Dr. Yellin Speaks at Council of Exceptional Children Convention

Dr. Yellin is in Rochester, NY today, speaking to the 58th Annual Convention of  The New York State Council of Exceptional Children, which describes itself as "The Voice and the Vision of Special Education in New York State."

He is joining with Diana Bowers and Peggy O'Connor, Superintendent and Director of Special Education, respectively, of the Hamilton Central School District in upstate New York, to discuss "The Partnership Between Educators and Clinicians." Their talk builds upon an on-site professional development program Dr. Yellin provided for the staff of the district to help them create a meaningful program of Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is an approach to identifying students with learning challenges by analyzing their response to increasing levels of academic interventions and teaching methods to determine whether and to what extent students may need special education services or settings.

Since Dr. Yellin's visit to Hamilton in July, 2010, the Hamilton professionals -- Principals, Learning Specialists, Reading Specialists, Classroom Teachers, and the District Psychologist, Occupational Therapist, and Superintendent of Schools -- have been applying their new approach and have seen measurable improvement in student performance. It is this exciting result of the collaboration between educators and clinicians that is the focus of today's presentation, which includes a discussion of the training, and success stories of children who have benefited from the implementation of this thoughtful, researched-based RTI program. Dr. Yellin, Dr. Bowers, and Ms. O'Connor previously presented information on their collaboration and the approach used by The Yellin Center team to attendees of the New York State School Boards Association Annual Convention in New York City.


Photo used under Creative Commons by Patrick Ashley