The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest professional organization dedicated to improving the educational outcomes of individuals with exceptionalities – whether they are disabilities or gifts and talents – and advancing opportunities for those who teach and work with them. CEC also advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides professional development, advocates for individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.

CEC sponsored a webinar, Protecting Children with Disabilities from Abuse: Strategies for Grades K-7, presented by Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Executive Director and Founder, and Harold Johnson, professor of special education at Michigan State University (retired) and Kidpower board member.

Webinar Summary:

Children with disabilities experience abuse at rates three-to-four times higher than their nondisabled peers. As children age, their risk for abuse changes as they interact with more people in increasingly diverse contexts. Given the significant, lifelong, negative impact of abuse on children’s learning potential, social behaviors, and academic success, it is critical that special educators learn how to prevent the abuse of children with disabilities. This webinar provides knowledge, resources, and specific strategies to help you understand, prevent, recognize and report the abuse of children with disabilities (grades K-7), working within the day-to-day instructional framework of professionals and students’ IFSP/IEP/504 documents.

As a founding partner of International Child Protection Month, CEC is reaching out to its 30,000 teachers, administrators, professors, and other allied professionals who are dedicated to seeing the 10 million students they serve succeed.