2025 Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Summit

Improving Outcomes: Access, Connections, Belonging

Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Summit: A three-day virtual conference on March 5th- 7th. 

The Summit brings practitioners, administrators, leaders, and families together to share best practices in:

  • Early Intervention, to help families transition to preschool 
  • A review of the outcomes accomplished through Early Intervention and preschool programming
  • Instructional strategies for inclusive programs
  • Supports to prevent and address challenging behaviors
  • Ensuring that all children experience a team of professionals working with families to address the children's needs 

Keynote Speakers:

March 5, 2025

Adam Holland, PhD, is a technical assistance specialist at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include motivation in early childhood, promoting cognitive development in young children, equity, and understanding the effects of classroom processes on children's social and emotional competence. Adam is a co-author of the EduSnap (formerly Snapshot) Professional Learning System, a data-driven approach to coaching teachers and principals around pedagogy used by states, districts, and research projects around the country. He has also worked for several years on the FirstSchool project, which seeks to improve the early school experiences of traditionally under-served populations by providing educator coaching, professional development, and technical assistance to states, districts, and schools. He also worked on the team creating professional learning content around the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) Recommended Practices Modules and the evaluation team for the Family Success Alliance, a place-based initiative in Orange County, NC. In his role on these projects, he coordinates recruitment; data collection, management, and analysis; and intervention implementation.

Currently, Adam works on the OSEP-funded STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMIE) Center, the North Carolina Early Learning Network (NC-ELN), and the planning team for the National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute. On these projects, he focuses on ways to improve equity for children with disabilities through their access to high-quality, inclusive learning environments.

 

March 6, 2025

Rae Pica has been an early childhood education consultant since 1980 and is internationally known as a speaker, online course creator, and author. Rae has written 22 books, including the text Experiences in Movement and Music (in its 5th edition), What If Everybody Understood Child Development?: Straight Talk About Bettering Education and Children’s Lives and Spark a Revolution in Early Education: Speaking Up for Ourselves and the Children.

As a consultant, Rae has shared her expertise with such groups as the Sesame Street Research Department, the Head Start Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Gymboree, Nike, Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, Bright Horizons, and health departments, schools, and resource and referral agencies throughout the country.

She is most proud of her fierce defense of childhood.

 

 

APLD registration link

 

  • Professional Registration:
    Professional registration for the 2025 summit is now available and costs $50 per participant. Registration and payment for professional registrants must be completed in the following section in the Arizona Professional Learning & Development (APLD) application:

  • APLD Registration Link

  • To be directed to the section via the provided link, you must log in to APLD. If you are not logged in, you will see a screen prompting you to register for an ADEConnect account. Interested participants must have an ADEConnect account to complete registration. For more information about APLD, including frequently asked questions, please visit the ADE Professional Learning & Development web page. See the APLD Learner Guide for detailed steps to complete registration.
    Please note: Immediately after registering in APLD, you will receive an email stating that your registration is "PENDING" verification of the purchase order or check. Once the verification process is complete, you will receive another email stating that your registration is “CONFIRMED.” The confirmation email secures your spot for the conference.

  • Before registering for the conference, please update your APLD Learner Profile to ensure that accommodation requests are included in all future APLD course registrations. To update your APLD Learner Profile, visit the APLD website and log into your account. On your Learner Dashboard, click Edit Account, respond to the Special Accommodations questions, and then click Save.

Please see the APLD Learner Guide for detailed steps to complete registration.

For more information about APLD, including frequently asked questions, please visit the ADE Professional Learning & Development page. 

For more information, email the Early Childhood Special Education inbox.