Last week I attended the Council for Exception Children Conference or CEC. Here are the top 10 things I learned at the conference.
1. Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education was the keynote speaker this year. In his speech he said that, “Education is the civil rights issue of our generation”. View parts of his speech here.
2. CEC really is a fabulous organization. It is so important to have people who are “the voice and vision of special education”. This is a great conference that Reading Horizons loves to support.
3. Creating a multi-sensory experience is very important for children with special needs. In the booth next to me there was a company who sold sensory play ground equipment. They had a sample of their playground and people couldn’t resist touching it. I guess most people are sensory.
4. Also from Arne Duncan’s speech, “6 million students with disabilities are currently in school and millions of them are thriving.” It is because of organizations such as CEC and the population of children they serve.
5. People in Nashville are very hospitable. I was so surprised with how kind and helpful everyone was that I talked to while I was in Tennessee. Now I know why they call is “southern hospitality”.
6. Teachers who work with secondary students LOVED our new Library component that focuses on comprehension. Who wouldn’t want to read stories about Jerry Rice, Talk like a Pirate day and Rugby?
7. While talking to speech pathologists our Pronunciation Tool came up. They really liked being able to use that tool with their students.
8. After talking to students who are in the process of graduating, many of them have concerns that they still didn’t have the skills they need to reach their struggling readers. They were taught how to manipulate curriculum to fit student needs but they were not taught phonics and decoding strategies. I gave them all a card for our free Online Workshop. This workshop is free phonics instruction. This is a great tool for new teachers when they encounter students that struggle with reading.
9. The conference was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. I have never seen anything like it. So amazing I have attached some pictures.
10. It was great to network with others who share my same passion for helping those who struggle to learn to read. Knowledge is power and with the ability to overcome reading difficulties we can create powerful learners.