Awards | Kansas Division for Early Childhood (KDEC)

KDEC Award Nominations

The KDEC Awards Committee accepts nominations from the field for five special awards to recognize individuals who have made important contributions to the field of early childhood special education/early intervention. The five categories of awards include: Outstanding Student, Direct Service Provider, Distinguished Service Provider, Award of Excellence and Outstanding Contributor. Each are described here: KDEC AWARD Nomination Criteria.docx.pdf

There are many talented individuals in Kansas and the early childhood field that make a difference. Please take a few minutes of your time to nominate a colleague or deserving individual for one of these awards. Awards will be presented at the annual KDEC conference. Nominating an individual simply involves filling out a nomination form.

Nominations are collected in the fall/winter of each year before the conference. To nominate an individual or program, or to have questions answered, please contact deckansas@gmail.com

View Award Criteria

Mini-Grants

The Executive Board of the Kansas Division for Early Childhood (KDEC) is pleased to announce a mini grant competition for proposals addressing services/learning of young children with disabilities and their families, the generation of new practices, or staff training. Up to three mini grants will be awarded for amounts up to $1,000 each.

Guidelines: A project can be associated with an academic learning experience (e.g. degree capstone project, dissertation research), program-based research, a creative activity for supporting learning by children or families being served, or a focused staff training activity. Projects may come from an agency serving young children with disabilities or a college/university student in collaboration with a faculty advisor. Examples of agencies include LEA’s (Preschool Programs; Part B, 619 services), Infant/Toddlers Services (Part C), Head Start Programs, Community Preschool, and/or Child Care Centers serving children with disabilities.

Requirements: Recipients of the Mini-grant will be required to submit a summary of their project at its conclusion for the KDEC Newsletter, and present a session or poster at the KDEC conference in 2025.

Please note that at least one individual involved in the mini grant proposal and the implementation of the project must be a current member of KDEC.

Past Conferences and Awards:

Current and Past Award Winners

2024

2024 Award Winner Recipients

Direct Service Provider Award

Outstanding Contributor

2022

2022 Award Winner Recipients

Outstanding Contributor

Direct Service Provider Award

2021

2021 Award Winner Recipients

Lezli Carlson - Distinguished Service Provider

Monica Ross - KDEC Award of Excellence

Lori SooHoo - Direct Service Provider

2020

2020 Award Winners (None)

2019

2019 Award Winner Recipients

Direct Service Provider Award

2018

2018 Award Winner Recipients

Award

Recipients

Outstanding Contributor Award

This award is given to someone who has made a significant contribution to either Early intervention/special education in Kansas. KDEC is honored to announce this year’s award winner, Doug Bowman. Doug has supported many across the state. He has supported coordinators in various ways such as understanding the importance of the Local ICC in their networks. He also kept the field updated on what was happening “under the dome”. Doug has helped many local ICC’s in their role in supporting early intervention in Kansas, spending much face to face time assisting in any way needed. Doug has proved himself to be a strong liaison between the state ICC and the legislation. Doug may have stepped down from that role, only to pick up bettering the lives of others as the Community coalition coordinator with oral health of Kansas. It is clear that through Doug’s hard work and dedication he has and continues to make significant contributions to Kansas.

Award of Excellence

Kathy has been an overwhelmingly strong advocate for the children of Kansas. Kathy’s commitment to children and her passion is recognizable across the state. Kathy demonstrates a knowledge and skills across the educational continuum. Her reputation is known across the entire state of Kansas as she does more than her part making sure that she is a strong voice for education. Kathy works tirelessly with all groups that have a vested interest in the children and she shows that vested interest through being a regular voice with the legislature. Kathy is clearly an educational leader for the state of Kansas.

Direct Service Provider Award

This award winner has long history of working with Part C in Kansas. She is an experienced professional who has been a mentor for many professionals throughout the state. She is and has been an advocate for children, families and early intervention professionals. Dena is an early interventionist that has been a leader in providing cutting edge evidence-based practices. She shares that knowledge with both families and her peers. Families have shared: “…Meeting with Dena at least once every week and then coming up with a plan and having guidance to implement that plan was huge. If problems came up we would re-evaluate and tweak our plan until we were successful. Having ongoing support was huge for us. We never felt alone in the process.”. “I cannot say enough how thankful I am to Dena for all her help and knowledge she has passed on to me. Our lives are so much better because of her”. Dena is a strong provider and clearly goes above and beyond to support children, families, and professionals in any way that she can.

Direct Service Provider Award

Teran is clearly an outstanding professional, early interventionist, and colleague, but is viewed as an outstanding up and coming leader in early intervention. She has already begun this process by being an outstanding leader not only her own program, but in her community. Although Teran is just beginning her career she has already made exemplary contributions in her local community. She has been proactive in developing in fundraising for her program, bringing community partners together, and supporting her Early Intervention Team. Teran has a way of stepping up just when she is needed the most. When the current leadership team moved on from their positions at her local program Teran stepped up and continued the work. She now working towards supporting in other leadership teams including running for a KDEC office and signing up for a leadership role on the tiny-k board. Teran is well deserving of the direct service provider award.

Outstanding Student Member

Lindsey is currently a student at Emporia State. According to her supervisors she has a very positive attitude and willing to do anything asked of her. She has already shown to her supervisors that she is an advocate for children by volunteering in various ways to support them. Lindsey has also put in many hours this year to support KDEC with the conference. Lindsey is already showing great passion for early childhood, as well as proving she is on her way to being a strong leader in the early childhood field.

2017

2017 Award Winner Recipients

Award

Recipients

Outstanding Contributor Award

This award honors an individual who has made a significant contribution to Early Intervention/Special Education in Kansas. Here are what some colleagues have shared in their nomination letters: “I could not be more excited to endorse Diane Alexander as an Outstanding Contributor to the state of Kansas’ Infant Toddler Services program Diane is a crucial part of the Infant Toddler team and has been for many years. She responds promptly to questions and is always willing to help out in any way she can. Diane is extremely knowledgeable about all the little details that are so important in a program the size of Infant Toddler Services. On those rare occasions when she is not able to give you the information you are needing she will investigate and find the correct answer.”

Outstanding Contributor Award

This award honors an individual who has made a significant contribution to Early Intervention/Special Education in Kansas. One colleague stated in her award nomination letter: “She is a highly dedicated professional who knows how to motivate and inspire her learners. Both in the classroom and in the field, Dr. Thompson is a dynamic and powerful communicator who possesses the gift of being able to make complex topics understandable and complex issues solvable.” Another colleague stated, “Barb can be considered a pioneer regarding services for young children with disabilities and their families. Notably, Barb was the Project Co-Director for Circle of Inclusion, which moved the field of early education forward to recognize and implement inclusive services.”

Award of Excellence

This award honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the development of young children with disabilities and their families. is Gayle Stuber. Here are some highlights of her award nomination letters. “At the core of her soul, Gayle is an advocate for early childhood and early childhood special education and simply wants the best for young children and their families. Through leadership, as an administrator of statewide programs and her role in professional organizations, Gayle has worked tirelessly for the advancement of services in Kansas for our youngest learners.” “With regard to important and impactful initiatives, Dr. Stuber lead the development and implementation of the Kansas School Readiness (and revision) initiative and the Kansas Early Learning Standards work. She was successful in bringing together early childhood experts across programs and institutions to develop end products that transcended individual programs and settings to begin to establish common language and practices applicable to all learning settings to support good outcomes for children.” “Gayle is a fierce advocate for the value of early learning experiences, beginning at birth, and the link between high quality, developmentally appropriate early care and education for infants and young children.”

Direct Service Provider Award

This award is presented to a current KDEC member who has made significant contributions to young children with exceptionalities and their families. The candidate for this award should have less than ten years of direct service in the field. This award honors those who are beginning their career and have made exemplary contributions in their local area. Here is what a family had to say about Miranda, “At the Parent-Teacher Conference last fall, Miranda was quick to point out our son’s strengths and demonstrated that she has taken the time to get to know him, his likes and interests, as well as “what makes him tick.” Only after discussing his positive attributes, skills, and areas of improvement did she share areas which were more challenging to him. It felt empowering as a parent to hear his difficulties described as “challenges” vs. “problems.” “Miranda knows how to offer encouragement to both students and parents when a gentle nudge is needed! She gently suggested that I start working more diligently with my son at home with the task of putting on his coat independently. Dressing oneself is a great milestone that I had overlooked allowing him to master in my own hurry to rush around daily. He mastered the task very quickly and enjoyed such a feeling of self-pride!”

Outstanding Student Member

This award is presented to a current full time student member of DEC/KDEC who has contributed a great deal of time, energy, or support to early childhood special education. This can include activities within their Student CEC Chapter and/or to children who are exceptional and their families. families. This year’s award winner is Maggie Beneke. Here is what one of her colleagues shared about her in their nomination letters: “Maggie has excelled at the University of Kansas Early Childhood Unified graduate program. She is known for being conscientious, dedicated, dependable, eager to learn, and goes above and beyond with her scholarly and supervisory work. Throughout her program, Maggie has established that she is not only a skilled teacher, as demonstrated by her exceptional co-teaching experiences, but also someone who deeply cares for her our field and all those who have been marginalized in our world.”

Maggie Breneke

2016

2016 Award Winner Recipients

Award

Recipients

Outstanding Contributor Award

This award honors an individual who has made significant contributions to early intervention in Kansas. This award is open to members as well as nonmembers. Persons who might be considered could include family members, legislators, physicians, educators, and any individuals providing services to young children and their families.

Outstanding Contributor Award

Award of Excellence

This award honors an individual who has made significant contributions in the following areas of early intervention: publications, research, development of new concepts, approaches or programs, new techniques for diagnosis or rehabilitation, improved psychological or education evaluation procedures, improved administrative procedures, practical application of improved teaching devices, and dynamic leadership.

2015

2015 Award Winner Recipients

Award

Recipients

Outstanding Contributor Award

Direct Service Provider Award

This award is presented to a current DEC/KDEC member who has made significant contributions to young children with exceptionalities and their families. The candidate for this award should have less than ten years of direct service in the field. This award honors those who are beginning their career and have made exemplary contributions in their local area.

Award of Excellence

Distinguished Service Provider Award

This award is presented to a current DEC/KDEC member who has demonstrated exemplary performance over a period of at least ten years as a direct service provider and is recognized by members of the profession as someone who demonstrates innovativeness, imagination, creativity, and the ability to inspire. This person must be a member in good standing both currently and for at least the previous five years.