Editorial

Consultant for the multihandicapped, the deaf/blind and the communication disordered. He has been coordinator of Field Services and Program Review in the Ohio State Department of Education. Dr. Edgar L. Lowell is director emeritus of the John Tracy Clinic. He has written and lectured extensively in the field of education of the deaf and is a past president of the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf. Dr. Douglas Watson is the director of the Arkansas Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Deafness and Hearing Impairment. He has been a rehabilitation and a student life counselor in several states and has published more than 40 professional articles. Section Summarist Dennis Gjerdingen is the president of the Clarke School for the Deaf. He has served as principal of the Central Institute for the Deaf and is a member of the national Commission on Education of the Deaf. Forum Summarist Dr. S. Richard Silverman is director emeritus of the Central Institute for the Deaf. He was the first president of the Council on Education of the Deaf and chairman of the International Congress Committee among his many leadership roles. Editorial 'his special issues of the American Annals ofthe Deafis devoted to the proceedings of the National Forum on Deafness, "Charting A Course." This was sponsored by the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf (CEASD) and cosponsored by 15 national organizations and educational institutions all concerned with deafness and deaf people. It was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico June 29 through July 1, 1987. The proceedings are the official record of the 59th meeting of the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf. The proceedings of the 58 previous meetings constitute a basic historical record for this organization since its founding in 1868. In its earlier years, particularly during the 19th century, the minutes of the meetings were published as articles in the American Annals of the Deaf. In later years when the CEASD meetings were held jointly with the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf (CAID), the minutes were published as a part of the CAID Proceedings printed by the Government Printing Office. Since 1947 the CEASD has met annually. During the even numbered years it has met independently. In the odd numbered years it has met jointly with the CAID, each organization having its own business and professional meetings, but sharing a common site and recreational activities. Since 1972 the minutes of the CEASD meetings included a record of all business meetings, all committee reports, and the papers and discussion at all professional sessions. Each year these were printed, assembled and distributed to the membership, thus constituting a continuing record of the Conference of Educational Administrators Serving the Deaf. This 59th meeting differed in format from meetings in the past as it was exclusively devoted to professional panels under the general title, "Charting A Course." These proceedings are devoted exclusively to the professional presentations and will constitute the official minutes and ongoing record of this 119 year old professional organization. As a special issue of the American Annals of the Deafthis guarantees broad accessibility through university and school libraries, and listing of articles in the major indexes as well as in the American Annals of the Deaf index, thus increasing the availability of the material to the professional field. It also makes the material easily available to the members of the 15 cosponsoring organizations . Thus this special issue of the Annals devoted to the Proceedings of the National Forum on Deafness is both a part of the professional record of one professional organization and an important professional contribution to the field in general. Richard G. Brill, Ed.D. Editor, Charting a Course Proceedings of the 1987 CEASD Forum on Deafness 300A.A.D. I November 1987 ...