wonderful professional opportunity.
I look forward to the opportunities the DEC Conference in October brings to our state. As always if there is anything the KDEC board can do to assist you in your professional endeavors please contact us.
Cindy Kongs
KDEC President
ckongs@bluevalley.net
EARLY CHILDHOOD 2010: MEETING THE CHALLENGES
KDEC Conference 2010
Thanks to everyone for your help in making the 28th Annual DEC Conference
a success. There were over 250 in attendance during the two day event.
Jill Molli, our keynote speaker on Thursday, got us started with her
fun and energetic ideas related to Conscious Discipline. On Thursday,
Barbara Wolfe helped us to understand the importance of friendship
in the early childhood years and shared many ideas and strategies we
could use with the children and families with whom we work. The conference
would not have been possible without the many presenters from across
the state, who gave of their time to provide a rich and varied agenda
for the conference. We are so fortunate to have such talent in Kansas.
We thank all of those who, despite the challenges of a troubled economy,
were able to register and attend the conference. We know that many of
you were unable to be with us this year. We missed you and hope that
we will see you at DEC in
Kansas City in October 2010 or back in Wichita in February of 2011. Please
visit the KDEC website
at www.kdec.org for handouts, photos and other information from the conference.
Kathleen Easterly, 2010 Conference Chair and KDEC President-Elect
2010 KDEC Awards
Congratulations to these dedicated individuals:
Outstanding Contributor Award
Colleen Riley - Special Education Services
Team Director - Kansas State Department of Education
This award honors an individual who has made significant contributions
to early intervention/early childhood in Kansas.
Outstanding Student DEC Member Award
Jean Kang, University of Kansas and Kathleen
Kyzar, Doctoral Candidate, Beach Center on Disability, University of
Kansas (no
photograph available)
This award is presented to a current full time student member of DEC/ KDEC who has contributed a great deal of time, energy, or support to early childhood special education. This can include activities within their Student CEC Chapter and/or to children who are exceptional and their families.
Award of Excellence
Phoebe Rinkel - Phoebe Rinkel, MS Technical
Assistance Coordinator, Preschool Technical Assistance Specialist, Kansas
Inservice Training System
This award honors an individual who has made significant contributions in the following areas of early intervention/early childhood.
Application of Best Practice in Early Childhood Services 2009-2010
SEK Interlocal #637 – Pittsburg, Kansas
Awarded for School/Community Collaboration
In February 2010 the Kansas State Department of Education identified one preschool program for their educational services from applications across the state. These applications were to reflect interventions or services that are conducted in a manner that is considered best practice in the field of early childhood special education. The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the Kansas Division for Early Childhood, a state chapter of the Division for Early Childhood of the National Council for Exceptional Children.
All early childhood programs in the State of Kansas, serving children with disabilities, were asked to submit an application to the State Department of Education and identify a best practice that they demonstrate in their service program. Each application submitted was reviewed by a panel of professionals from across the State. All applications were scored according to specific criteria and then recommendations were made as to the recipients of the award. This program will receive a certificate of recognition and $1,000 to use as an added resource for their services.
The community based preschool program in Arma, Kansas, a multi-agency collaborative program of SEK Interlocal # 637, Arma School District, SEK-CAP Head Start, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, Family Resource Center, Community Mental Health Center of Crawford County, and Expanded Foods and Nutrition Extension Program is recognized in the area of School/Community Collaboration. Over the past few years this program has undertaken and accomplished a change in the planning and delivery of preschool services. The program is based on a seamless service model and continuity of educational services for all preschool children in the community. The program was built on the unique strengths of each partner, which established this unique program that interfaces staff allocations, materials, and resources while serving children in an individually and developmentally appropriate preschool environment.
KDEC Membership
We received 16 new applications for KDEC membership at the Conference in February! 15 of these were new applications and one was a renewal. Building and maintaining a strong membership is key to advocating for our profession and for the young children and families we serve.
The Division for Early Childhood is an international professional organization designed for professionals and families associated with infants and young children with special needs. It was formed as a division of the Council for Exceptional Children in 1973. The mission of DEC is to promote policies, advance evidence-based practices and promote parent-professional collaboration by advocating for policy, planning, and best practices, and by offering professional support.
The Kansas Division of Early Childhood was founded in 1982 as our state subdivision of DEC. DEC/KDEC is your professional home and your primary resource for highest-quality evidence-based information, professional core competencies, and advocacy in governmental/regulatory arenas.
KDEC would like to invite you to be a part of these exciting organizations. When you join, you will receive the benefits of a number of opportunities and publications (Young Exceptional Children, Teaching Exceptional Children, Exceptional Children and the Journal of Early Intervention).
KDEC provides: opportunities to interact, collaborate and communicate with others in the field
up to date information on new findings in research, policy, current issues and best practices reduced rates for the KDEC annual conference
If you are interested in becoming a KDEC member, you may contact Nancy Miller, KDEC Membership Chair at nemiller@msn.com or call 913-897-3452 for an application. You may also join by visiting the Council for Exceptional Children website at www.cec.sped.org. We would love to add you and your colleagues to our organization.
KDEC and the Kansas Early Learning Collaborative
The Kansas Division for Early Childhood, a partner in the Kansas Early
Learning Collaborative (KELC),
has engaged in an effort to enhance and expand screening and inclusion
efforts within the KELC partner
organizations. Professional organizations involved include Parents as
Teachers, Head Start, Healthy Families, KDEC,
Kansas Infant Mental Health Association, and the Kansas Association of
Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. These efforts reach across
all 37 networks to fund initiatives that would be otherwise unfunded
if not for the monies received from the KELC partnership.
Each tiny-k network receives a portion of the funding based on a hold
harmless amount of $3000. The remainder of the monies run through the
Part C funding formula. The funding going directly to the networks may
be spent on any Part C related service with specific focus is given to
screening, inclusion, support of children with autism, support of children
with social emotional issues, and family support. Examples of these direct
service activities include
- Funding paired with KAIMH funding in a community to re-create the position of IT MH professional;
- Expanding and enhancing current services to children with suspected or identified sensory-motor integration dysfunction and pervasive developmental disorder and their families; and
- Funding a licensed professional to consult with families dealing with social emotional concerns with their birth to three year-old child.
Twelve of the 37 programs are involved in more focused work of the KELC grant Specific to this work, two all day summits were held. Day One was training with an open invitation to all KELC partners to include the networks to learn the ASQ 3 from the tiny-k perspective and to discuss how referrals work in communities within and among the KELC partners. Day Two was an all day inclusion summit with representatives of the 12 target communities and all KELC partners. Materials specific to inclusion such as the Special Quest materials and DEC recommended practices information were shared with the participants who represented all the partner organizations. Additional technical assistance related to inclusion has and will be provided as the next funding year progresses.
Finally, this KELC opportunity gives KDEC a chance, as the professional organization supporting the providers who work with children with special needs, to sit at the table and work with the other professional organizations to give a voice to children ages 0-3 with special needs. This opportunity opens the door to work more closely with our partners at the local and state level. An example of this is KACCRRA teaming with KDEC to include the option of serving children with special needs. This is a preferred qualification for enhanced KACCRRA (KQRS) funding. The Kansas Quality Rating System (KQRS) is a mechanism for families and other interested parties to find out how certain child cares home and center rates on a variety of criteria. In this case, one of the criteria is whether or not they support and service children with special needs and if they do, they are given more points for quality as determined by their rating. Additionally, KACCRRA partners have offered trainings to child care partners about inclusion. KDEC and KACCRRA are developing materials specific to screening and inclusion for child care partners. We look forward to a productive year in our collaborative efforts.
Submitted by Vera Lynne Stroup-Rentier and Peggy Miksch, April 2010
Where Can I Find Information about KDEC?
The Division for Early Childhood is an international professional organization
designed for professionals and families associated with infants and young
children with special needs. It was formed as a division of the Council
for Exceptional Children in 1973.
The Kansas Division of Early Childhood was founded in 1982 as our state
subdivision of DEC. KDEC would like to invite you to be a part of this
exciting organization. When you join, you will receive the benefits of
a number of opportunities and publications (Young Exceptional Children,
Teaching Exceptional Children, Exceptional Children and the Journal of
Early Intervention).
KDEC provides: opportunities to interact, collaborate and communicate with others in the field up to date information on new findings in research, policy, current issues and best practices reduced rates for the KDEC annual conference.
If you are interested in becoming a KDEC member, you may contact Nancy Miller, KDEC Membership Chair at nemiller@msn.com or call 913-897-3452 for an application. You may also join by visiting the Council for Exceptional Children website at www.cec.sped.org We would love to add you and your colleagues to our organization.
December 2010
26th Annual International Conference On Young Children with Special
Needs and Their Families
Brought to you by the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children
The Westin Crown Center, Kansas City, MO
October 14-17, 2010
Don’t miss this chance to attend the International Conference right here in our own home state -- Mark your calendar now for what is sure to be one of the best professional development opportunities of the year!
Benefit and grow professionally as you choose among 250 sessions, posters, workshops, roundtable dis-cussions, meetings, one-on-one conversations -- and more!
Volunteer Opportunities
In exchange for hours of work, DEC offers discounted conference registration to volunteers. Spots are filled on a first come-first served basis with priority given to locals and DEC members. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Peggy Miksch at pmiksch@ku.edu or 785-456-8881.
Go to www.dec-sped.org and click the link to "Conference" for all the latest information about registration, sessions, hotel and travel.
Save the Date!
The 2011 KDEC Conference "It’s All About Relationships" is scheduled for February 24-25 at the Hilton Wichita Airport in Wichita Kansas