“Families as Partners” Focus of Town Hall Meeting and Conference, May 22 & 23
New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development will present a day-long conference, “Families as Partners: Strategies for Effective Early Intervention Partnering,” on Wed. May 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life, 60 Washington Square South. [Subway: A, B, C, D, E, F, V (W 4th St.); R (8th Street)] The conference is co-sponsored by NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching and Learning and the NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene, which in 2006 launched its NYC Early Intervention Program, an initiative acknowledging the primacy of the parent in early intervention strategies. Additional support comes from Brooklyn College, CUNY.
Robin McWilliam, director of the Center for Child Development, Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital, will offer the keynote address. With the implementation of the “Families as Partners” model by the NYC Early Intervention Program, professionals, practitioners, and parents have embarked on a new model of service. Following the keynote, workshop sessions will provide participants the opportunity to improve their skills in the implementation of this model. Sessions topics include “Using Play to Support Relationships and Attachment,” “Working with the Immigrant Family,” and “Chances for the Children: Infants and Their Adolescent Parents.” A networking luncheon will provide leaders and practitioners a chance to meet with the NYC Early Intervention Program.
A Town Hall Meeting, free and open to the public, will kick off the conference on the evening of Tues., May 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. and will feature opening remarks by Mary Brabeck, dean of NYU Steinhardt followed by a discussion among Robin McWilliam; Tammy Mann, deputy executive director, National Zero to Three; David Jones, director, Visiting Nurse Service Early Head Start; and Lisa Fleisher (moderator), professor of special education, NYU Steinhardt. The conference is organized by Barbara Schwartz, associate clinical professor and coordinator of the graduate program in early childhood education, NYU Steinhardt.
Conference registration is $20 and can be made by calling the Office of Special Programs, 212.992.9380 or email sjd311@nyu.edu. Reporters interested in NYU Steinhardt should call Tim Farrell at the NYU Office of Public Affairs, 212.998.6797 or email at tim.farrell@nyu.edu.