This week, PEAC's fearless leader Diane Perry will venture to Denver, CO to present a poster at the TASH conference. Diane and long-time PEAC pal Jerry Petroff (The College of New Jersey) will present a poster on PEAC's newest initiative, the Family Connections Program

Since the beginning, PEAC has felt that working with teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities is vitally important to the future of inclusion in Pennsylvania. Working with teacher prep programs means that future teachers will be more likely to know how to include students with disabilities and to collaborate with parents, and therefore more students are likely to have successful inclusive experiences. To that end, PEAC has partnered with several universities in eastern Pennsylvania to provide free guest lectures to students in education classes. These lectures, provided by PEAC's Parent Consultants, focus on both personal experiences and universal application; the goal is for students to understand an individual family's experiences with the special education system and then think about how that experience might apply to his or her own practice as a teacher.

The response to our Parent Consultants has been overwhelming. Professors cannot thank them enough for bringing to life concepts that are otherwise boring and lifeless in a text book; students are overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge, experience, and insight parents can have.

One professor who recently hosted a Parent Consultant in her class said:

"More importantly, she gave an honest account of her perspectives and experiences, which were directly aligned with so many concepts I try to teach the students. Hearing these words from a dedicated parent mean more than any text."

Another professor said her students "received a great gift."

We recognize the value of exposing future teachers to the parent perspective, but we also realize that a one-shot guest lecture is not enough to truly create system change. So, this summer, PEAC developed the Family Connections Program with Jerry's help. The Family Connections Program is an expanded version of simple guest lectures. Through the Family Connections Program, education faculty at colleges and universities in PA get a three-part package that addresses family-school collaboration on special education, including readings, a guest lecture, and suggestions pre- and post-discussion topics.

Diane and Jerry hope to encourage parents, families, and advocacy organizations across the country to launch initiatives like the Family Connections Program. Here's wishing them the best of luck!