Deep Dive Pre-Conference Workshops

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Strand: Professional, Age level: 0-3, Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Lorelei Pisha, Lisa Terry, Cori Hill, Jonathan Buffkin This pre-conference session will equip EI PD system providers with the know-how to implement a comprehensive, accessible, and sustainable PD system. Presenters will share a strategic approach for constructing an impactful PD system. Participants will network, problem-solve barriers, and take away a plan for improving their own PD system.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 3-5 , Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Kelly Wilson Prevent Teach Reinforce: for Young Children (PTR-YC) is a manualized process created to guide teams through shaping behavior that challenges us. This process supports teams and families in successfully shaping persistent and significant challenging behaviors by reducing those behaviors that challenge us and focusing intentionally on teaching new skills.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 5-8, Content level: Introductory Presenter: Jon Lee Want to spark change through conversation? Join us for an interactive exploration of practical conversational skills to empower positive behavior! Learn how to inspire change and navigate challenging conversations. You'll learn practical conversational skills grounded in Motivational Interviewing that you can use immediately with parents and colleagues.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Strand: Research, Age level: 0-5, Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Karin Lifter This project video recorded and analyzed 30-minute play observations of 492 children, developing with and without delays, ages 8- to 60-months, to create a play assessment system. The assessment is used to determine what children with delays know and what they are ready to learn to identify developmentally relevant goals in play and to use play in support of other domains.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Strand: Policy, Age level: 0-5, Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Deana Buck, Deepa Srinivasavaradan, Melissa Crist, Jennifer Hall-Lande Would you like to improve your efforts in identifying developmental concerns in young children? The CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early” campaign has FREE materials for families and providers. Join Act Early Ambassadors from four states for this working session to learn how to integrate these tools into existing EC systems. Leave with an action plan and materials toolkit!

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 0-5, Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Toni Linder Transdisciplinary Play-based Assessment3 and Transdisciplinary Play-based Intervention3 transform assessment and intervention by emphasizing critical processes that underly skills across domains. How do we shift to emphasize educational process goals in a play-based approach? Participants will engage in transdisciplinary, process-based planning for a play-based module.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 0-8, Content level: Introductory Presenter: Vicki Stayton DEC is sponsoring a new initiative to support the dissemination and use of the EI/ECSE Standards within states and territories. A pilot program will identify through an application process a Standards Ambassador(s) for a small number of states/territories. Initially, the primary audience within each state/territory will be higher education faculty. The program will be modeled after the Recommended Practices (RPs) Ambassador program. This preconference session will provide an overview of the training for and implementation of the Recommended Ambassadors program, initial thoughts as to how the Standards Ambassador initiative might be similar and different from the RPs Ambassador model, and participant input on the organization and structure of the Standards Ambassador program through small group brainstorming and large group discussion. Standards resources that Ambassadors might use will be highlighted. If you are interested in learning about this program and/or maybe applying to be an Ambassador, this session is for you! This session is free to attend.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Strand: Family, Age level: 3-5, Content level: Introductory Presenter: Yvette Mere-Cook Families and early childhood educators will explore ways to embed science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math within young children's everyday lives. This workshop will present hands-on activities in each of these disciplines that tap into children's strengths and leverage their interests in order to address developmental goals and access to early STEAM learning.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 0-5, Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Anni Reinking, Laycee Thigpen In this training, participants will work to identify characteristics of a resistant, beginning, learner, or mentor educator in the context of equity and inclusion implementation. Participants will develop strategies to best support educators in conversations and transformative engagement in the context of equity and justice in learning settings.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 0-5, Content level: Advanced Presenter: Erin Barton, Brandy Lochetta We will explore practical strategies, tools, and policies for fostering inclusive learning environments in early childhood education. Participants will examine evidence-based approaches, cross-sector collaboration, and coaching models to support equity and accessibility. Real-life case studies and vignettes will highlight inclusion practices that benefit children.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 0-5, Content level: Introductory Presenter: Ron Shuali Laugh out loud while learning 5 tools to instantly improve behavior using a proven system with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic cues. This approach supports all children, including neurodivergent students. Helping the exceptional leaders get their needed attention has them help lead the classroom with strength and respect. Sing, stretch, breathe, laugh and play with us

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 0-8, Content level: Introductory The Early Interventionist/Early Childhood Special Educator (EI/ECSE) Standards represent the first standards to focus specifically on the preparation of professionals who work with young children ages birth through 8 who have or are at-risk for developmental delays and disabilities and their families, across home, classroom and community settings. Join us for an overview of the standards and how they are being used in higher education and state level personnel preparation. This session is free to attend.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 3-5, Content level: Intermediate Presenter: Maria Sargeant Session covers neurodevelopmental techniques to enhance material usage, environmental design, and play and behavior support for individual learning preferences. Techniques include matching memory buffers, alternating whole-to-part versus part-to-whole memory construction, using neurological cue sequences, matching learning speeds, discerning groupness needs, etc.

Tuesday, October 7th, 2025 1:00 AM to 4:00 PM Strand: Practice, Age level: 5-3, Content level: Introductory Presenter: Wendy Murawski, Zhen Chai Co-teaching in early childhood can significantly enhance the developmental experiences of young learners. Having two educators in a class allows for more individualized attention to meet diverse and developing social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical skills. This engaging session will model co-teaching, address barriers & share strategies for success!

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DEC has put together a Conference Toolkit (formerly Justification Toolkit) that includes the conference description, dates, location, registration rates and discounts, hotel room rates, and a letter to customize for your employer. Download the DEC 2025 Conference Toolkit here.

We do not have a virtual option for this year's conference. We do have additional virtual events available this year like the DEC Summer Institute. Please subscribe to our email list to stay informed of any upcoming opportunities.

Following the final day of the conference, attendees will receive certificate of attendance noting the dates and times of the conference days for which they registered. Everyone who attends a session will be able to complete a self-reported transcript form.

Group registration is available at our regular registration link. On the registration question page, you can click "registering for someone else" and you won't need to answer the questions that follow, then there is a "Register an additional attendee" button near the end of the registration process. That will let you add multiple registrants and pay for all registrations at one time. Group discount codes can be obtained by contacting dec@dec-sped.org. Group codes must be used at the time of registration to qualify. Group members will receive individual confirmations and should work with their administration to ensure that documentation is provided to the correct office.

Certificates are sent by email shortly after the conference completion. Please note that you should download and save your certificate, so that it is available when you need to document your PD. The links are only good for 30 days.

Individuals must register before receiving a letter of invitation. If you are traveling from outside of the United States, please email conference@dec-sped.org for additional information.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Register here. Conference registration rates are available below. Registration rates below are for Full Conference Registration (this includes the Keynote on Wednesday, October 7th, through the final conference session on Friday, October 10th). Pre-Conference Workshops are available to attend on Tuesday, October 7th for an additional fee. Download the Conference Toolkit here to access all information about the DEC conference. Download a copy of the registration rates here.

The self-reported transcripts show that attendees have received Division for Early Childhood Professional Development Hours. We don't have any specific accreditations outside of the guarantees of our organization so we recommend attendees check with their local licensure or other professional organization. If there is anything we can provide related to the details of each session (e.g. title, presentation description, presenter details), we can provide those as well to help facilitate the requests made by specific accreditation organizations.

Registrations paid or promised by check, credit card, or purchase order are subject to the following: If cancelled within 24 Hours of Initial Registration Date, a 100% refund will be issued. If cancelling within 24 hours of initial registration date, you must email conference@dec-sped.org to cancel the registration on your behalf. If cancelled by August 1st, 2025, 11:59 PM Eastern, a 50% refund will be issued automatically. If cancelled after August 1st, 2025, 11:59 PM Eastern, no refunds will be issued. Until October 1st, 2025, registrations can be transferred to a new conference registrant by emailing conference@dec-sped.org with the name and email address for the new conference attendee. This option is not valid if the new registrant has already completed a conference registration.

Hotel rates for the Hyatt Regency are listed below. Hotel rooms are also available at the Courtyard Portland Downtown/Convention Center and Hotel Eastlund. Visit each hotel's reservation link to see the available rates. Courtyard Portland Downtown/Convention Center Hotel Eastlund

Conference Location Oregon Convention Center 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland, OR 97232 ​ This year's conference sessions and events will take place at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. The Convention Center is centrally located so attendees will have easy access to local hotels, restaurants, and activities. DEC Conference Hotel Reservations The Hyatt Regency Portland Make Your Reservation Learn More 375 NE Holladay Street Portland, OR 97232 Courtyard Portland Downtown/Convention Center Make Your Reservation Learn More 435 NE Wasco St Portland, OR 97232 Hotel Eastlund Make Your Reservation Learn More 1021 Northeast Grand Ave Portland, Oregon 97232 To receive the discounted rate & be counted in the DEC room block, you must book your reservation via DEC's links. Visit the reservation links above to see all available room types and rates.

Due to the high number of submissions, we are not able to move sessions from the submitted session type to another session type (e.g. conference session to poster session).

DEC is unable to provide discounts due to the high number of presenters – approximately 500-600. DEC does offer a variety of discounted registration rates: early career, family, student, etc. Registration rates are listed here.

The call for proposals is now closed. Notification emails will be sent in May. If you're interested in receiving updates on future opportunities to present, sign up for our email list here.

The poster boards are 8ft tall x 4 ft wide, so the only requirement is that the poster does not exceed the limits of this space. You may want to check with your university/institution on their requirements so that you'll be able to reuse your poster at future events. Poster sessions each last one hour. Access to tables/electricity will not be available during the poster sessions.

Notifications were sent Spring 2025. Contact conference@dec-sped.org if you have questions.

We highly recommend uploading your materials at least one week in advance so attendees will be able to download them before attending your session. It may be difficult or it may not be possible to for attendees to download files while on-site based on wi-fi availability. Your materials must be uploaded 24-48 hours prior to your presentation. If you are presenting, you will receive a link to access the conference app and upload your handouts. DEC will not be able to accept handouts via email.

DEC acknowledges childcare may be a barrier to attendance, however, DEC does not have the capacity to offer childcare on site and our insurance does not cover those not registered as attendees, which includes children. Children are not permitted in sessions, the exhibit hall, or any conference activities. Infants who are not mobile and are in continuous care of the parent are excluded. There are a limited number of family scholarships available which can be used for childcare. Please sign up for the "Opportunities for Families" email list to be notified when family scholarship applications open.

DEC offers discounted registrations for DEC members, students, early career professionals, and practitioners (professionals who work directly with children and their families more than 50% of the time). These discounted registrations do not require discount codes; attendees just need to select the "Registration Type" associated with their role when registering at registration. Families with young children with disabilities (ages 0-8) are eligible to receive a registration waiver for 100% off conference registration. Learn more and apply here. Registration waiver applications are approved on a rolling basis. Family Scholarship applications are now closed. The Division for Early Childhood offers a limited number of Family Scholarships in the amount of $500 to support the conference attendance of families of children ages 0-8 receiving Early Intervention and/or Early Childhood Special Education services. These scholarships can be used to pay for costs related to travel, hotel accommodations, or childcare.

Please email conference@dec-sped.org once you have registered for the conference. We advise that you email us at least one month before the conference start date so we have ample time to facilitate any accommodation requests.

Thank you for your interest in exhibiting at the 2025 conference in Portland, Oregon! Conference registration is open now for exhibitors, sponsors, and advertisers for the upcoming Division for Early Childhood 41st Annual International Conference on Young Children with Disabilities. Register here. Download the Exhibitor Prospectus here.

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Pre-Conference Workshops are Open Now! This year at the conference, pre-conference workshops will take place on Tuesday, September 27th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the Hilton Chicago. Each pre-conference workshop costs just $50. Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance via email following the workshop. Register for the workshops now! Already registered? Click "Already Registered" on this page and enter your confirmation number to modify your current registration. Workshops include. . . Addressing the Heart of Compassion Fatigue Abstract: To focus on self-care to address compassion fatigue and burnout may miss a key point. According to Dr. Christina Maslach, a leading burnout researcher, this implication may only worsen the problem, because it lays the responsibility on the person experiencing burnout. Instead, we must understand compassion itself and look at work expectations to make changes at the source. Age Level: 0-5 Strand: Policy Content Level: Intermediate Presenters: Erin Kinavey Wennerstrom, Anders Kinavey Wennerstrom, Sondra Stegenga Making Inclusion Work: Early Care and Education Environment Indicators Abstract: During this workshop, presenters will share the importance of and development of the early care and education environment (ECEE) indicators of inclusion as part of a suite of multilevel indicators of high-quality inclusion. Participants will examine the ECEE indicators and learn protocols for how they can be used to support providers working with children across settings. Age Level: 3-5 Strand: Practice Content Level: Intermediate Presenters: Alissa Rausch, Megan Vinh, Phillip Strain Play-Based Assessment: Training Professionals in Authentic Processes Abstract: In this session, we will focus on the authentic and holistic processes of play-based assessments and the importance of training pre-service and in-service early childhood teams. We will focus on A2 and A6 of the DEC Recommended Practices. We will discuss the benefits of play-based assessments for children and families from marginalized and minoritized communities. Age Level: 0-5 Strand: Professional Development Content Level: Introductory Presenters: Jeanine Coleman, Deborah Bruns, Toni Linder Using Research and Reflection to Understand the Impact of Self-Leadership Abstract: This session will offer participants an opportunity to reflect on their own leadership practices and characteristics, while also providing time to evaluate how their working styles may be perceived by others.The focus goes beyond self-reflection and seeks to enhance understanding the impact our actions have across our diverse spheres of influence. Age Level: 0-5 Strand: Professional Development Content Level: Intermediate Presenters: Annie George-Puskar, Elizabeth Beavers, Deborah Bruns

If you're looking to view or modify your current registration visit this page and click "Already Registered".

We Need You! The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) is seeking DEC Members to act as Reviewers to support the conference proposal review process for Division for Early Childhood's 39th Annual International Conference on Young Children with Disabilities and Their Families. You could win a $50 Amazon gift card for helping! All reviewers who complete all proposals by the deadline will have their names entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card. Five winners will be selected! The Review Process Based on member feedback, the Proposal and Review processes were simplified for the 2023 conference. We hope the changes make the tasks and deadlines more manageable for everyone. Details about and Reviewer responsibilities are listed in the application. The Deadlines Monday, January 23rd, 2023 The Reviewer Call closes Monday, February 6th, 2023 Reviewers notified of strand assignment Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 Reviewers Begin Rating Monday, March 13th, 2023 Reviewers' Last Day to Review We hope you will apply, and we look forward to working with you! Apply here.

Full conference registration includes events on Wednesday, September 28th through Friday, September 30th. DEC Pre-Conference Workshops will take place on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022, and are available for purchase for an additional fee. Learn more here. The Schedule at a Glance is available below. Individual session information is available here. Download the full Justification Toolkit here to access all information about the DEC conference. Download a copy of the Schedule-at-a-Glance here.

All attendees, presenters, vendors, exhibitors, volunteers, and staff are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to provide proof of vaccination - a booster is not required. DEC will request proof of vaccination virtually prior to the start of the conference. Accommodations will be granted only in cases where an individual is unable to be vaccinated due to a documented medical need and must be requested in advance (instructions will be sent as part of the virtual verification mentioned above). Addition of Masking Requirement: To fully protect our attendees DEC has decided to add a masking requirement. Masks will be required in all public spaces of the conference. This includes speakers. If you have questions, please contact Peggy Kemp, peggy@dec-sped.org.

The 2022 DEC & ISEI Joint Conference will be an in-person event in Chicago, Illinois from September 27th -30th, 2022. The conference schedule is now available! Access the full schedule here. Full conference registration includes events on Wednesday, September 28th through Friday, September 30th. DEC Pre-Conference Workshops will take place on Tuesday, September 27th, 2022, and are available for purchase for an additional fee. Learn more about the pre-conference workshops here.