Presenter: Dr. Erica McCray Erica D. McCray is Professor of Special Education and Associate Dean for Personnel Affairs and Community Engagement at the University of Florida. Dr. McCray is executive director of the CEEDAR Center, funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. She has been recognized on multiple levels for her teaching and research, which emphasize the influence of diversity on educational practice and policy. Dr. McCray’s teaching career began as a special educator for students with high-incidence disabilities in elementary and middle schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. In higher education, she has taught courses in teacher education for inclusion and qualitative research methods and supported close to 50 doctoral graduates. She is a Black woman scholar committed to amplifying the voices of individuals marginalized on the basis of race, disability, and other intersecting identities. Dr. McCray is the lead editor of the second edition of the Handbook of Research on Special Education Teacher Preparation and has authored several journal articles and book chapters. Her leadership and service to the field include serving as a member of the National Council for Learning Disabilities Professional Advisory Board, CAST UDL Equity Rising Advisory Board, and chair of the Council for Exceptional Children- Division for Research Awards Committee. Additionally, she is an Associate Editor for the Exceptional Children journal, and an editorial board member for the Review of Educational Research and Teacher Education and Special Education journals.
Thursday June 19, 2025 4:45pm - 6:45pm EDT Century BC
Weighted vests. Special diets. Facilitated communication. These techniques gained popularity despite lacking rigorous research. Well-intentioned individuals spend time, money, and hope using treatments unlikely to yield desired results. Misinformation exists. Stopping misinformation may not be feasible, but we can minimize its spread and resultant negative consequences. In this session, we will explain why educators are should address autism misinformation (and how they can go about doing it).
Presenters: Tejaswini Mahulikar Discover how new-age technology is transforming early education by decoding learning challenges in young learners. Cognosketch, an AI-powered platform, goes beyond scores to deliver deep insights into visual cognitive and psychomotor functions while providing a fun, stress-free experience for children. Learn how this data-driven solution empowers parents, educators, school psychologists, and occupational therapists to identify learning barriers and develop targeted interventions for remediation.
Presenters: Doris Bowman & Rick Bowman Empowering transition-aged students with disabilities to engage and meaningfully participate in planning for their futures is crucial to their success in adulthood. This session explores innovative approaches to enhance self-determination skills among students navigating the transition from school to post-school life. Participants will delve into practical strategies and evidence-based practices that promote self-awareness, goal setting, decision-making, problem-solving, and self-advocacy. Through interactive discussions and case studies, attendees will gain insights into creating inclusive environments that foster independence and confidence in students with disabilities. Join us to discover how person-centered self-determination instruction can profoundly impact the journey of transition-aged students toward achieving their life aspirations.
Friday June 20, 2025 10:10am - 11:00am EDT Hawthorne
Presenters: Dr. Harvey Recognizing pre-crisis behaviors involves identifying early signs that may signal an impending crisis. By spotting specific indicators of a looming crisis, proactive and trauma-informed strategies can be employed to anticipate challenges while remaining sensitive to past traumas. Inclusive care planning is essential, ensuring that individual needs are considered and addressed. Empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and co-occurring mental health conditions is a key focus, using tools that encourage active participation in their own care planning. Additionally, familiarity with a crisis planning worksheet helps to streamline the planning process.
Friday June 20, 2025 10:10am - 11:00am EDT Magnolia
Presenter: Kenneth U. Campbell Scarborough's Rope has no mention of behavior ... motivation! This should be the cornerstone of effective instruction. Beginning with behavior, we then move to word attack skills via phonics, high frequency words, story reading, and comprehension. Participants will be informed on what to look for and do while providing reading remediation or instruction.Participants will be informed on what to look for and do while providing reading remediation or instruction.
Presenters: A Model Program: Rangasamy Ramasamy Transitioning from school to adult life for individuals with disabilities involves various agencies. Current post-school outcomes indicate many are unemployed, continue to live with their parents/guardians, and receive federal/state welfare. To improve the quality of post-school outcomes for individuals with intellectual disabilities (IDD), the authors will discuss a university program in southeastern Florida that prepares individuals with IDD in career education and employment, community experiences, self-determination, and residential experiences.
Friday June 20, 2025 10:10am - 11:00am EDT Live Oak
Presenter: Dr. Hannah Mathews, Audrey Milam, Florence Basen, & Maria Giani
Centering the voices of elementary students with disabilities from Florida, we will present a study exploring how these students understand special educator effectiveness. We will explore how, though teachers took very different approaches, students centered five common dimensions in their discussion of effectiveness. We will also discuss how we elicited student perspectives, to support teachers and school leaders with their own efforts to elicit the perspectives of children with disabilities.
Presenter: Ian Lovett In this engaging and interactive workshop on AI for Special Education we will learn the history of AI, and how it works. Practice: We will practice prompt engineering with ChatGPT and explore ethical consideration of AI. Create: We will spend the majority of time using AI to develop hyper-individualized goals, plans, interventions and strategies to build teacher capacity, improve instruction. We will end with a discussion of data privacy using AI FERPA and IDEA.
Presenters:Hannah Mathews, Lisa Morin, Jen Curran, & Gabriella Arfaras
We will present two studies focused on highly effective special educators. One will examine how special educators’ instructional effectiveness is bound and shaped by their working conditions, producing very different ways of being “effective.” Another will spotlight how one teachers' agency was crucial to her effectiveness for students with low incidence disabilities. Together, these papers explore how interactions between individual beliefs and working conditions are a powerful lever for improving effectiveness.
This presentation offers practical strategies for preparing students with intellectual disabilities for inclusive postsecondary education, covering individualized education plans, skill-building programs, and the importance of collaboration. It highlights successful transitions, underscoring the impact of partnerships and mentorships. Attendees will gain actionable insights to empowering every student to achieve their potential.
Friday June 20, 2025 11:10am - 12:00pm EDT Hickory
Presenter: Alisa Hanson This presentation focuses on how one online asynchronous program incorporates evidence-based practice for online learning and has created quality interactions for its students, even in an asynchronous format. The features addressed in the presentation include but are not limited to individualized Zoom sessions, interactive discussion boards, time-stamped video feedback, cooperative learning, and instructor presence.
Friday June 20, 2025 11:10am - 12:00pm EDT Hawthorne
Presenter:Dr. Harvey Recognizing pre-crisis behaviors involves identifying early signs that may signal an impending crisis. By spotting specific indicators of a looming crisis, proactive and trauma-informed strategies can be employed to anticipate challenges while remaining sensitive to past traumas. Inclusive care planning is essential, ensuring that individual needs are considered and addressed. Empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and co-occurring mental health conditions is a key focus, using tools that encourage active participation in their own care planning. Additionally, familiarity with a crisis planning worksheet helps to streamline the planning process.
Friday June 20, 2025 11:10am - 12:00pm EDT Magnolia
Join this session to explore collaboration with related service providers to enhance support for AAC users. This presentation delves into teaming with Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Counseling, and more. Discover practical guides and case examples, enabling effective communication, device usage, and progress for AAC users in diverse settings. Gain resources tailored to individual needs for seamless integration across home, school, and community contexts.
Friday June 20, 2025 11:10am - 12:00pm EDT Live Oak
Presenter(s): Stephanie Courson Research shows that special educators are more likely to stay when they feel supported (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019). This session explores how a school psychologist fostered a thriving community of special educators in self-contained settings across a district. Attendees will gain practical strategies to build camaraderie, provide tailored professional development, and create a supportive network that enhances teacher retention and well-being.
Friday June 20, 2025 1:10pm - 2:00pm EDT Hawthorne
Relationships between schools and families of minoritized students with emotional/behavioral disorders are often strained due to disproportionate discipline and exclusion. When schools use a culturally responsive, student-centered approach that is reliant on collaboration and understanding parent perspectives, it has positive impact on the students’ academic and behavioral outcomes. This systematic literature review examines current research on family-school partnerships and creating authentic relationships between families and schools.
Empowering transition-aged students with disabilities to engage and meaningfully participate in planning for their futures is crucial to their success in adulthood. This session explores innovative approaches to enhance self-determination skills among students navigating the transition from school to post-school life. Participants will delve into practical strategies and evidence-based practices that promote self-awareness, goal setting, decision-making, problem-solving, and self-advocacy. Through interactive discussions and case studies, attendees will gain insights into creating inclusive environments that foster independence and confidence in students with disabilities. Join us to discover how person-centered self-determination instruction can profoundly impact the journey of transition-aged students toward achieving their life aspirations.
The KEES presentation is a deep dive on Brevard Counties Tier 1 Key Elements checklist. The KEES is a resource guide to support all students with disabilities in all settings with behavior management, instructional, and rapport building strategies, resources, and interventions.
Enhancing math instruction for students with exceptionalities requires targeted supports. This session examines diverse ESE deficiencies and their impact on learning. Through interactive discussions and hands-on activities, participants will explore research-based strategies like visual supports and manipulatives. Real-world examples will demonstrate how these methods boost engagement and achievement. Attendees will gain practical tools to scaffold instruction effectively and support ESE students in mathematics.
Attendees will learn strategies grounded in evidence-based practices for students with intellectual/developmental disabilities and autism to design and operate self-contained classrooms. Topics that will be addressed in this multimedia presentation include creating appropriate environmental arrangements, using explicit instruction to teach academic and functional content, establishing classroom management protocols that account for students and paraprofessionals, and supporting students’ receptive and expressive language development.
Presenter: Dr. Suzanne M. Martin & Dr. Hannah Ehrli
The presentation, using the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion, presents the importance of and the impact from the lack of civility found in today’s public spaces. Schools, once seen as safe havens, are no longer seen as such. While educators, teachers, and families are being attacked in political arenas, we ask how to move forward to the social norms of collaboration, respect, active listening, kindness, and civility.
Prensenter: Dr. Kyena Cornelius, University of Florida High-leverage practices (HLPs) are more than buzzwords, they’re the essential tools teachers use to implement evidence-based practices (EBPs) with fidelity. In this interactive session, participants will explore how key instructional HLPs, like explicit instruction, engagement and scaffolding, support successful implementation of two high-impact EBPs. Through real-world examples and quick collaborative challenges, participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to align what they teach (EBPs) with how they teach(HLPs). You will be able to start the new school year with ready to go resources.
Friday June 20, 2025 2:10pm - 3:00pm EDT Century BC
For years, dyslexia has been unnamed and misunderstood, especially in public school settings. Due to new legislation, dyslexia is coming to the forefront of the conversation in Florida, especially as it relates to the Science of Reading. Katie and Brittany have been presenting this workshop for the last 2 years for preservice educators at the University of Tampa as part of their Human Exceptionalities class, as well as at conferences for FCIS (Florida Council of Independent Schools). We've also shared this presentation as we have consulted with independent schools, charter schools and VPK programs around the Tampa Bay area to dispel myths about dyslexia, to help educators better support learners with dyslexia in their classrooms, and to raise awareness of the importance of early intervention.
In this hands-on session, participants will explore the importance of multiplication fact fluency and its impact on students' overall mathematics performance and confidence. Participants will learn techniques to assess students' baseline knowledge and methods for progress monitoring. Strategies for implementing the concrete, representational, abstract (CRA) framework and phases of learning in fluency practice will be covered, including examples across grade levels and disabilities. Practical tips for integrating fluency practice into classroom routines will be provided, and participants will leave with links to digital resources.
Friday June 20, 2025 3:10pm - 4:00pm EDT Hawthorne
Presenters: Maggie Bethea & Lisa Morin Communities of practice (CoPs) are valuable for novice special educators who experience geographic and professional isolation as well as a lack of resources in implementing special education practices. Through CoPs, teachers can build community, access and generate knowledge, and enhance instructional practices, thereby strengthening their intent to remain in the field. This session presents findings on the development, evolution, and impact of online CoPs for special education teachers.
Ever had a student for which nothing seemed to work? This presentation will demonstrate a well-researched framework to identify where in the learning process a breakdown is occurring and the interventions or instructional approaches to address that specific need. Participants will learn a different way to look at data and new instructional strategies. The focus will be on reading, but the information is applicable to math and writing as well.
Presenters: Terri Faucette, Kathleen Lind, Alexandria Pelton, Johanna Fonseca Discover how the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida (DSFF) have joined forces for the iCan! series—an innovative program designed to provide individuals with Down syndrome and their families engaging, skill-building, learning experiences. This session will explore the power of university-community collaboration, share key takeaways for practitioners, and provide actionable strategies for developing/sustaining impactful partnerships that enhance exceptional education and lifelong learning opportunities.
In this presentation, we will share research results and practical strategies for inclusive CS/robotics instruction. Participants will learn how to use Universal Design for Learning and High Leverage Practices to broaden participation and address learner variability during CS/robotics instruction. Participants will learn how CS/robotics can be integrated into classroom instruction to support students’ progress on content area standards and IEP goals.
Presenter:Sandra DeWitt The United States is facing a teacher shortage, and statistics show that many newly qualified educators leave the profession within the first five years. While these educators enter the field with the goal of positively impacting students' lives, a significant number report feeling underprepared for the challenges of inclusive classroom settings. The 22 High Leverage Practices (HLPs) serve as foundational strategies for effectively teaching students with exceptionalities and are essential in preparing pre-service teachers.
My scoping literature review examines the instructional methods used to teach HLPs and their effectiveness in bridging the gap between theoretical learning and practical application. By categorizing teaching approaches into four key groups, including Practice-Based Methods, Professional Development and Self-Analysis Methods, Collaborative and Reflective Methods, and Technology-Enhanced Methods, the presentation provides a structured analysis of how different methodologies contribute to teacher readiness. It also introduces a qualitative-based algorithm designed to assess the effectiveness of these methods based on feasibility, scalability, resource intensity, transferability, and user acceptance.
The findings of this review provide valuable insights into improving teacher preparation programs to promote equity, inclusion, and high-quality education for students with exceptionalities. My research encourages educators and policymakers to refine training programs that better equip new teachers to thrive in diverse, inclusive classrooms through meaningful discussions on policy and practice. Findings emphasize the need for systematic, hands-on HLP instruction within teacher preparation programs to ensure educators enter the workforce with the skills and confidence needed to succeed. Strengthening preparation programs and mentorship opportunities can support teacher retention and improve classroom outcomes for all students.
We draw on mixed methods data regarding working conditions as a lever for beginning special educators’ development. We will explore how working conditions, including formal and informal opportunities for professional learning, were associated with their development of highly effective academic instruction for students taught through a support-facilitation model. Findings indicate that administrative and collegial support, individual and collaborative planning time, and protected instructional time were powerful ways to provide support.
Saturday June 21, 2025 9:00am - 9:50am EDT Live Oak
Presenter: Dr. Mary Little, Dr. Sharonda Elliott, and Melissa Carli Retaining Our Teachers is Our Collaborative Goal
Participants will join the conversation around the current factors, research, and projected needs for recruitment, development, and retention of teachers, specifically special education teachers. Given the complexity of the issues surrounding the critical need for special education teachers, our focus is the development of collaborative approaches and strategies. This presentation will share resources and processes co-constructed and implemented by educators from a university personnel preparation program and school districts.
Saturday June 21, 2025 9:00am - 9:50am EDT Magnolia
Presenters:Megan McMillan, Martin Niebauer This session presents first-year data from a professional learning model that combines a three-day Special Education for General Educators Academy with ongoing, job-embedded virtual coaching. Designed to bridge knowledge and practice gaps, this approach equips K-5 general educators with high-leverage practices (HLPs) to better support students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Join us to explore key insights and outcomes from the program’s first year.
Saturday June 21, 2025 9:00am - 9:50am EDT Hickory
Sometimes you attend sessions, but leave not knowing where to start when you return to work-that will not be the case after this session! We’ll share tips and tricks for implementing assistive and educational technology, deep diving into some programs for increasing the engagement of your learners. How do you know what is the right tool for your student/classroom? Free may or may not mean it’s best! Come and learn and implement tomorrow!
Saturday June 21, 2025 9:00am - 9:50am EDT Hawthorne
Presenters: Various Join the posters sessions anytime to hear about research being conducted in the field. There will be multiple presentations simultaneously and you choose which one to listen to during that time frame.
Saturday June 21, 2025 9:00am - 11:50am EDT Azalea
Presenter: Dr. LaSonya Moore, Dr. Suzanne Martin & Dr. Martha Loue Stewart
Without culturally relevant books, all children will be denied opportunities to develop reading, concentration, attention span, and creativity – denials that will impede their ability to obtain higher education, jobs, and generational wealth. Culturally appropriate books are critical in delivering stories that mirror their identity, strengthen their self-esteem, and boost their creativity. Partnering across educational, religious and advocacy groups, we provided 660 appropriate books to young children. Here’s our story.
Saturday June 21, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am EDT Cedar
Presenters:Johanna Fonseca, Billy Allen, Rachel Barker, Remington Loeffler & Dr. Rebecca Hines Effective education for exceptional children requires a multidisciplinary approach integrating special education and speech-language pathology. This session highlights key strategies essential for fostering progress in behavior, communication, and collaboration. Educators, speech-language pathologists, and support staff will learn to create cohesive, supportive environments addressing students' complex needs. Participants will leave with actionable tools and a clear understanding of how to seamlessly incorporate these strategies into their work.
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Saturday June 21, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am EDT Hawthorne
The Essential Tips for Special Education Leaders presentation provides a foundation for building effective programs for diverse learners under IDEA. It includes research-based practices on leadership, student achievement, and special education programs. The session aims to impart knowledge and authentic practices to support leadership in special education and provide the fundamental knowledge necessary for performing special education leadership tasks.
Saturday June 21, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am EDT Birch
Drafting substitute plans can be challenging, but leveraging AI can ease the workload. This presentation highlights essential elements for students with disabilities, addressing gaps teachers may overlook. We'll focus on what should be included and provide strategies to streamline the process, ensuring smooth transitions when the teacher is absent.
Saturday June 21, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am EDT Live Oak
Teaching has never been more complex than it is today. Educators are tasked with implementing high leverage practices for students with disabilities, exemplary teaching practices for students learning English, and evidence based strategies for students of poverty, all within the UDL framework. Participants will explore the connections between each of these best practices and will leave with actionable strategies that they can utilize immediately in order to meet the needs of ALL students.
Saturday June 21, 2025 10:00am - 10:50am EDT Magnolia
