LD Conferences

		LD National and Subdivision Conferences Next Conference Baltimore: 29 & 30 Oct. 2010 Previous Conferences San Diego: 23 & 24 Oct. 2009 Philadelphia, PA: 24 & 25 Oct. 2008 San Antonio, TX: Fall 2007 San Francisco, CA: Fall 2006 Charleston, SC: Fall 2005 Orlando: November 2004 Nashville: November 2003 Pittsburgh: September 2002 Seattle DLD at CEC 2009 Louisville DLD Showcase 2007

Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice
November 3rd & 4th, 2006
Palace Hotel
San Francisco, California

We're excited about our conference program! As always, the DLD Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice Conference includes workshop-length sessions on topics that are relevant to teachers and administrators working with students with learning disabilities.

For a brochure in PDF format, click here.

How to Register

There are two ways to register:

1. To print a registration form to mail in, click here.
2. To register online with a credit card, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact our Executive Director.

Registration Fees

By September 20, 2006
Registration for DLD members		$185
Registration for all others		$205
After September 20, 2006
Registration for DLD members		$205
Registration for all others		$225

Full time students may apply for a Roads Scholarship to help defray the costs of attending DLD's conference. For more information and an application, click here.

Hotel Information

To reserve a room at the Palace Hotel, you may either

1. call (415) 512-1111 and identify yourself as a participant of the Division for Learning Disabilities Conference, or
2. click on this link to go directly to the reservation webpage.

Conference rates are $169.00 for both a single and a double. A third person will be an additional $40.00. Rooms will be available at these rates until October 2, 2006. A limited number of rooms are available so please reserve your room early.

Conference Schedule

Thursday, November 2nd
5:00pm-7:00pm Early-bird check-in and materials purchase/pick-up

Friday, November 3rd
7:00-8:30am Check-in and materials purchase/pick-up
7:00-8:30am Continental breakfast
8:30-11:30am Sessions
11:40-1:00pm Luncheon
1:15-4:15pm Sessions
5:00-6:30pm Reception

Saturday, November 4th
7:00-8:30am Continental breakfast/Focus groups
8:30-11:30am Sessions
11:30-1:00pm Lunch on your own
1:00-4:00pm Sessions

About the Sessions

Friday Morning Sessions
Session Number	Presenters	Description
FM1	Presenters: Margo Mastropieri and Kimberly McDuffie	HELPING STUDENTS SUCCEED IN SCHOOL This presentation highlights strategies designed to help students pass content area classes and high stakes tests in school. Specific strategies to be covered include: test-taking strategies, reading comprehension strategies for content area learning, peer mediation strategies for learning content, and questioning strategies applied in English and World history classes. Grade Level: 6-12. Level: All. Materials: Provided
FM2	Presenter: Steve Isaacson	EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION IN THE WRITING PROCESS This presentation describes a procedure for teaching the writing process to students with learning disabilities, emphasizing the teacher's role in modeling the strategies that students will use. The presentation will consider different purposes for writing, the use of examples to teach critical features, and strategies for student editing of their own or peers' work. Grade Level: 4-8. Level: Beginning/Intermediate. Materials: Provided
FM3	Presenters: Todd Busch and Erica Lembke	MONITORING STUDENT PROGRESS USING CURRICULUM-BASED MEASUREMENT IN READING Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a continuous progress monitoring system designed to evaluate student progress in basic academic skills areas. Use of these measures can help inform instructional decisions and increase student achievement. In this session, participants will learn how to implement two types of reading CBM measures in their classroom—read aloud and maze. Grade Level: K-12. Level: Beginning Materials: Provided
FM4	Presenter: California RTI Group	CURRENT RTI INITIATIVES IN CALIFORNIA A consortium of state organizations (ACSA, CTA, SELPA, CASP, CSHA and others) has joined together to help with the implementation of Response-to-Intervention in California. In this session, a panel of education leaders will share a national and state perspective on Essential Considerations for Policy Development related to RTI. The topics include: Progress Monitoring, Research-based Interventions, Concept of Multiple Tiers, and what is Responsiveness. Grade Level: All Level: All Materials: Provided
FM5	MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND STUDENTS WITH LD: TWO PRESENTATIONS
	Presentation 1: Presenters: Jose Luis Alvarado and Anne McCarty	Schools face unique challenges in addressing the needs of English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities who have yet to master the English language and may not be proficient in reading and writing in their native language. Peer Assisted Learning Strategies will be presented as a research-based strategy for addressing reading comprehension of this population at the secondary level.
	Presentation 2: Presenters: Cathy Kea and Loury Ollison Floyd	This session will assist attendees with designing and delivering culturally responsive lesson plans and home learning activities for parents. Participants will engage in dialogue surrounding the standard course of study and the need to extend academic activities to the home environment.
Friday Afternoon Sessions
Session Number	Presenters	Description
FA1	Presenter: Nancy Cushen White	BEYOND DECODING: FLUENCY AND READING COMPREHENSION: CHUNKING WORDS FROM CONNECTED TEXT When decoding has become automatic, students may need direct instruction in learning to chunk words from connected text into meaningful phrases to foster fluency and comprehension. Instruction builds a comprehensive understanding of the relevance of punctuation, phrase concept, word order-syntax, and sentence structure. Students are taught to answer questions with precision. Every word and phrase in a sentence has a specific purpose that relates to the message of the writer. Grade Level: 4-12. Level: Beginning/Intermediate. Materials: Provided
FA2	Presenter: Susan Gurganus	INFORMAL MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENTS THAT CLARIFY STUDENT CONCEPT UNDERSTANDING Formal measures of mathematics achievement do not assess many critical aspects of mathematics learning, but special educators may not be prepared to implement informal measures. Participants will be engaged in the creation and interpretation of informal mathematics assessments that combine probes, error analysis, and think alouds to determine "big idea" concept understanding and strategic knowledge of students with LD. Grade Level: K-12 Knowledge level:All Materials: Provided
FA3	Presenters: Mike Gerber, Emily Solari, Carola Matera, Alexis Filippini	RESPONSE TO INSTRUCTION FOR YOUNG ENGLISH LEARNERS This session will include research-based instructional methods for teaching phonological skills, listening comprehension, early writing and vocabulary learning by pre-k through first grade English learners. Attendees will receive handouts summarizing methods and materials to be used in a RTI approach to identifying high risk students. Grade Level: Pre-K-1.Level: Beginning/Intermediate. Materials: Provided
FA4	Presenter: Charlie Hughes	TESTING... TESTING... All students, including those with learning disabilities, take tests. In middle and high school they can take over 100 classroom quizzes per year as well as high stakes assessments. Apart from content knowledge, effective test taking is a set of skills and strategies that help students "show what they know." In this session, participants will learn how to teach two strategies, one for taking objective tests and another for taking essay tests. Grade Level: 6-12. Level: Beginning/Intermediate Materials: Required. SIM Instructors manuals $30.
FA5	Presenter: Kathleen Marshall	EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE AND SCIENTIFICALLY-BASED PRACTICE: INTERPRETING THE DATA Legal and procedural requirements for evidence-based and scientifically-based practices will be presented. Multiple sources for effective practice will be examined, reviewed, and evaluated. Professional perspectives and approaches to making the most of a variety of resources will be discussed. Participants will develop strategies for interpreting the information available on evidence based and scientifically based practice. Grade Level: K-12. Level: All Materials: Provided
Saturday Morning Sessions
Session Number	Presenters	Description
SM1	Presenter: Pam Stecker	USING CURRICULUM-BASED MEASUREMENT TO MONITOR STUDENT PROGRESS IN READING Participants learn to use curriculum-based measurement (CBM), an evidence-based assessment methodology, for monitoring student progress in reading. This session focuses on the administration and scoring of two commonly used measures to evaluate literacy progress: oral reading fluency and maze. The use of data-utilization rules for determining the need for instructional modification is explained as well as the implementation of potentially effective reading interventions. Additionally, discussion includes several computer- and Web-based applications of CBM. Grade Levels: 1-8. Level: Beginning. Materials: Provided.
SM2	Presenters: Kim Bright and Paul Riccomini	I THINK: TEACHING SECONDARY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES REAL LIFE PROBLEM SOLVING To function independently after high school, students with learning disabilities need to think, reason, and solve problems in all aspects of their lives including work, family, and responsible citizenship. However, the failure of students with learning disabilities to acquire these skills is well documented. The I THINK strategy teaches "real-life" problem solving that is easy to integrate into any classroom, fun, and geared to a variety of educational settings and specific "real-life" problems. Grade Level: 7-12. Level: Beginning to Intermediate. Materials: Provided.
SM3	Presenter: Yvonne Bui	THE DEMAND WRITING INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL: ENHANCING STUDENTS' WRITING PERFORMANCE ON STATEWIDE WRITING ASSESSMENTS This session will focus on a writing instruction model that prepares upper elementary students with and without disabilities for statewide writing assessments. The session includes lessons on the Six Traits of Writing, responding to writing prompts, pre-writing planning, sentence writing, paragraph writing, theme writing, and editing. Grade Level: 4-8. Level: Beginning. Materials: Fundamentals of Sentence Writing Strategy: Instructors Manual and Student Lessons ($29.00)
SM4	Presenter: Judy Engelhard	SYSTEMATIC DECODING STRATEGIES FOR OLDER STUDENTS This session provides a systematic approach to instruction in reading decoding strategies for upper elementary and secondary students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) in Reading who have not acquired basic reading skills at an automatic level. Participants will use an organized system for teaching essential reading decoding skills with an emphasis on vowel patterns and syllable division strategies to be used in content area texts. Grade Level: 4-12 Level: Beginning to Intermediate. Materials: Provided.
SM5	RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION: TWO PRESENTATIONS
	Presenter: Doug Fuchs	FINDINGS FROM LONGITUDINAL WORK AT THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER ON LEARNING DISABILITIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR PREVENTING AND IDENTIFYING DISABILITIES This presentation will describe research conducted by the National Research Center on LD on screening for at-risk students and on monitoring their progress within the context of responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI). The Center's work on attempting to predict student's reading failure across one school year and multiple school years, using traditional and non-traditional measures of student performance, will also be presented. Finally, important questions and issues for teachers, support personnel, and administrators with interest in RTI will be addressed.
	Presenters: Doug Fuchs, Ed Kame'enui, Mike Gerber, Charlie Hughes, John Lloyd, and Margo Mastropieri	EXAMINING THE CONSTRUCT OF LEARNING DISABILITIES With the implementation of IDEA 2004, the concept of RTI has been in the forefront of discussion. Though all educators support the provision of appropriate instruction in general education, the use of RTI as a process to identify specific learning disabilities has been a concern. If response to intervention is going to be used as part of an identification procedure, then understanding the core concept of learning disabilities is critical. In this session, a panel of special educators who have been prominent in the field of learning disabilities will clarify the basic tenets required to define the construct of learning disabilities.
Saturday Afternoon Sessions
Session Number	Presenters	Description
SA1	Presenter: Anita Archer	DYNAMIC VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION: EFFECTIVE PRACTICES ACROSS GRADES AND SUBJECTS On a daily basis we observe the importance of vocabulary to reading and listening comprehension and overall school achievement. Even as students enter school, there are meaningful differences in vocabulary based on their prior experiences. For this reason, all teachers in all subjects must be vocabulary teachers. This session will focus on a number on explicit teaching of vocabulary and word-learning strategies for independently determining the meaning of a word. Research-validated procedures for selecting vocabulary for instruction, introducing vocabulary, and providing engaging practice that leads to retention will be demonstrated and practiced. Grade Level: All. Level: Beginner/Intermediate. Materials: Provided
SA2	Presenters: Susan Miller and Pam Hudson	EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES DESIGNED TO BUILD MATHEMATICS COMPETENCE AMONG ELEMENTARY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES The purpose of this session is to describe and demonstrate evidence-based practices that teachers can use when helping students meet challenging mathematics standards. Emphasis will be placed on building mathematics competence related to conceptual, procedural, and declarative knowledge, and linking these knowledge types to authentic problem solving. Opportunities to practice a variety of strategies will be provided during this hands-on session. Grade Level: K-6. Level: Beginning Materials: Provided
SA3	Presenter: Karen Rooney	INDEPENDENT STRATEGIES FOR EFFICIENT STUDY Knowing how to study is an important skill for the older student.This session will present strategies that have been shown to improve grades by one to three letter grades without any other intervention.The purpose of the program is to empower the student but can also be used during instruction. Strategies for reading, writing, spelling, math, foreign language and note taking will be presented and participants will leave with the knowledge to implement the strategies immediately. Grade Level: 6-12. Level: All. Materials: Required. Software and Manual (PC): $60.
SA4	Presenter: Susan Osborne	SELF-MONITORING: USING ATTENTION, ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY, EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIORAL APPLICATIONS This workshop provides an introduction to research-supported self-monitoring strategies that teachers can use to address academic and emotional/behavioral difficulties that often characterize pupils with LD and to help these individuals develop greater self-awareness and self-management skills. Procedures for evaluating intervention effectiveness and making data-based instructional decisions will be included. Grade Level: 2-12. Level: Beginning & Intermediate. Materials: Provided
SA5	Presenter: Peggy Weiss	MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE: WHAT STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES NEED TO KNOW Participants in this session will learn about the differences between services available for students with learning disabilities at the high school and college levels.The session will focus on the research available in best practices for helping college students with learning disabilities succeed, including developing self-advocacy skills. A pilot program for student athletes with learning disabilities will be discussed. Grade Level: 9-12. Level: Beginning/Intermediate. Materials: Provided

How to Register

There are two ways to register:

1. To print a registration form to mail in, click here.
2. To register online with a credit card, click here.

Presenters

Jose Luis Alvarado is Associate Professor of Special Education at San Diego State University. Interests include effective instruction for ethnolinguistically diverse students with disabilities and best practices in behavior management.

Anita Archer serves as an educational consultant to school districts on effective instruction, classroom management and design of effective literacy programs. She co-authored Skills for School Success, a study skills program for elementary and middle school students, Advanced Skills for School Success, and REWARDS, a program to teach students advanced decoding and fluency skills, and REWARDS PLUS with Dr. Mary Gleason.

Kimberly Bright is currently Assistant Professor of Teacher Education/Special Education at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Prior to entering higher education, Kimberly served as a Director of Special Education and a teacher of students with learning disabilities. Kimberly has served as President of Pennsylvania's Association Council for Exceptional Children.

Yvonne Bui is an Assistant Professor and the Department Chair for the Department of Learning & Instruction at the University of San Francisco. She is also the Project Director for a high-incidence personnel preparation grant, Project SET-UP: Special Education Training for Urban/Underrepresented Professionals.

Todd Busch is an Assistant Professor in the Special Populations Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He has ten years of experience as a teacher and researcher in the field of special education and has lectured nationally on formal and informal assessment procedures. His research interests include curriculum-based measurement and reading comprehension at the secondary-school level.

Judy B. Engelhard is Associate Professor of Special Education at Coastal Carolina University and Professor Emeritus at Radford University. She has served on national boards for several professional organizations including the Division for Learning Disabilities. Her professional interests include specific learning disabilities, reading instruction and remediation, teacher quality, and public policy.

Dr. Loury Ollison Floyd is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She is interested in families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, along with the recruitment and retention of persons from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in higher education.

Doug Fuchs holds the Nicholas Hobbs Chair in Special Education and Human Development at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University where he teaches, conducts research, and co-directs the Vanderbilt-Kennedy Center Reading Clinic. He has been a general education and special education teacher as well as a school psychologist.

Mike Gerber is Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has been teaching and conducting research about Learning Disabilities since the 1980s. For the past five years, he has investigated the learning problems of students who are English learners and how their second language learning problems may be distinguished from problems indicative of learning disabilities.

Susan Gurganus is Professor of Special Education at the College of Charleston. Her research involves mathematics learning disabilities and interventions. She was a teacher for ten years, in elementary and middle school mathematics and secondary special education.

Pamela Hudson, Associate Professor at Utah State University, has taught mathematics to junior high school students with learning disabilities. She is co-author of Designing and Implementing Mathematics Instruction for Students with Diverse Learning Needs

Charlie Hughes is Professor of Special Education at Penn State University and is Editor of Learning Disabilities Research and Practice. He has co-authored several of the Learning Strategies books in the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning's Strategic Intervention Model (SIM).

Steve Isaacson is Professor of special education at Portland State University. Dr. Isaacson has authored many articles and book chapters on the teaching of writing to students with learning disabilities and has given workshops on writing all over the U.S.

Cathy Kea is a Professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University where she serves as coordinator of the Special Education Program. Her current research focus is on culturally responsive instruction and how to infuse diversity throughout teacher preparation programs. She believes that all children should be taught by culturally competent educators.

Erica Lembke is Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Missouri. She has conducted multiple state and national presentations on progress monitoring using CBM and is currently a trainer for the National Center on Progress Monitoring and a researcher with the Research Institute on Progress Monitoring.

John Lloyd is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Virginia where he teaches in the area of learning disabilities. He is Past-President of the Division for Learning Disabilities.

Kathleen J. Marshall is Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina and Vice-President of DLD. She teaches graduate courses in learning disabilities, and reading. She is co-director of two federally funded grants, and is co-author with Nancy Hunt of the text, Exceptional Children and Youth, currently in its fourth edition.

Margo A. Mastropieri is Professor of Special Education at George Mason University in the Graduate School of Education. Her current research interests include strategies to facilitate learning for students with special needs including comprehension strategies, mnemonic strategies, and strategies to facilitate content area learning.

Anne McCarty is a Resource Specialist at Kearny High Educational Complex. She has 7 years experience teaching secondary students with mild/moderate disabilities.

Kimberly McDuffie is Assistant Professor of Special Education at Clemson University in South Carolina. She was formerly a middle school special education teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. Her research interests include instructional strategies for effective inclusive instruction and co-teaching.

Susan Miller, Professor of Special Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, has taught mathematics to elementary and high school students with and without disabilities. She is co-author of the Strategic Math Series and Designing and Implementing Mathematics Instruction for Students with Diverse Learning Needs.

Susan Osborne is Past-President of DLD and an Associate Professor of Special Education specializing in learning disabilities and attentional disorders at North Carolina State University. She has worked with a large, diverse school district to evaluate models of teacher consultation and collaboration, and has developed a model to teach general and special educators to collaborate.

Paul Riccomini is Assistant Professor of Special Education at Clemson University. His current research interests are in the areas of instructional technology, early reading assessment practices, and effective mathematics instruction

Karen J. Rooney currently the President of DLD, is director of Educational Enterprises, Inc., in Richmond, Virginia. She provides direct services to children, adolescents and adults with learning disabilities and attention disorders as well as consultation/training to parents, teachers,and mental health professionals.

Pamela M. Stecker completed her doctorate under Lynn and Doug Fuchs at Vanderbilt University and worked on classroombased research projects involving curriculum-based measurement and corresponding computer applications. Currently at Clemson University in SC, Pam works with practicing teachers focusing on the use of progress monitoring tools for enhancing instructional planning.

Margaret P. Weiss is the Lead Learning Specialist in Student Athlete Academic Support Services at Virginia Tech. Her interests include instructional methods for secondary and college students with learning disabilities.

Nancy Cushen White is Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California-San Francisco and a Program Specialist for the San Francisco Unified School District. She is also a member of the Board of Directors, International Dyslexia Association.