Abstract
As we continue our journey to what we all hope will be the end of the pandemic, I want to commend everyone in our profession for their ability to adapt in a crisis. It hasn’t been easy, but I believe special education teachers have done an excellent job keeping students engaged as much as possible in the hybrid virtual and in-person environment.
I also want to congratulate the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) staff for their amazing ability to adapt our face-to-face conference and expo into a totally virtual event: CEC L.I.V.E. For those who attended, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
The Whova platform used to host the meeting was extremely effective and allowed attendees to connect in many ways. For example, 3,293 of the 3,458 attendees downloaded the Whova app for their mobile device. There were 17,340 messages sent (private and community), which is well over 10 times the usual number of messages sent in an average event hosted by Whova. Attendees created 93 online meetups. Clearly, CEC members were active and engaged.
What I love about our annual conference is having the opportunity to reconnect with all my CEC friends and meeting new friends. I was able to do both during our virtual conference. I hope you all were able to do the same. Like all of you, I need to obtain professional development (PD) hours in order to maintain my licenses. I was able to add several hours of PD to my file. There is also the opportunity to add more, because content remains online through June 2021. CEC L.I.V.E. attendees can access it at www.exceptionalchildren.org/convention/2021.
We were honored to have Dr. Tyrone Howard as the keynote speaker at CEC L.I.V.E. His message about equity in education is very timely for our field. Working with infants, children, youth, and adolescents with exceptionalities tends to be inherently inclusive. However, we can always do better. I recommend watching the opening session message from Dr. Howard. Additionally, I encourage you to read any of the many books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and technical reports to increase your skills in this important area.
We were also inspired by headliner Dr. Adam Saenz, who spoke about the power of social emotional learning. I highly recommend that you watch his session and get inspired.
Our third major headliner session featured Dan and Samuel Habib. I do not know how many of you all have watched the documentary Including Samuel, created by Dan Habib. It is worth watching. Samuel is now in his 20s and is working with his father on a new documentary film. Dan and Samuel were perfect headliners on the same day CEC honored the “Yes I Can” Award recipients, which is always my favorite session during our conference. These awards highlight why we all are so passionate about our work.
I am always impressed by the research that our members conduct and share during the conference. I believe each of you is making a difference in our field. My hope is that you all are encouraged to share your work with our field in whatever way is most comfortable for you.
CEC members will be face-to-face next year at the CEC Conference and Expo, January 16 to 19, 2020, in Orlando, Florida! It will be presented as a hybrid event with both in-person and virtual opportunities. The in-person event will be held at the beautiful Orlando World Center and include new interactive programming, an upgraded Technology Playground, and several events to celebrate CEC’s 100th anniversary. I am beyond excited!
She will oversee strategic initiatives directed at supporting the field, such as overseeing activities to address the special education personnel shortage. She will also provide guidance over the standards and PD activities of CEC. Laurie has more than 40 years of experience serving students with disabilities and most recently served as the director of the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. We are so very fortunate to have Laurie back with us.