Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Summit 2022: A Virtual Event

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Summit Information

We invite all early childhood educators to attend the annual Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Summit, to connect with colleagues and engage in professional development topics that are important to you. This year's Summit, sponsored by Arizona's Early Intervention Program and ADE's Early Childhood Special Education unit, is entitled "We Are All in This Together: A Universal Design for Learning" and will be held as a virtual event again. It is our hope that this conference will support all practitioners in early childhood education programs to have access to information and best practices that will inspire them, thereby helping families and children to learn and grow. We are excited to share the focus of our keynote speakers Junlei Li and Stacey Gordon. These national speakers will illustrate what teachers and caregivers do extraordinarily well on a day to day basis, and how positive interactions between children, families, and educators support children's ongoing growth and development. 

Session Recordings

Arizona Preschool Special Education Director Updates

Summit Highlights

Junlei Li

Junlei Li serves the co-chair of the Human Development and Education Program and the Saul Zaentz senior lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

His research and practice focus on understanding and supporting the work of those who serve children and families on the front lines of education and social services. Li studied and learned from a wide range of development settings with low resources but high-quality practices, including orphanages, childcare, classrooms, and community youth programs. His keynote presentation of “Simple Interactions” is a summary of his research. He developed the “Simple Interaction” approach to help identify what ordinary people do extraordinarily well with children in everyday moments and made the basis for promoting positive system change.

Stacey Gordon 

StaceyGordon

Stacey Gordon is a puppeteer from Phoenix, Arizona. She operates Puppet Pie, an art studio in the heart of Phoenix, AZ and has the honor of performing one of Sesame Street’s newest friends, Julia, a curious 4-year-old girl with autism. Stacey began her journey with the autism community in 2001 as a habilitation specialist. In 2010, her son was diagnosed with autism, and her journey continued. She uses her personal experiences as a habilitation specialist and mom to bring Julia to life in an authentic, respectful, and loving way. In addition to her work on Sesame Street, she also teaches puppetry to a neurodiverse audience around the country as well as at Puppet Pie. Stacey is an alumna of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Puppetry Conference, and serves on the board of directors for the Puppeteers of America. In her spare time, she is working on converting a vintage ice cream truck into a mobile art studio.

Page updated 1/27/22