University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

Conference to Provide Parents, Educators with Tools to
Explore Opportunities for a Child with Disabilities

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2006) -- Parenting and teaching are full of choices, but when you’re dealing with a child with a disability, those choices can seem overwhelming.

The Family Focus Resource and Empowerment Center at Cal State Northridge hopes to provide parents and educators with some of the tools necessary to navigate a lifetime of choices for a child with a disability, at its third annual Family and Educator Conference on Saturday, Oct. 21.

The conference is scheduled to take place from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Northridge Academy High School, 9601 Zelzah Ave., on the east side of the university’s campus between Plummer and Lassen streets.

"I would like to see parents and educators leave the conference with knowledge and most importantly, hope," said center director Ivor Weiner, a special education professor at Cal State Northridge.

"Parenting and teaching a child with a disability is a long distance marathon with lots of ups and downs," Weiner said. "Fortunately, the fields of education, psychology, medicine and neuroscience are making great progress in treatments and interventions. Conference presenters will share this knowledge with the participants."

The day’s theme is "A Lifetime of Choices: Parenting the Child with Disabilities." The conference’s general session will feature keynote speaker Lou Denti, the Lawton Love Distinguished Professor in Special Education at California State University, Monterey Bay. Denti, an accomplished author and highly sought after consultant in the area of reading, transition and social skills, will talk about "Family Advocacy, Engagement and Conviction: Building Hope and Success for Children with Disabilities Now and Into the Future."

More than 30 breakout sessions, including some in Spanish, are scheduled throughout the day. Topics include "Disability, Self, Society and the Search for Happily Ever After," "Living with Teens with Learning Disabilities, Emotional and Attention Deficit Disorders," "Self-Esteem: Can We Take it Off the Shelf and Offer it to Our Children?" "Providing Culturally Responsive Services for Children and Families" and "Every Path is Different: Negotiating Choices."

Throughout the conference, parents and educators will have an opportunity to talk one-on-one about the variety of issues and concerns that face families with special needs children or people who work with special needs children.

An "Ask the Expert" panel will close out the conference, giving participants an opportunity to ask questions that may have arisen earlier in the day.

Pre-registration for the conference is $35 by Oct 14. Late or on-site registration is $45. Both fees include lunch. To register or for more information, call the center at (818) 677-6854 or visit its Web site at www.csunfamilyfocus.com.

The Family Resource and Empowerment Center, housed in Cal State Northridge’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education, provides comprehensive information about laws, educational programs and support groups to parents of children with disabilities living in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. The center also serves as a community resource, providing parent-to-parent support, parent/professional education, information dissemination, referrals, public awareness, family and professional collaboration, training and other services.

California State University, Northridge has 33,000 full- and part-time students and offers 62 bachelor’s and 50 master’s degrees as well as 28 teaching credential programs. Founded in 1958, CSUN is among the largest single-campus universities in the nation and the only four-year public university in the San Fernando Valley. The university serves as the intellectual, economic and cultural heart of the Valley and beyond.