2009 Assessment Workshop

Time is of the Essence: Perspectives of Parents ad Professionals

The topic for the 7th annual “Assessment Workshop” was selected after a careful revision of last year’s feedback from the delegates who stressed the importance of listening to parents’ voices. If understanding the “languages” of assessment is important, then timely listening to the different perspectives brought by parents and professionals is the essential ingredient to make assessment a meaningful and successful process.

This year we were honoured by an inspiring and highly professional panel of parents of children with developmental delays and special needs. Rona Sterling-Collins, Florence Gonyer and Maria Glaze shared their powerful stories with an avid audience of over 150 delegates. Their message of courage and commitment, of hope and perseverance, and of creativity and adaptability to meet the unique needs of the children and to surmount any challenges will stay with all of those who had the privilege to attend this session. Dr Nancy Lanphear, Director of Developmental Pediatrics at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, was the panel’s skilled and insightful moderator. Michele Sam, Senior Aboriginal Researcher with the Human Early Learning Partnership presented her vision on the intertwined relationships of children with their caregivers and early child development professionals in contexts that cross the time barriers and the different cultures. Past, present and future blend together, and special needs are not just dependent on developmental and academic outcomes, but based on long-lasting relationships among researchers, professionals working in community agencies, students and parents. Seventeen workshops covering cutting-edge and yet accessible research findings, community initiatives and programs, and project deliverables on the importance of “time, timely and timing” in the assessment process for children, guided by the parents’ voices, and supported by professionals. We were honored with Dr Lori Roggman’s presentation on the “Piccolo” Program (Utah State University Center for Disabilities). This session was a follow-up to Drs Roggman and Innocenti’s full-day inservice for the Infant Development Program of BC.

We continue to express our gratitude to Early Childhood Educators of BC, the Infant Development Program of BC, the Supported Child Development Program of BC, the Aboriginal Infant Development Program, The CHILD Project, The Human Early Learning and Partnership and the Psychoeducational Training and Resource Centre (Faculty of Education) at UBC for their ongoing support that makes this event possible every year.

We are thankful for your detailed evaluations. As in previous years, rely on your feedback of the workshops and of the event as a whole to plan our next events. You will receive details regarding the 2010 overall topic, presenters and sessions in the late Fall 2009/early Winter 2010.

Once again, the description and links to the presentations are outlined in the sections that follow.

We would like to thank the following for their support and enthusiasm in presenting this exciting event:

We gratefully acknowledge the administrative, logistical and onsite volunteering support provided by:

Warm thanks to our enthusiastic and committed student Volunteers: