The 44th Annual Conference of Kansas CEC (Council for Exceptional Children) will be held on October 5-6, 2006, at the Lawrence Holidome. Kansas CEC is the Kansas affiliate of the national CEC organization, http://www.cec.sped.org . CEC is the leading association for special educators, working to improve the educational success of children with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. Its members represent nearly 6.9 million children with disabilities as well as children with gifts and talents.

A panel presentation, "Multicultural/Urban Special Education: Issues, Trends and Perspectives" will begin the conference on Thurday morning, October 5th.

Friday morning will begin with the featured speaker, Dr. Ira Chasnoff, one of the nation's leading researchers in the field of maternal drug use during pregnancy and the effects on the newborn infant and child.

Throughout both days of the event there will be concurrent sessions on a range of topics and issues, including modifications and acccommodations for children with severe Autism, the use of functional behavior assessment, and the effects of exceptionalities on the play of young children with disabilities.

Kansas CEC President is Michele Brungardt, of Hays, who recently laid out the organization's three main 2006-2007 goals: 1) continuing to maintain and strengthen the communication and working relationship with the state board of education; 2) maintaining and strengthening the CEC membership, across all levels--statewide, divisions, and local units or chapters; 3) continuing to monitor the format of the conferences and workshops supported by Kansas CEC.

With a statewide membership of 512 special education teachers, paraeducators, and administrators, Kansas CEC advocates for the more than 65,000 children in Kansas with special needs. Bob Riedel, of Abilene , is the Kansas CEC Representative to the Children's Action Network (CAN), and has recently reported the need for Kansas CEC members to contact their Congressional representatives and senators about underfunding of special education, the loss of Medicaid payments for students with exceptionalities, and a current federal budget that includes no funding at all for gifted and talented programs.

Kansas CEC works closely with the Kansas State Department of Education's Office of Student Support Services and its related Special Education Cooperatives and Education Service Centers throughout the state. Kansas State Director of Special Education Colleen Riley will be attending the Kansas CEC Conference in Lawrence , and the conference is co-sponsored by the Kansas Association of School Social Workers (www.kassw.org) and the Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators (http://www.ka-sea.org).

KASEA is having its pre-conference fall meeting on October 4th, at the Lawrence Holidome, also. And KASSW will recognized the 2006 School Social Worker of the Year at a special KASSW Luncheon and General Meeting on October 6th, as part of the Kansas CEC Conference.

Kansas CEC will also be announcing winners of a number of awards (www.kansascec.org/awards06). One is the "Yes I Can" Award, which honors a child or youth with disabilities who has made outstanding achievements on one or more of the following categories: academics, arts, athletics, community service, employment, extracurricular activities, independent living skills, technology, and self-advocacy. Another award to be announced is the "Outstanding Special Educator of the Year." For more information on these awards, please contact Annette Gaitan, Kansas CEC Awards Chair (gaitana@turnerusd202.org), of Kansas City .

The Chair of the 44th Annual Kansas CEC Conference is Anita Oelke (aoelke@nkesc.org), of Oakley. The Kansas CEC Web pages are at www.kansascec.org.

Report by Robb Scott

2006 ESL MiniConference Online

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