The 2008 Mississippi Valley Early Childhood Education Conference was a great success!

Many thanks to everyone who made the 2008 conference a great conference! Please check back after January 1, 2009 for more information on the 2009 conference!

2008 Conference Focus: Positive Behavior Supports and Early Childhood Building Blocks

Providers of all types are struggling with an increasing number of "challenging behaviors" in the child care environment, and in the school classroom. Many providers feel ill-equipped to handle a child who exhibits challenging behaviors, and some providers struggle in situations where they feel they lack specialized skills to work with this type of child. Careful observation of children with "challenging behaviors" has shown that most of the time children with challenging behaviors lack the socio-emotional skills necessary to communicate, get along, and problem solve without violence within a classroom or group setting--and out of ignorance and frustration, these children act out in socially and emotionally inappropriate ways.

The 2008 MVECEC Conference, through collaboration with members of the Iowa Statewide PBS Planning Team and local PBS coaches, is excited to present to you a comprehensive overview of all areas of Iowa's Positive Behavior Supports system! The state vision of Iowa PBS is to promote the social, emotional, and behavioral competence of Iowa's young children. It is the vision of Iowa's PBS Planning Team that all early care, health, and education providers in Iowa will provide services that embody the "pyramid model" of positive behavior support.

Positive Behavior Supports embodies a "pyramid model" that when implemented can help you strategically approach a situation and provides a people based system that focuses on:

• The development of a highly trained and effective workforce,
• Systems and policies that support a system of evidence based practices,
• Development of a high-quality, supportive learning environment that promotes positive outcomes for all children,
• Establishing nurturing, responsive, relationships between adults and children,
• Using a systematic approach to teaching social skills that when learned has the potential to prevent and correct challenging behaviors, and
• Assessing children using individualized intervention plans that result in individual behavior support plans.

National Administrator Credential (NAC) Approved Classes The National Child Care Association has approved this educational program as meeting the criteria for continuing education for the National Administrator Credential. All classes at the 2008 Mississippi Valley Early Childhood Conference have been NAC approved!

We encourage you to search our website to find out more about the 2008 Mississippi Valley Early Childhood Education Conference! If you have any questions, please contact CJ Burroughs at info@mvecec.org or call 563/ 557-1628.

The 2008 MVECEC Early Childhood Conference is
Brought to You Through the Support of The Following Organizations