CONTACT DPHD

For general questions or questions about the website, contact: 

Mari Beth Coleman

For membership questions, contact: 

Peter Mezei

For newsletter questions or to contribute to the newsletter contact: 

Linda Thomas

DPHD in Action


Executive Board

The Executive Board Members participate in conference calls throughout the year and attend the Executive Board Meeting during the annual CEC convention.  Minutes from meetings and conference calls will be posted during the 2009 year.   Click the link below to see minutes of the calls or PowerPoint outlines for the meetings:

Minutes from 5/7/09 Conference Call

Proceedings from the 2009 General Business Meeting in Seattle:  April 2, 2009

Proceedings from the 2009 Executive Board Meeting in Seattle:  April 1, 2009

Minutes from 3/16/09 Conference Call

Minutes from 1/26/09 Conference Call 


Constitution and Bylaws:  CHANGES APPROVED by Members!

The DPHD Executive Board approved changes to the DPHD Constitution and By-Laws on March 16, 2009.  These changes updated language in the document and updated several committees and officer responsibilities.  Members received a link to complete an online ballot or a paper copy of the ballot.  It was noted in the mailing that no response was accepted as a vote of agreement.  As of February, DPHD had 506 members and we had 50 ballots returned (49 electronic, 1 paper) which was almost a 10% return.  At the Executive Board Annual Meeting in Seattle, the board approved the document based on a 2/3 majority or better vote (as required by the Constitution) for each suggested change.  There was discussion about the low rate of approval of one item (80%): combination of the Hospital and Home Placements Committee and the Severe and Multiple Disabilities Committee. Given the low numbers of people available to serve on these committees, the board decided to go ahead with the proposal to combine them into one.  Below you will find a link to the newly accepted DPHD Constitution and Bylaws as well as information about the vote.  Thank you to those who participated in our vote!  

Link to DPHD's Constitution and Bylaws as accepted on 4/1/09

table with vote results

Knowledge and Skills 

For almost two years a small subcommittee of DPHD members worked on revising the knowledge and skill statements for beginning teachers of individuals with physical and health disabilities. As our fierce leader, Joni Baldwin worked tirelessly to coordinate the efforts and ensure that our revised standards reflect what teachers need to know to work with students who have physical and/or health disabilities.  The tasks included starting with the existing standards, reviewing them to determine if they should be kept, revised, or discarded, and then researching what was missing from our standards based on new technologies, strategies and interventions developed since the initiation of the standards in the mid 1990’s. Once standards were chosen, evidence was collected for each to document the relevance for teachers. Once this was completed the standards went our in a survey to the DPHD members, the POHI Network in Minnesota, and the CA Association for Physical and Health Impairments. Responses were reviewed with the Knowledge and Skills Subcommittee of the Professional Practice and Standards Committee of CEC during the 2008 convention in Boston, then submitted to the CEC Board for acknowledgement. Our new standards are attached as a separate document on this email. Remember the P/HD standards are in addition to the Common Core for all entry level teachers. A set of advanced standards could be developed if our members think they should be developed (these would include standards for teachers who have been working in the field for awhile and are going back for an additional degree or certificate). Thanks to the committee members and those who took the time to respond to the survey. Teacher preparation programs and state licensing boards will be using these standards to develop quality teachers for “our kids”.

Committee members: Kathy Heller, Margaret Cooper, Mari Beth Coleman, Peter Mezei, Janie Avant, and Joni Baldwin. Sherry Best (CA) and Deb Williamson (MN) assisted in obtaining survey participants.

Copy of Revised Knowledge & Skills (click here to view)

Program Advisory Committee 

Part of the President-Elect’s duties are to serve as the chair of the program advisory committee (PAC).  This year’s committee was headed up by Mari Beth Coleman.  Our PAC once again has done an excellent job of selecting a varied and interesting program for DPHD members. We have some favorites returning, plus some presenting for DPHD for the first time. Currently we have eight lectures, four demonstrations, and seven poster sessions – ranging for music to math to written language instruction to specific disability conditions. Our PAC chairperson, Mari Beth Coleman writes:

 
HUGE THANKS to the DPHD members who served on the Program Advisory Committee.  These wonderful folks took time from their busy schedules to review numerous conference proposals and help make decisions about putting together the schedule of DPHD-sponsored presentations for the 2009 Annual Convention and Expo in Seattle.   Thanks to the following people, DPHD has a great program for the convention:   Judi Azar, Joni Baldwin, Peter Mezei, Alison Stafford, Debra Williamson, and Adine Usher.