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Exceptional News!

New Grants Awarded!
The Exceptional Education Dept. worked with the Regional Professional Development Center at UMKC to write two SIG grants to fund Early Literacy (K-3) and Transition Planning for secondary programs. We were partially funded for the secondary grant with $27,000 to bring Dr. John Wessels to address Transition using Rubrics. We expect full funding of both grants totaling approximately $300,000.

New Staff Members
We have two new Coordinators, Ms. April Sutherland (Northeast Region) and Ms. Susie Fanning (Van Horn Region) each of them brings a fresh exuberance to the program. We are also pleased to introduce Dr. Joe Gassaway as our new Behavioral Intervention Specialist.

News & Events

Dr. Loretta Claiborne Guest Speaker at Staff Meeting

Dr. Loretta Claiborne was the featured speaker on the August 22, 2005 Exceptional Education Staff Meeting. Loretta Claiborne was the middle of seven children in a poor, single-parent family. Born partially blind and mildly retarded, she was unable to walk or talk until age 4. Eventually, though, she began to run. And before she knew it, she had crossed the finish line of 25 marathons, twice placing among the top 100 women in the Boston Marathon. She's carried the torch in the International Special Olympics, has won medals in dozens of its events, and also holds the current women's record in her age group for the 5000 meters at 17 minutes.

Today, Claiborne is a celebrated athlete who was honored in 1996 with ESPN's ESPY Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Her life is recounted in Walt Disney Productions The Loretta Claiborne Story, originally broadcast on ABC-TV and now on videocassette. Considering all of Claiborne's achievements, a made-for-TV movie is just another small step in her life's mission to show that persons with mental and physical disabilities are equal to those without.

For more information, please visit her web site http://www.lorettaclaiborne.com

Click Here For Pictures from Staff Meeting with Dr. Loretta Claiborne.