Keynote Speakers

Gloria DeGaetano

As founder of the PCI in 2000, Gloria DeGaetano is considered the originator of parent coaching as a new career path and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Today Show, and other venues.

Here is the link to Ms. DeGaetano's biographical sketch.

Keynote Address: Cherishing Childhood in our "Screen Machine" World

The Vital Five Chart (a handout in support of this address)

Parent Handout Packet for parent educators

When Should Children Begin Watching Television? article by Gloria DeGaetano

Description: Television, DVD, video games—all small screen technologies can be useful tools, providing unprecedented educational opportunities and communication advances. But how does overuse and misuse of these screen machines actually impact early childhood development? How do these screen machines affect fragile brain awakenings; tender emotional development; and innocent, impressionable minds? And most importantly, what do we do about it?

In this address, Gloria DeGaetano, author of Parenting Well in a Media Age, shares valuable research and crucial considerations for both professionals and parents interested in making sure our youngsters grow optimally—cognitively, emotionally, socially, and spiritually to be able to enjoy their childhood to the fullest extent and to be well-prepared for the next phase of their growth. Ms. DeGaetano examines five Vital Needs of young children, that often get short-changed in our high-tech world while offering many practical ways to meet those needs on a daily basis in our homes, schools, and communities.

Ms. DeGaetano who founded the Parent Coaching Institute has been effectively addressing media related issues since 1987. She invites us to become "knowledgeable warriors" on behalf of our children. She knows that taming the screen machine is not easy. That is why Ms. DeGaetano provides practical suggestions and inspiring ideas, giving her audiences a new way to think about screen machines and their influences on children in particular and childhood in general.

Professor Dickinson is interested in the home and classroom factors that support children's acquisition of language and literacy abilities. His work addresses both basic questions about the role of language in literacy and in practical questions about strategies for improving the literacy-learning opportunities of children.

Here is the link to David Dickinson's biographical sketch.

David Dickinson

Description: This presentation will review research demonstrating the importance of oral language development to children's long-term development and will discuss research from parenting programs that suggest strategies that might be effective when working with families.

Dr. Vincent Felitti

Dr. Vincent Felitti is a noted physician and researcher on the negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences on adults. He is one of the principal investigators of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a long-term, in-depth analysis of over 17,000 adults that matches their current health status against eight categories of adverse childhood experiences.

Here is the link to Dr. Felitti's biographical sketch.

Keynote Address: Adverse Childhood Experiences and their Relationship to Adult Health and Well-being

Description: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is a long-term collaborative study by Kaiser Permanente and CDC of over 17,000 middle-class adult Americans.  It demonstrates a powerful and graded relationship between 10 categories of adverse experience in childhood and some of life's most common health risks, chronic diseases, and social problems from adolescence to old age.  The ACE Study documents how failed parenting manifested by childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect, and exposure to major household dysfunction eventually turns into organic disease and public health and social problems in adults.

Dr. Felitti's research is a chapter in “The Hidden Epidemic: The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease,” Lanius/Vermetten, Cambridge University Press, 2008; Chapter title: The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to Adult Health, Well-being, Social Function, and Healthcare, v 6-01-2007

Here is the ACE questionnaire: What's My ACE Score?

Dr. McDermott was recently interviewed on Public television on the importance of parenting education and her new book focuses on developing caring relationships among parents, children, schools and communities. She is a certifed family life educator. Currently her research is focused on the impact of parenting on parents of young adult children aged 18-34.

Here is the link to Dr. McDermott's biographical sketch.

Dana R. McDermott, Ph.D., CFLE