Library Thursdays: Down Syndrome Education Conference DVDs

Another great collection of resources arrived this week from Down Syndrome Education International. Last year's Down Syndrome Education Conference at Newport Beach, California was filmed and DSEI have made dvd sets of each track. The sets for the Family 1 day conferences have 3 dvds. The Professional 2 day conferences have 5 dvds. Each dvd contains 2 sessions from the conference. Available sets are:

• Family - Early Years
  Family - Childhood
  Family - Teenage
  Professional - Early Years
  Professional - Childhood
  Professional - Teenage
  Professional Speech and Language

These are very useful resources for families and professionals. All the evidence-based research from the experts at Down Syndrome Education International is accessible in video format at a time of your own choosing. Whether it is general learning needs, speech and language and communication development, maths, memory, reading, the benefits of inclusion, motor skills, social development, play at home or curriculum differentiation, these videos give information, techniques and experiences discovered in doing their research.
Since they are simply films of the conference, they could be a bit difficult to watch all at once since you don't have the same concentration that you would in a "live" conference. However, the information is so useful that it is watchable and you can use the convenience of a recording to take breaks when you need them and re-watch parts you missed that you couldn't do in a "live" conference.
The dvds are unfortunately only available in NTSC. Most dvd players are now capable of playing this format but because the films show the conference room with the notes up on a screen, I think the ease of reading these notes may have been aided by being in PAL format. If you think your dvd player would not play NTSC, you should be able to play them on your computer. There are some minor sound fluctuations, but these are not really a problem.
These dvds are a very valuable addition to the library. Down Syndrome Education International are certainly continually increasing access to their vast knowledge and research. Their books, dvds, webinars, conferences, journals, online help sessions, and now these new video recordings of this conference enable more people to educate themselves to help improve the lives of people with Down syndrome.
If you'd like to borrow any of these, just call or email.


DSEI Web Seminar Timetable
DSEI Online Advice session Timetable