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Help Celebrate Exceptional Children’s Week, May 9-15, 2010
By sponsoring Exceptional Children’s Week each year, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) provides an opportunity for special educators, parents, administrators, and others to build support for and honor the accomplishments of children and youth with exceptionalities and the special educators who serve them.
Tell us about the exceptional children in your life by visiting CEC's discussion forum on Facebook.
Celebrate in your school and community
IDEA turns 35!
CEC’s 2010 Yes I Can! Award winners
Celebrate in Your School and Community
Here are a few easy ways CEC members and the education community can help promote special education during Exceptional Children’s Week:
- Work with your local TV station to profile a Yes I Can! Award winner from your area, or other exceptional children, to show the benefits and results of successful teaching and learning in your community.
- Present an award to local individuals who have done something special to help people with exceptionalities, such as an outstanding educator, principal, or employer of persons with disabilities.
- Ask your local library to display books on, by, or for individuals with exceptionalities and display information about Exceptional Children’s Week.
- Arrange guest appearances for CEC members on local radio or TV talk shows.
- Ask principals to tell the stories of high-profile exceptional individuals during morning/afternoon announcements. Some possibilities are Marlee Matlin, Stevie Wonder, Ludwig van Beethoven, Stephen Hawking, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Helen Keller.
- Display student artwork in your school’s public areas, the local library, or another community site.
- Have your school’s special education teachers sponsor a coffee break or other small social event for the rest of the faculty and share information about what they do.
Short on time? While Exceptional Children’s Week is officially the second week of May, it may be observed at any time during the year. Take advantage of this opportunity to celebrate your students and your professional work.
Celebrate Exceptional Children’s Week 2010 -- IDEA Turns 35!
This year, Exceptional Children’s Week celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the law that revolutionized how children and youth with disabilities are educated in schools across the country, using the theme, “Special Educators Make a Difference.”
Since 1975, students with disabilities have had access to an education system that builds upon their strengths and addresses their individual needs.
CEC members from across the country -- ranging from those who remember the enactment of IDEA in 1975 to those who have never known a world without it -- have provided their personal stories. How has IDEA changed your life? If you are a special educator who has made a difference or a student who has benefited, share your story!
CEC’s Own Exceptional Children -- the 2010 Yes I Can! Award Winners
Every year, CEC presents 27 exceptional children and youth who have excelled with a Yes I Can! Award. These students are standouts in nine different categories: academics, arts, athletics, community service, employment, extracurricular activities, independent living skills, self-advocacy, and technology.
During Exceptional Children’s Week 2010, CEC is honoring this year’s Yes I Can! winners for their outstanding achievements and successes. Meet three 2010 Yes I Can! recipients who embody the award’s spirit:
| Ryan Korengel suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with partial vision loss and paralysis on his left side. Did that stop Ryan, a golf addict, from continuing to play his beloved game? Not a chance. Not only has he has since learned to play one-handed and made the golf team at school, he has improved his score. |
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| Lyudmilla Fuentes a stunning musician. While still in elementary school, she sang with the nationally acclaimed Miami Children’s Choir. With great determination, Lyudmilla learned to play the cello using a special adaptive device in her left hand. |
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| Olivia Shaw is a straight-A student. She loves using her Braille writer to showcase her creative writing talents, including a book she wrote with 19 chapters. Her hobbies include skiing, playing the violin, singing, and riding her bike. |
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| Ryan, Lyudmilla, and Olivia are just three of the 27 amazing, inspiring, and thoroughly charming children and youth with disabilities who were honored with a 2010 Yes I Can! Award at the CEC 2010 Convention & Expo in April. They are CEC’s very own exceptional children and we celebrate their excellence and outstanding achievements -- not just during Exceptional Children’s Week, but year-round. Congratulations to all of CEC's 2010 Yes I Can! Award Winners |
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