Thank you to everyone who attended our conference in Sioux Falls!! We hope you all had a very valuable experience.
To help us continue to improve, please take 2-3 minutes to complete our follow-up survey. The more information we receive, the better future conferences will be! Thanks again!
Conference Resources Available!!
Conference Materials
Final SDAEYC/SDHSA Conference Program
2011 Continuing Education and College Credit Information
Special thanks goes out to the
Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. for hosting us in 2011! Great facilities, friendly, service-minded staff and plenty of space! Thank you all for a great conference!
We'd also like to thank our
Sponsors for their support. We could not have hosted a conference of this size without your help. Please take a moment to visit our
sponsor's page to see who has made a committment to our respective associations and the children and families of our state.
Remember to save the date for next year! April 12-14 at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center in Spearfish, S.D. We hope to see you all there!
2011 Keynote Speakers
Paul E. McGhee, Ph.D. was a pioneer in humor research, laying the groundwork for the current interest in the health benefits of humor. After receiving his Ph.D. in developmental psychology, he spent 22 years conducting basic research on humor and laughter while teaching at the university level. He is internationally known for his own humor research, and has published over 50 scientific articles and 13 books on humor.
Jason Kotecki, known as “The Champion of Childhood,” is an engaging speaker, entertaining author, and creator of the internationally known comic strip, Kim & Jason. He is widely regarded as an expert in helping people to “escape adulthood” and “return to childhood.”
Jason will help us find simple ways to reconnect with the qualities that come naturally to children in order to reduce stress and live more fun and fulfilling lives.
Richard Cohen, M.A. has proudly been an early childhood professional for twenty three years. Richard served as international Vice President, Education of Learning Care Group. At Learning Care Group, Richard created the Reggio-inspired curriculum, The Empowered Child and the multiple intelligences-based curriculum, LifeSmart. Most notably, he developed his most exciting project to date: the Learning Care System, a comprehensive online lesson-planning system that allows teachers to use authentic observations and assessments, correlated with their state's quality early learning standards, to provide truly intentional, emergent curriculum based on both children's interests and their unique developmental needs.