The conference will examine the relationship between the disciplines in treating and educating children with special needs and attempt to answer some of the basic questions plaguing families and professionals involved in their care.  The central question to be addressed will be: how can health care professionals, educators, advocates, and families work together to treat and educate children with special needs.  The conference will bring together families, professionals, and policy makers to begin to address some of the problems children with special needs currently encounter and to develop a public policy framework for supporting these children and their families.

There will be two keynote speeches. The first, "Road warriors: Parent perspectives on getting services for children with special needs", will be presented by Teresa LaMaster and John O'Brien, parents of a child with autism.  The second, "Accessing services for children with special needss: The promise and the reality" will be presented by Susan Leviton, Professor of Law with the University of Maryland School of Law.

The morning sessions will involve presentations and panel discussions on various topics, including education and the law, the health care perspective, and the policy makers' perspective. The afternoon sessions will provide a workshop setting for brainstorming about problems and identifying potential solutions; each of the workshops will focus on a different kind of disability, with one specifically devoted to autism spectrum disorder and developmental disabilities.