UC Santa Barbara’s The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education hosted the third annual UC Conference in Special Education, Disabilities, and Developmental Risk (SPEDDR) on January 30-31 at the Santa Barbara Inn.

Faculty panelists,Howard Taras, M.D. and Brett M. Kia-Keating, Ed.D., shared recent work in progress with conference attendees. Dr. Taras is a Professor of Pediatrics at UCSD and medical consultant to school district across Southern California. He discussed an upcoming longitudinal project involving gathering educational and medical data from thousands of children from preconception through adulthood. Dr. Kia-Keating is an Assistant Researcher in the UCSB Graduate School of Education’s Department of Education. His discussion included points of interest in current research, such as child and adolescent development, developmental psychology, risk and protective factors, resilience, youth aggression and violence, and prevention and intervention.

Two panels of recent-graduate of UC Schools were one of the highlights of the conference. They addressed topics in autism, including autism in the school, research, and clinical settings. Recent graduates Suzanne Robinson, Ph.D., April Regester, M.A., Rosy Fredeen, Ph.D., and Amanda Gulsrud, Ph.D. offered insights and answered questions from the audience. Participants reported that they found this discussion particularly relevant, as the recent graduates gave frank and practical answers to questions about transitioning from school to post-doctorate positions, teaching at the University, and working in the clinical and research fields.

Conference attendees reported that student work was timely and informative. A variety of posters were presented with topics spanning from behavioral interventions, school anxiety, and parental intrusiveness to math facts and options in response-to-intervention approaches. There were also two roundtable sessions on the topics of the exit exam in California and language and literacy issues for speakers of African American English.

A varied array of student oral presentations focused in on topics on autism in schools: parental factors in autism, social skills, intervention, and anxiety, first word-acquisition in non-responders. Posters also addressed broader topics including multicultural factors for families with children with disabilities video-self modeling for self-confidence and fluency intervention.

Keynote speaker Michael Gerber, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Education at UCSB, discussed recent research in orthography for Spanish and English speakers. His presentation touched on critical question in educational research in effective bridging of English instruction for English Language Learners.

More Information about the 3rd Annual Conference...

• Pictures
• Graduate Student Panel
• Flyer
• Final Call for Proposals
• Conference Schedule
  

Looking forward to seeing you there next year!