Families Together, Inc

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2019 Together We Can Learn Conference

Sept. 28, 2019

8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Overland Park, KS

Keynotes Featuring:

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Dr. Patrick Schwarz, professor, author, motivational speaker and leader in Education (Inclusive Education, Special Education, General Education, Educational Leadership). He is the author of From Disability to Possibility®. He has also co-authored You’re Welcome, Just Give Him the Whale, Pedro’s Whale (with Dr. Paula Kluth), and From Possibility to Success.

  • From Disability to Possibility: 5 Keys to Achieving an Inclusive Life – One of the keys to achieving an inclusive life is building on each individual’s fascinations, passions and interest areas. Patrick will explore new ways of using these areas as positive teaching tools that calm, motivate and improve learning. Using real life stories across the lifespan of individuals with possibilities, participants will discover how to make the most of fascinations, passions and interest areas to help learners they support. Areas included will be learning standards-based academic content, developing social connections, minimizing anxiety, boosting literacy learning and mathematics skills, expanding communication skills and much more! Be prepared for something fun and different!

  • Addressing Adventuresome Behavior While Keeping the Dignity of All Intact – Both a person-centered, authentic, functional approach to assess behavior and a problem-solving process will be applied to combine components of the very best user-proven behavioral support strategies. This approach will be illustrated and then applied to real-life classroom and learning situations identified by participants.

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Lee Stickle, Director of Kansas State Department of Education’s Technical Assistance Support Network (TASN) Autism & Tertiary Supports and School Mental Health Initiative 

  • Channeling Your Inner Gumby – Each of us face challenges in daily life.  Some are faced with increasingly difficult circumstances; loss, loneliness, isolation, violence and uncertainty can cause us to question or rattle our confidence, undermine our ability to make meaningful connections, distort our character and make coping difficult.  What can we do?  Research has shown that we can build our resilience.  We can begin to approach challenges in ways that we can be significantly more successful.  Join us as we explore ways to build resilience and become the people we were meant to be!
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Breakout Sessions Include

Empowering Families: Talking about Mental Health, Mental Illness and Self-Care in the Home – With mental health and mental illness being discussed far more frequently in the media and in the community, it becomes increasingly more important to be having those vital conversations at home.  Through this session, parents will gain a foundational understanding and awareness around mental health, mental illness, suicide prevention, and self-care, while building their toolkit to start having the needed conversations at home. 

The Facts About Social Security, Medicare, KanCare (Kansas Medicaid) and Work Incentives – In this training you will learn the facts about how working can affect your disabilities benefits and how work incentives support your journey to employment. Nothing but the TRUTH.

Sibling Panel – Every sibling relationship is unique, but having a brother or sister with a disability can affect the entire family dynamic. While much attention is paid to the challenges and difficulties faced by parents and siblings of individuals with disabilities, growing up with a sibling who has a disability also offers many advantages and hidden treasures that can help shape an individual’s life and character. Our panel of siblings will share their experiences, wisdom, stories, challenges, and joys of living with a brother or sister who has a disability.

Working with Your Child’s Medical Team – Just as with education, parents also serve a significant role as members of their child’s medical team.  It is important for them to know and understand their role as an advocate so they can feel empowered as care coordinators.  Through this session, parents will gain a better understanding of advocacy in a medical setting and what they may experience in different situations and across a lifespan. We will share some tips for effective communication with medical professionals, and explore a variety of person-centered planning techniques parents can use to help guide conversations about their child’s health care.

Ensuring Your Child’s Safety in the Digital Age – more information coming soon!

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Ticket Prices

  • Parent, relative or foster parent of a child with a disability and/or special health care need – $30
  • Youth with a disability (14-21 and attending high school) – $20
  • Professional – $40
  • Others – $40

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Scholarships

A limited number of parent scholarships are available through Families Together, Inc. Parents should call (785) 233-4777 or 1-800-264-6343 or email to request a scholarship. Scholarships cover registration, lunch and conference materials.

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Conference Location

University of Kansas, Best Conference Center – 12600 Quivira Rd, Overland Park, KS 66213

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Hotel Information

A block of rooms has been reserved under the Together We Can Learn Conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton Kansas City – Overland Park – 10100 College Blvd. Overland Park, Kansas 66210. The phone number for The DoubleTree is (913) 451-6100. The rate is $121 for the night of September 27, 2019. You are responsible for all hotel fees. Families Together does not cover the cost of hotel rooms or mileage to the conference.

Co-sponsored by

Families Together, Inc. has been hosting Together We Can Learn Conference since 1985.  These conferences have proven to be a great means of disseminating important and timely information to parents and professionals.  The goal for our Together We Can Learn Conference is to bring parents of children with disabilities together with professionals working with children with disabilities in the interest of inclusion and community.  This conference brings in a nationally known keynote speaker, along with several breakout session speakers from various agencies across the state of Kansas to speak on a wide range of topics relevant to parents and professionals alike.