Announcing 2011 State of the Art Conference on Postsecondary Education and Students with Intellectual Disabilities

The National Down Syndrome Society is very pleased to announce that NDSS and George Mason University (GMU) will once again sponsor the National State of the Art Conference on Postsecondary Education and Students with Intellectual Disabilities, which will be held on November 3rd and 4th at GMU’s conference center in Fairfax, Virginia.

The Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, confirmed today that ADD will cosponsor the conference. ADD funds technical assistance on postsecondary education through ThinkCollege! and will be an important partner in the conference. Last year a number of national organizations cosponsored the conference, with contributions starting at $2,500, and we anticipate similar support again this year. Financial support from cosponsorships helps defray the costs of the conference, and will lower the registration costs for parents and students/self-advocates. If your organization would like to consider cosponsoring the 2011 conference, please contact Stephanie Smith Lee at slee@ndss.org.

The conference of 300 participants will provide an opportunity for colleges and universities, researchers, program staff, parents self-advocates, and government officials to learn about the current state of research and practice in the field. Panels that include faculty and staff from postsecondary education initiatives, parents, self-advocates and other experts, will share effective practices during break-out sessions with an opportunity for group discussion.

For a report on last year’s conference please click here to see the December NDSS E-Newsletter. A common thread in comments about the 2010 conference was the importance of the “mix” of government officials, researchers, IHE faculty, project staff, parents and self-advocates. Evaluations from the conference stressed how important it was to have an opportunity to learn from one another and experts in the field.

For information on the conference, visit www.sscsid.org. Registration will open May 30, 2011.