The first-ever inclusion conference sponsored by the archdiocesan department of Catholic schools, highlighting ways to accommodate students with special needs, will be held March 11 at Loyola Marymount University in Saint Robert's Hall.

Open to teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, students and parents, the 8 a.m.-3 p.m. conference, titled "To Teach as Jesus Would," will feature talks by special education experts from Catholic, private and public schools as well as health and legal specialists.

Keynote speaker Dr. Merritt Hemenway, principal of Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, will open the program at 9 a.m. with his talk, "Student Success in Catholic Schools." The conference includes three workshops, a lunchtime panel and a closing Mass at 2 p.m.

Participants will have the opportunity to hear speakers on a variety of topics, including student accommodations and adaptation strategies; student success team procedures, guidelines and ideas, grading and assessment options, tolerance and diversity issues, differentiated instruction, legal issues, parental collaboration, classroom aides and learning specialists. Discussion topics will also address autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, and hearing and visual deficits.

Sessions offered include: "Identification and Effective Interventions for Students with Learning Disabilities," by Dr. Roberta Goldberg, director of consultation and education at The Frostig School in Pasadena; "POISE --- Strategies for Working with ADHD-related Behavior Problems," by Dr. Michael Elliott, licensed psychologist; and "Legal Issues: Working Through the Maze," by Christine Hayashi, special education attorney.

Other sessions scheduled are: "What Makes a Successful Student Success Team?" by Mary Margaret Grady, kindergarten teacher and reading specialist at American Martyrs School, Manhattan Beach; and "Sensory Integration Strategies and Fine Motor Planning for the Classroom," by Heather Hire, pediatric occupational therapist at the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District.

Additional sessions include "Differentiated Instruction and Strategies for the Classroom," by Grace Carpenter, LMU associate professor; and "Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes: Dealing with Inclusion and Exclusion," by Anti-Defamation League representatives.

Lunchtime panelists include Farryl Dickter, speech pathologist and educational therapist; Pat McGwen, parent and educational therapist; Daryl Crowley, parent and educational therapist; and Dr. Carol King-Wolcott, school counselor at St. Paul the Apostle School, Westwood, and LMU associate professor.

"This will be a day of collaboration, communication and community," said Kathleen Damisch, chair of the archdiocesan inclusion committee. Participants will have the opportunity to view an exhibition at LMU's Laband Art Gallery featuring works by 15 award-winning artists with disabilities as well as recent work by artists from the First Street Gallery Art Center.

To register, call Damisch at (213) 637-7324 or e-mail her at krdamisch@la-archdiocese.org. The $20 registration fee includes a box lunch.