Dale Walker, associate research professor at Juniper Gardens, and Steve Warren, vice provost of Research and Graduate Studies, have been awarded a four-year $1.6 million grant to establish a Model Demonstration Center for Promoting Language and Literacy Readiness in Early Childhood. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Center will provide staff development and technical assistance to early childhood programs in Kansas City, Olathe, Topeka and North Kansas City It is one of only three model demonstration centers in the U.S. funded by OSEP on the topic of early language. http://www.news.ku.edu/2008/april/3/literacy.shtml