From February 27 to March 1st, Winthrop CEC (Council for Exceptional Children) attended the annual South Carolina CEC Conference in Greenville.
The Council for Exceptional Children is known as “the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.” CEC has both student and professional chapters, and holds both state and national conferences.
The majority of the conference revolved around educational sessions given by students and professionals and had the opportunity to participate in speed interviews with different districts.
In addition, students gave poster presentations on research they conducted. Two Winthrop students, Amani Townes and Samantha Pean, tied in first place for these presentations.
On the last day of the conference, SCCEC hosted a policy panel- a discussion regarding new state and federal policies. Multiple concerns were presented during the meeting — including the potential removal of Section 504, and the lack of mental health support given to public educators.
15 Winthrop students attended the state conference, including the entirety of the executive board, along with multiple Winthrop faculty.
Multiple advisors and participants took the time to comment on their experiences with the conference.
Jennifer Holmes, the WinthropLIFE Faculty Coordinator, shared information about her presentation, saying, “I presented on parent training as a related service on IEPs and its implications for post-secondary outcomes. Parent training is one of the most underutilized related services and is critical to student success. There are many benefits to offering parent training as a related service, including decreased challenging behaviors and increased student progress.”
She continued, “There is little to no research on how parent training specifically impacts postsecondary outcomes.”
Dr. Clausen, Winthrop’s CEC chapter advisor and an assistant Special Education professor, shared, “Beaufort County School District reached out with this comment: “We were so impressed with the caliber of students Winthrop is producing! From their posters to the interview, they are all going to become stellar educators.”
Ali Kowalski is a senior educational studies major with a concentration in Special Education. They currently serve as the Service Chair for Winthrop CEC, and they’re additionally a Macfeat Laboratory Teaching Assistant and a Step Ahead RBT. Kowalski has plans to become a BCBA, a Board Certified Behavior Analysis, in the future.
Kowalski gave two presentations during the conferences. The first presentation was Early Elementary Inclusion and the second presentation was Behavior in Early Elementary.
In regards to their time presenting, Kowalski shared, “I made a connection with Michelle Jones during my own session about Early Elementary Inclusion & Strategies during the presentation I left time for participants to discuss what inclusion looks in their school and how it affects different stakeholders and she was an active participant during this and even talked to me after about her own experiences at her school in Dorchester.”
Kowalski additionally attended many sessions, however, the SCPI pre-sessions stood out to them the most.
They stated, “They discussed Early Elementary inclusion, they talked about different statistics such as expulsion and suspension rates for these students and ways to promote inclusion and implant different activities in the classroom.”
Evelyn Conran, a senior education studies major with a concentration in special education, is currently a Teaching Fellow and member of CEC – with multiple on-campus jobs and plans to be an elementary resource special education teacher in the future.
Conran led one session during the conference, which was a presentation pertaining to personal research on multilingual learners with special education. Conran felt that the most challenging aspects of the presentation were “low response rates and inaccessible SPED directors for public school districts.”
Conran shared a word of advice to future attendees of the conference, stating, “I would advise them to go to as many sessions as possible so they can gain as much knowledge as possible!”
Diego Rodriguez is a senior educational studies major. He is currently a Resident Assistant, Teaching Fellow, Call Me MISTER and Student Ambassador, with plans to be an elementary school teacher in the future.
Rodriguez was particularly engaged during the policy panel, sharing, “I found the policy panel very insightful. As a general education pre-service teacher, I am not too knowledgeable of the specifics when it comes to special education but with an open discussion I was able to learn more from others and gain inspiration to do my own research considering topics discussed. Specifically, the “Texas vs Becerra” lawsuit . These are serious issues that were discussed in the panel and I am glad they were as now I can educate myself on important topics facing education. “
Rodriguez also greatly appreciated the session “Riding out the escalation cycle- Crisis Intervention Techniques for Early Childhood Educators”. He stated, “This session was very impactful, as the presenter not only made the content relatable, but she was able to express everything well in depth with great explanation. Considering, one of my biggest challenges as an educator is discipline, it was helpful hearing how to handle behavior in a classroom. “
His biggest takeaway from the conference was, “Education is such an important concept within our society. Regardless of your role within education, as long as we can come together to better support the needs of our future generation is what matters.”
Amani Townes, a Senior Special Education major, is currently a Teaching Fellow, Close Scholar and WinthropLIFE mentor, with plans to be a Self-Contained Moderate Classroom high school teacher after graduation.
Townes led a poster presentation entitled, “Misrepresentation of Multilingual Learners in Special Education”.
She stated, “This project assesses the ways multilingual learners are misrepresented in the special education system, hypothesizing that multilingual learners are misrepresented within special education due to biases in student assessment results and miscommunication with children and their families. I was inspired by my family history and the courses I took for an ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages] endorsement”
Townes was displeased by conversations that took place during the Policy Panel, she shared “My concern was about the response to the discussion of mental health. There seemed to be more emphasis on student mental health than the well being of their teachers. One topic that was not discussed was DEI and the issues of possibly being reported based on people’s points of views.”
Townes most enjoyed attending the session entitled, “It takes a Village:Utilizing Teacher Assistants in Special Education Classroom.” stating, “The idea that was most impactful to me was that TA’s. just like teachers and administrators, should be learned from and may have
more experience than us. Additionally, TA’s are with the kids longer in the day than teachers are so establishing that respect from the kids to them is essential.”
Townes advised first time CEC conference attendees to “be open minded and choose to go to sessions that you are unfamiliar with to get the most out of the experience.”
Ella Everett, a sophomore Special Education major, is currently a Teaching Fellow, member of CEC, and Theater for All volunteer. They have plans to be a Special Education major after graduation. During the conference, they co-planned a poster presentation entitled, “Parenting- How Different Parenting Styles Impact Children with EBDs.”
During the Policy Panel, Everett also had some reservations, they stated, “I was concerned with how mental health for teachers and students was discussed at the panel. One individual on the panel seemed hesitant on the responsibility of school districts to provide mental health resources. I think at a conference like CEC mental health should be expressed as important especially when many teachers work with students with mental illness or EBDs.”
On the other hand, the President of SC CEC, Dr.Tiffany Hollis, gave a speech Everett found to be particularly impactful, “One thing that stood out to me was the President of CEC’s speech; She shared her perspective on working with a student and advocating for him throughout his growing up. Now he has a successful career.”
They continued, “Many people didn’t believe in him and thought he would go to jail, but now they have been proved wrong. She shared the importance of always advocating for our students and how it is important to teach them to advocate for themselves as well. She expressed the value in seeing the potential in each child.”
Everett most enjoyed the session “Making Accommodations and Modifications Work for General Ed” by Jacquel Thomas and Langlee Morrell. They said, “The session stood out to me because it showed ways to support students in their least restrictive environment. It was engaging and informative. It also included Jacquel Thomas who is from Rock Hill and she spoke a bit on her new book, “Jay’s Spectrum of Colors.”
Everett recommended first time CEC conference attendees to “make the most out of the conference. There are so many connections to be made with the people there. For me, as a future SPED teacher, there are so many professionals in attendance doing what I plan to do. Talking to them and going to their sessions can help you prepare and build confidence in the field- I always leave with more ideas about teaching and expanded views.”
From March 12th to March 15th, a small group of Winthrop students and faculty will be attending the National CEC conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
All Winthrop students, regardless of major, are welcome to become CEC members. For any inquiries regarding the organization, please contact “cec@mailbox.winthrop.edu”.
