Join your fellow early childhood and pre-K-to-3 educators from across the country to network and discuss cutting-edge research and teaching strategies. Choose from hundreds of sessions and explore our ever popular Exhibit Hall. Learn from renowned speakers from across the country and around the world while you renew your professional commitment to early childhood education.
The 2008 Conference has a tremendous variety of topics that appeal to seasoned professionals, new teachers, and future educators alike.
Opening General Session:
The launch of the newly revised DAP!
The life and times of DAP: The present moment and the continuing journey
Travel with a variety of experts across the age span of early childhood.
Closing General Session:
Life is short — pursue your passion: Achieving and retaining quality through internal motivation
Sue Baldwin, INSIGHTS Training and Consulting
Autism and Asperger’s syndrome: Effective strategies to help young children
Maryln Appelbaum, Appelbaum Training Institute
Early childhood mathematics: Research findings and recommendations for practice and policy from the 2008 report of the National Research Council
Sue Bredekamp, Council for Professional Recognition; Douglas Clements, University of Buffalo SUNY; Yolanda Garcia, WestEd; Herbert Ginsburg, Teachers College Columbia University; Sharon Lynn Kagan, Teachers College Columbia University
Gingerbread Friends: Using picture books to promote social and emotional learning and development in the classroom
Jan Brett, author/illustrator, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, A Division of Penguin Young Readers Group
The Baby Signs® Program early childhood educator training: Sign language for the infant-toddler classroom
Bonita Broughton, Linda Acredolo, and Susan Goodwyn, Baby Signs Inc.
Applying the leadership theories of American corporate CEOs to early childhood leadership
Mary Carpenter, ChildCare Education Institute
Eco-healthy child care: Go green!
Hester Dooley, Oregon Environmental Council
Songs, games, and rhymes for the multicultural classroom
Jose-Luis Orozco, Arcoiris Records
Understanding play deprivation: Its causes, consequences, and remediation
Joe Frost, University of Texas; Stuart Brown, National Institute for Play
Talking with parents of toddlers and preschoolers about difficult topics: Realistic expectations and concerns about development; behavior issues such as aggression, separation anxiety, naps, and toilet training; and cultural differences
Helen Neville, RN, parent-educator and author, Kaiser Permanente Hospital
“That child is driving me CRAZY!”: Positive alternatives to yelling, bribing, nagging, threatening, criticizing, and punishing . . . Warning: Be prepared to laugh!
Gail Reichlin, parent-teacher educator, Executive Director, Parents Resource Network, and Author, The Pocket Parent
President’s seminar—How to move early care and education up the policy agenda in states: Lessons from elected state leaders
A panel moderated by Sue Russell, NAEYC President
Meet the authors and illustrators: children’s literature at NAEYC
Laura Vaccaro Seeger, First the Egg, a Caldecott Honor Book; Maya Ajmera, To Be an Artist, Global Fund for Children; Holly Seplocha, William Paterson University, Moderator
Strategies and tools to help raise a generation of healthy, media-savvy kids
Jim Steyer, CEO and founder, Common Sense Media
When DAP meets GAP: Strategies for promoting peaceful coexistence between developmentally appropriate practice and the need to address the achievement gap
Dorothy Strickland, Samuel Dewitt Proctor Professor of Education, Rutgers University
What do we really mean by inclusion? An opportunity for dialogue
Members of the DEC/NAEYC Inclusion workgroup
Plus sessions from these additional tracks:
Assessment of Child Progress . . . Children with Disabilities/Early Intervention . . . Curriculum for Promoting Language and Literacy . . . Curriculum for Promoting Social-Emotional Development . . . Global Perspectives . . . Program Administration/Management . . . Technology/Distance Learning in EC Professional Development . . . Training and Professional Development of EC Staff . . . Understanding and Supporting Families and more!