The 12th Annual Conference on Educating Students

with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Crowne Plaza, Cromwell, CT
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
 Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Crowne Plaza, Cromwell, CT
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Agenda Keynote Speaker

8:00 a.m. Registration/Refreshments/
Networking/Exhibits Open
8:30 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00 a.m. Keynote Presentation
Keith Jones, President
SoulTouchin’ Experiences
9:40 a.m. Concurrent Sessions, I
Short Courses Begin
10:40 a.m. Break
11:20 a.m. Concurrent Sessions, II
Short Courses, cont.
12:20 p.m. Lunch (provided)
Keith Jones
President
SoulTouchin’ Experiences
Somerville, Massachusetts
Keith Jones is active in multicultural, cross-disability
education and outreach. He is the President and
CEO of SoulTouchin’ Experiences, an organization
created to call attention to the issues of access,
inclusion, and empowerment for people with
disabilities, including himself. Mr. Jones conducts
trainings on how to strengthen efforts to provide
services and information to people with disabilities.

1:30 p.m. Movie Screening:

“Including Samuel”
2:50 p.m. Facilitated Dialogue
Dan Habib, Filmmaker in Residence
University of New Hampshire (UNH)
Institute on Disability (IOD)
3:30 p.m. Closing/Evaluation/Door Prizes
Movie Screening
Followed by a conversation with
Dan Habib
Filmmaker in Residence
University of New Hampshire (UNH)
Institute on Disability (IOD)

Before his son Samuel was diagnosed with cerebral

Exhibitors
Please take the opportunity to visit the Conference
exhibits, which open at 8:00 a.m. and will be available
throughout the day. Displays will include assistive
technology devices, software, curricular resources,
professional development resources, videos, and
information about organizations invested in the education
of Connecticut’s youth.
palsy, photojournalist Dan Habib rarely thought
about the inclusion of people with disabilities. Now
he thinks about it every day. Habib's award-winning
documentary film Including Samuel honestly
chronicles the Habib family's efforts to include
Samuel in every facet of their lives. The film also
features four other families with varied inclusion
experiences, plus interviews with dozens of teachers,
young people, parents, and disability rights experts.
Including Samuel is a highly personal, passionately
photographed film that captures the cultural and
systemic barriers to inclusion.

Dan Habib, the director, producer, and cinematographer

Please Note:
SERC will be photographing and videotaping
the conference for possible use for Web and
print publications.
of Including Samuel, has been Filmmaker in Residence at
the Institute on Disability at the University of New
Hampshire since April 2008. From 1995 to 2008, Habib
was the photography editor of the Concord Monitor. He
was named the national Photography Editor of the Year in
2006 and 2008 for papers under 100,000 circulation.
 9:40 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

This year the Expanding Horizons Conference will offer three Short Courses featuring national programs as an alternative to
Concurrent Sessions. Each Short Course is designed to run for nearly two and a half hours to allow Conference participants an
opportunity to gain more in-depth knowledge of each program. As seating is extremely limited, participants must
preregister for each Short Course they would like to attend. There will be an additional fee of five dollars for each Short
Course selected. More information about registration and fees is located on the back page of this brochure. Notice of your
acceptance and a ticket into a Short Course will be included in your letter of confirmation for the Conference.

A. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Nicole Natale, CREC and Smita Worah, SERC

Most students have opportunities within the school routine to develop their social communication skills under the
scaffolding support of experienced adults, helping them become competent communicators. Students with intellectual
and developmental disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome, however, may not be able to take
advantage of these opportunities. Often, they are unable to rely on their speech to communicate with others and
therefore depend on unambiguous modes of communication. This may severely restrict their participation in social
activities within the school environment. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) provides a means for
individuals with significant communication disabilities to access the magic and power of communication to meet their
full potential. AAC systems include the use of signs, communication boards and books, and computer-based assistive
technologies that provide speech output. Participants in this session will understand the significance of communication;
recognize the need to provide augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems to children with autism and
other significant disabilities; and learn strategies to support social communication within the school routine.

B. Can the Connecticut Preschool Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks

Meet the Needs of ALL Students?
Anne Marie Davidson and Paquita Sims, SERC
Positive Outcomes for Children with Disabilities: Recommendations for Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation, a publication
from the Division for Early Childhood, says that a comprehensive curriculum framework encompasses four elements:
assessment; scope and sequence; activities and intervention strategies; and progress monitoring. “A curriculum framework
is a dynamic system that should guide all aspects of a high quality program,” the report says. In Connecticut, our system is
the Preschool Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks. Join us for this short course to explore Connecticut’s early
learning goals. Learn a process to extend the expectations for children in a classroom who have not yet achieved at the
beginning level, as well as tools to support this process and your teaching in the classroom. This short course also will
explore the implementation of these adjusted early learning goals and how to connect with community agencies to
emphasize the use of these goals to meet the learning outcomes for young children with disabilities.

C. Technology Tools to Provide Access to Literature and

Curriculum for Struggling Readers
Amy Norton and Carol Magliocco, EASTCONN

What happens when a student’s struggle to read becomes a barrier to accessing the general education curriculum? This
session will offer participants the opportunity for hands-on exploration of technology tools that assist students, grades
3-12, in accessing literature and core content materials in a variety of formats, including electronic text presented at grade
level utilizing Bookshare literature and NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standards) files, and other
online resources with text reader support; audio text on CD or in MP3 format through RFB&D (Recording for the Blind &
Dyslexic) and other sources; scaffolded reading resources such as Don Johnston “Start-to-Finish” materials; and Cricksoft
“Find Out & Write About.”
 9:40 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. 11:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

1. Connect-Ability 1. Freeware Assistive Technology Lab

Patti Clay, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS) Arlene Lugo, CT Tech Act Project
Connect-Ability

2. A Fully Inclusive Theater Experience: 2. Teacher Panel on Curriculum Adaptation

Unified Theater™ Sheila Blachman, Colleen Bryant, Robyn Cologna,
Micaela Connery and Jeff Giliberto, Unified Theater Miryam Kuligowski, Ingrid McClay, Jenn Sinal, and
West Hartford, CT Marianne Young, Newtown Public Schools, CT

3. A Conversation with Keith Jones 3. The Mini Computer We Are Not Allowing
Keith Jones, SoulTouchin’ Experiences Our Students to Use
John Mercier and Greg Glidden, SERC

4. Exploring Open Technologies 4. What Every Connecticut Educator Needs to

for All Students Know about NIMAS
Sean Kavanaugh, SERC Elizabeth Hess, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
Karen B. Narvol, Bookshare
Mike Smith, CSDE

5. The Intersection of EIP and SRBI 5. Secondary Transition Services

Gerald Hairston and Leigh Jones-Bamman, SERC Melissa Wrigley, SERC

6. Meeting the Needs of All Students 6. Disability and Race

Through Co-Teaching Sally Esposito, SERC
Stefanie Carbone, SERC

7. Living with Autism 7. Strategies for Teaching Students with Autism

Teagen and Tyler Comeau, Students Jacqueline Kelleher, Consultant, CSDE
Facilitated by Kate Weingartner, Consultant, SERC Kate Weingartner, SERC
 CEU Information
SERC will award .7 CEUs.
To be eligible for CEUs, participants must be preregistered, receive written confirmation from SERC, attend the full Conference,
complete a participant evaluation form, and provide evidence of post-conference application/reflection. Evaluation forms and
information about the post-conference application/reflection will be available at the Conference. Certificates of Attendance also will be
available.

Registration Information
This Conference can accommodate three hundred (300) preschool to grade 12 general and special education teachers,
paraprofessionals, student support services personnel, administrators, and family members. Registration will be on a first-come,
first-served basis, with consideration for regional distribution.

There is a registration fee of $75.00 per person for the Conference. For each Short Course selected, there is an additional $5.00 fee.
Lunch will be provided. Purchase orders will be accepted but payment MUST be received prior to December 8, 2009. The closing
date for submitting applications is November 30, 2009. Applications received after November 30, 2009 will be accepted as space
permits. Checks and/or purchase orders must be made payable to Rensselaer at Hartford. Registration fee waivers are available, if
needed, for parents and other family members. A limited number of stipends also are available to help defray the cost of child care
and transportation. Please indicate your need in the appropriate areas on the application form.

Please direct questions regarding registration to Heather Penfield, Education Services Specialist, at SERC, (860) 632-1485, ext. 263.
Content questions should be directed to Craig Struble, Consultant, at SERC, (860) 632-1485, ext. 392.

It is the policy of the State Education Resource Center (SERC) that no person shall be discriminated against or excluded from
participation in any SERC programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, age, marital or civil union status, national
origin, ancestry, sex/gender, intellectual disability, physical disability, political beliefs, or sexual orientation.

12th Annual Expanding Horizons Conference (10-09-005) LRE/hp-brochure (Please print clearly.)

Please select: ___Conference Registration Only - $75.00

___Conference plus one Short Course - $5.00 (Please indicate session choice: ____A ____B ____C)

Name: SERC Membership #:

Home Address: City/State: Zip Code:
District: School/Agency:
Position/Role: Grade Level/Age Range: Daytime Phone:( )
E-mail Address: Home Phone:( )

Classroom release time is approved: Administrator’s Signature

Please check if needed: _____Vegetarian Lunch _____Interpreter (please specify)
_____Alternative Print Resources (please specify)______________________________
Parents/Family Members (check as many as apply): I request: _____ a parent waiver _____a parent stipend form _____student fee waiver
Please note any other needs: