Experiential learning to be focus of Imua Family Services’ conference, Sept. 24

Early Childhood providers and professionals are invited to join Imua Family Services and presenters from across the state and nation for the return of its annual Early Childhood Development Conference on Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Imua Discovery Garden in Wailuku, Maui.

The event provides teachers, social workers, therapists, behavior specialists, administrators and others working in the fields of Early Childhood Development & Education with information and inspiration to continue their important and, in many cases, life‐changing work. This year’s conference will cover topics important to practitioners navigating individual treatment and group/classroom work with a focus on experiential learning.

Keynote Speaker Annalissa Vincencio, MA is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) as well as a Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC). She is currently employed by the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM), located in the Bronx where she grew up, and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Music Therapy at Montclair State University. Currently pursuing her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Ms. Vincencio’s talk will focus on music and creative arts therapies – integrating the music child in us all for treatment, recovery, health, wellness, and transformation.

Imua Family Services will be joined by a wide range of workshop leaders presenting on topics including:

• The integration of art & the outdoors into early childhood education;
• An introduction to recent approaches and their impacts on Applied Behavior Anaysis;
• Advocating to improve Hawaiʻi’s early learning system;
• Cultural significance in early childhood education; and
• Trauma care for young children.

The full schedule for Imua Family Services’ Early Childhood Development Conference, including speaker bios and registration information, can be found at www.imuafamily.org.

Food will not be provided, but there is plenty of open grass space to enjoy a picnic lunch brought from home. Registration is $45 per person, with a discount provided to University of Hawaiʻi Maui College students. Please visit us online at www.imuafamily.org for more info, or contact Imua at 808-244-7467.

Imua Family Services began in 1947 providing services to children with Polio in the Territory of Hawaiʻi. Today, 75 years later, Imua is still making significant progress working with families and children together with a broad scope of child development programs including: Infant & Early Childhood Services, Imua Autism Services, Imua Inclusion Preschool, Camp Imua, and Dream Imua.