COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN VIRGINIA CHAPTER

VIRGINIA VOICE Fall 2008 Volume 1, Issue 1

“WHO’S WHO” AMONG VA CEC BOARD MEMBERS SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:

> “Who’s Who” Among VA CEC Board Members

> October 2008 CEC Conference

President President Elect Vice President Nicole Myers Karen Zawora Hope Jordan University of Mary Snowden Academy Regent University Washington [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Treasurer CEC Board 1 Grace Zamora Duran Past President Secretary OSEP President’s Message 2 Norah Hooper [email protected] University of Mary Open Position Washington Leadership Roles 3 [email protected]

2008 Conference 4

Call for Articles 4

Conference Committee Chair/Newsletter Membership Chair Editor Sandra Mathis Governor-At-Large Andrea Beam Norfolk State University Regent University [email protected] Open Position [email protected] VIRGINIA VOICE Page 2

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE BY NICOLE MYERS

Welcome to Putting the Severe language prob- Solomon,” where VA Pieces Together: Vir- lems, Severe regulatory CEC members will hear ginia CEC’s 49th Annual problems, Down Syn- Dr. Solomon talk about Conference! drome, Fragile X Syn- autism in the community drome, Fetal Alcohol and include time for par- We are pleased to an- Syndrome, Cerebral ticipant questions. This nounce this year’s con- Palsy, Severe forms of free event co-sponsored ference theme: Putting Attention Deficit Disor- by University of Mary the Pieces Together! Our der, and Autism. Dr. Washington will allow theme serves as a simple Solomon has trained conference participants reminder that special hundreds of profession- and community members education encompasses als and families in work- the opportunity to speak many different issues at ing with children using with Dr. Solomon. An- all grade levels, from DIR/Floor-time through other change to this proper initial assessment, his program for children year’s conference in- research-based strate- with autism in Michigan. volves online registration gies/interventions, and While Floor-time has which will allow you to on-going assessments received a lot of media register using PayPal. and research to improve attention for benefits to (Dr. Solomon’s work- special education prac- young children with au- shops sell out quickly, so tice. We’re looking for- tism, it is a program for we encourage you to ward to hearing our key- all levels. Because of the register early to save a note speaker and work- individualized strategies, spot. We have a limited shop leader address these older children and those number of seats avail- issues, as well as hearing with a variety of disabili- able.) from our other presenters ties benefit from the on these very important model used in The Play This year, we will pro- special education topics. Project and DIR/Floor- vide conference partici- time. pants a schedule and Virginia CEC is de- materials to download lighted to have our key- After receiving feedback approximately one week “DIR/Floor-time has note speaker and work- from VA CEC members in advance of the confer- demonstrated benefits shop presenter, Dr. Rich- last year, you’ll notice ence via email, thus ena- for children with Severe ard Solomon. Dr. Solo- that we’ve made several bling participants to language problems, mon is a developmental/ changes to this year’s bring materials to the Severe regulatory behavioral pediatrician conference. The confer- conference. This helps us problems, Down who developed The Play ence was moved to Sat- to minimize paper waste Syndrome, Fragile X Project based on Dr. urday to allow as many and keeps costs down for Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Stanley Greenspan’s DIR teachers and families to our participants. (Please Syndrome, Cerebral (Developmental, Indi- participate as possible. note that we will not be vidualized, Relationship- You will also note that distributing conference Palsy, Severe forms of Based)/Floor-time ap- we’ve added a workshop packets this year). Attention Deficit proach to working with to our conference, allow- Disorder, and Autism.” children. This approach ing our participants to We are looking to a fun- was developed after over choose between viewing filled, educational con- 20 years of research on a variety of sessions and ference and hope that typical child develop- attending the workshop. you can join us! Regis- ment and DIR/Floor-time In addition, we’ve sched- ter soon! has demonstrated bene- uled an event on Friday, fits for children with our “Evening with Dr. Page 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

CEC LEADERSHIP BY ANDREA BEAM

The 2008-2009 VA-CEC President, and Governor- record of the proceed- officers have now been AT-Large ings of each meeting selected and are ready to of the Executive Com- mittee, the State/ serve! So you have a bet- • To represent the state/provincial unit Provincial Represen- ter idea of the roles and tative Assembly, and at meetings of the responsibilities of your other meetings con- board, I’ve included a brief CEC Representative ducted by the unit; position description on Assembly and to par- • To carry on correspon- each role. ticipate in balloting dence as necessary and other activities for the operation of If you are interested in necessary to the func- the state/provincial Secretary posi- tion is currently serving on the board, or tioning of the Repre- unit. open and accept- know someone who might sentative Assembly; ing letters of be a good candidate, Treasurer interest. please forward their name • To report regularly to • Oversees finances of the state/provincial and contact information to the organization unit Executive Com- Dr. Nicole Myers at • Develops a budget for [email protected]. mittee, State/ Board approval Provincial Board, • Pays bills President State/Provincial Rep- • Processes purchase • Schedules board resentative Assembly, orders meetings and general member- • Keeps documentation Please submit all ship on activities of of all transactions. letters of interest • Oversees planning of the CEC Representa- Membership Chair for open positions conference tive Assembly and CEC; • Maintains a distribu- to Nicole Myers, • Participates in selec- tion list of current VA VA-CEC President tion of award winners • To communicate is- CEC members sues and concerns • Keeps members in- • Participates in selec- from the state/ formed of important notices and events tion of conference provincial unit to the presenters CEC Representative • Brainstorms for ways to increase member- Assembly; • Welcome letter in ship newsletter. • To inform the state/ Newsletter Editor President Elect provincial unit about • Monitor CEC and the disposition of CEC other publications for • To serve in the place Representative As- information to be of, and with the au- sembly issues and thority of, the presi- included in the news- advice forwarded to dent in case of the letters. president's absence the CEC Board of or inability to serve; Directors; and • Provide the final edit- • To serve as chair of ing of material for the • To take other specific the Program Commit- newsletter. Governor-At-Large tee for the annual direction from the position is cur- meeting; state/provincial unit • Oversee the mechan- rently open and • To plan other meet- concerning the activi- ics of the newsletter accepting letters of interest. ings according to the ties of the CEC Repre- being printed and policies and directives sentative Assembly. mailed. of the Executive Com- mittee; and • Ensure that the news- Secretary letter is issued on Vice-President, Past- • To keep a careful time. Page 4 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Putting the Pieces Together: Virginia CEC’s 49th Annual Conference Keynote Speaker and Workshop Leader: Dr. Richard Solomon Fredericksburg Hospitality House (former Holiday Inn) Central Park, Fredericksburg, VA October 3, 2008

What is Floortime? Greenspan developed this approach after researching typical child development for over 20 years and his exten- sive research indicates DIR/Floortime is beneficial for children with disabilities. Floortime has been successful with children with the following disabilities: Severe language problems, Severe regulatory problems, Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Fe- tal Alcohol Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Severe forms of Attention Deficit Disorder, and Autism.

What is DIR? The Developmental, Individualized, Relationship-based Model is actually the model and Floortime is one of the play- based approaches.

What is The Play Project? The Play Project is a DIR program in Michigan, which has helped train parents and professionals to work with children with autism using the DIR/Floortime approach.

Who can learn from the keynote and workshop? Everyone! We’re all aware of the dramatic increase in number of diagnoses of autism. Dr. Solomon will share the latest research on autism in his keynote address. Later, in The Play Project workshop, Dr. Solo- mon will share how professionals and families can be taught DIR/Floortime and The Play Project Model to meet the needs of stu- dents with disabilities. While his program focuses on students with autism, The Play Project model and DIR/Floortime can be used for students with disabilities at various ages. Don’t be mislead by the play in play-based, this effective strategy can be used for all ages!

Intended Audience: Special Education Teachers (PreK-12), General Education Teachers, Parents, Community Agency Representa- tives, Physicians, Private Therapists, Early Intervention Staff, Speech Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and anyone interested in learning about play based approaches.

Register Now: Go to: http://www.virginiacec.org/2008conference.htm. You can pay using your credit card or with a Paypal ac- count. You will receive a receipt. Conference materials will be available for download approximately one week before the confer- ence.

For more information, see:Dr. Richard Solomon and The Play Project, http://playproject.org/ and Dr. Stanley Greenspan and DIR/ Floortime, http://www.floortime.org/index.php

Now accepting articles for the Winter issue of Virginia Voice.

If you have an article or “hot topic” that you would like included in the next issue of Virginia Voice, please send it to Andrea Beam at [email protected] no later than October 31, 2008.

We’re on the web! Check us out at http://www.virginiacec.org/