Visions of Community
Saturday, March 13, 2010
World Trade Center - Boston
The Federation for Children with Special Needs, along with co-sponsors the Early Intervention Parent Leadership Project, Massachusetts Families Organizing for Change, Family TIES of Massachusetts , Massachusetts Family Voices and the Family-to-Family Health Information Center, Massachusetts Parent Information and Resource Center, the Parent Training and Information Project, and the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, is excited to announce this year’s Visions of Community conference will be held Saturday March 13, 2010 at the Seaport/World Trade Center-Boston.
The conference features dozens of break-out sessions (many presented and/or translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Cantonese) with topical strands and information covering Early Childhood, Special Education, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Health Care for Children with Special Needs, Transition, Social/Recreation Opportunities and more. Network with other parents and families and pick up free resources in our exhibit hall packed with more than 60 vendors.
Keynote Speaker
The Federation is pleased to announce our
keynote speaker for this year's conference: |
Beth Harry,
Professor of Special Education, University of Miami
 Beth Harry is a professor of special education at the University of Miami in Florida. A native of Jamaica, Beth graduated from St. Andrew High School in 1962 and went on to pursue her BA and Masters degrees at the University of Toronto and her Ph.D. at Syracuse University. The author has been a teacher all her adult life, including teaching English at the secondary and community college levels and special education at all levels. Her current work focuses on teaching and research related to disability, multicultural, and family issues. She lived in Trinidad for twelve years, where both her children, Melanie and Mark Teelucksingh, were born.
(The following is an excerpt from an article by Ana Veciana-Suaez which appeared in The Miami Herald, January 12, 2009)
By her own description, Beth Harry had led a charmed life: popular, top of her class, daughter of a successful doctor. Harry expected her foray into motherhood to be much the same.
But when Melanie Teelucksingh was born in September 1975, the baby could not breathe on her own. She did not know how to swallow and her eyes never moved. Her cry sounded "pitiful."
Diagnosis: cerebral palsy.
Nothing had prepared Harry for such a reversal of fortune. This unexpected turn of events was devastating.
''I was never one to worry too much, "Harry recalls. "Things had gone wonderfully for me and I expected that to continue. Suddenly I had to let go of the sense that life owed me a string of successes."
Yet, Melanie gave Harry a new definition of success, one that has lasted long after the girl died when she was only 5 ½. Now Harry has self-published a book, Melanie: Bird With a Broken Wing, that recounts the family's struggles and its search for appropriate medical care and
educational placement for Melanie.
This is not a political book that preaches about how society sometimes fails its most vulnerable citizens. Nor does the book catalog therapies available for cerebral palsy patients.
"Quite simply, it's a mother's story," Harry says. "It's about coming to terms with what she meant to
me, to us. I feel this huge sense of gratitude that her life proved meaningful for others and that it motivated me to help others."
Prompted by her daughter's condition, Harry, now 64, founded a nonprofit school in 1978 for special needs children in Trinidad and Tobago, the first of its kind for preschoolers. Its successor, the Immortelle Children's Centre in Port of Spain, now serves as both school and vocational center for 100 students. It is run by the mother of the first pupil who signed up for a play group Harry organized as a precursor to the school.
"Everything that has come since was because of her," says Jacqui Leotaud, the school's principal. "We've always felt it was hers, even after she left."
Harry, who lives in South Miami, has also become a recognized expert in special education, particularly as it pertains to minority children. As a professor of special education at the University of Miami, she shares her experiences in hopes that her perspective as both mother and educator will
broaden students' views.
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Community Partnership Award Nominations
The Federation is pleased to provide an opportunity
to recognize individuals in Massachusetts who have demonstrated outstanding efforts in support of opportunities for inclusion of people with disabilities in the community.
Individuals will be considered for their efforts in areas such as Community Outreach, Inclusive Recreation, Educators (Inclusive and Special Education classrooms), Parent Advocacy, Self-Advocacy, and more. The Community Partnership Awards will be announced at the Federation’s annual Visions of Community Conference, to be held on March 13, 2010 at the World Trade Center, Boston.
Nominate online or Download the form and submit by January 8, 2010.
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Conference Schedule
7:30AM Registration Opens
8:30-9:15AM Welcome, Commissioners Greetings, Community Partnership Awards
9:15-10:15AM Keynote
10:15-10:45AM Exhibits/Networking/Break
10:45AM-12:15PM Workshop Session #1
12:15-1:30PM Lunch/Exhibits/Networking
1:30-3PM Workshop Session #2
3-3:30PM Exhibits/Networking/Break
3:30-5PM Workshop Session #3
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Registration Information
Registration fee is $75 per person if you register on or before February 19, 2010; fee is $90 per person after February 19. Last day to register is March 5, if space remains available. Continental Breakfast and Lunch will be provided at no cost.
Registration can be made online using a credit card or through mail by downloading the registration form and sending with a check made payable to the Federation for Children with Special Needs.
Registration Form in PDF:
English
Português
Español
Interpreters will be available for the most requested workshops with advance notice. If requesting an interpreter, the registration MUST be postmarked by February 12, 2010.
CHILDCARE: Childcare slots are limited and provided for children ages 3-14 ONLY. If you are interested in receiving information about childcare for the conference, you must indicate that on your conference registration form and a Federation staff member will contact you with CHILCDCARE REGISTRATION information. Once you are confirmed you will receive a confirmation code for each child. No child will be admitted on the day of the conference without a confirmation code. Please visit our Child Care Page for more detailed information.
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Scholarship Information
A limited number of partial scholarships are available upon request.
Please call 617-236-7210 ext. 198 (English), 197 (Portuguese), or 199 (Spanish) or email to voc2010@fcsn.org and leave your name, telephone number, and times you can be reached. Please allow several days for a conference staff person to respond to your message.
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Directions and Transportation
Free round-trip bus transportation is available on a limited basis for the conference from selected sites across the state. YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED CONFERENCE PARTICIPANT TO RECEIVE SPECIFIC TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION. Please indicate your interest in transportation on your registration form and a staff person will contact you to confirm your needs.
The following sites will have bus transportation:
Western/Worcester Region
Southeast Region
Northeastern Region
Plan on being at the site 15 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time, as buses must leave on schedule. Return trips from the World Trade Center, Boston will depart at 5:30.
DIRECTIONS to World Trade Center - Boston
Please visit the World Trade Center-Seaport Hotel Web site for directions.
By the MBTA: The MBTA's Silver Line stops at the World Trade Center. For more information call the MBTA at 617-222-3200 or visit the MBTA Silver Line site for schedule times.
Parking: Parking is available at the Seaport Hotel, across from the World Trade Center. Parking is also available at public lots along Northern Ave.
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