On Demand Webinars
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Back-to-School But Not Back to Normal: Trauma-Informed Approaches to Student Mental Health During COVID-19
School districts are under pressure to develop trauma-informed programs for students but often don’t know where to begin—1 in 5 students suffer from behavioral or mental health challenges. In this webinar, Dr. Isaiah Pickens and Stephanie Taylor, Ed.S, NCSP, discuss how trauma-informed practices can be used to meet today’s unique challenges.
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The Rise of Behavioral and Mental Health Needs Among Students
Educating the “whole child” is easier said than done. School administrators understand that academic growth is impacted by mental health and behavioral needs. Knowing what to do about it is a vastly different thing. We asked Dr. Isaiah Pickens to help outline a framework for supporting school-based mental health services. His mission is to help
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SEL: The Real Skills for Success!
Helping at-risk students has become an increasingly complex job for special educators. Amidst the rigor of new curriculum standards and the ever-growing impact of technology, we are challenged to help all students be ready and eager to learn when they enter the classroom. Distractions, fears, and lack of social emotional competence especially impair minority students
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Lost and Found: What Works (and What Doesn’t) for Behaviorally Challenged Students
Trying to modify behavior in the typical reactive mode has not proven effective. Students who need help the most benefit least from discipline as usual. It’s time to transform our thinking and our practices so at-risk students can achieve. The Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) model does just that. Collaborative and Proactive Solutions are described
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The Autistic Brain
School administrators are seeking a deeper understanding and new strategies to serve a growing population of students with autism. An overburdened system and the Common Core’s emphasis on language and communications skills has created a sense of urgency to find the best approaches to giving them appropriate access to the curriculum.
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Aha! Misbehavior is a Puzzle, Not a Threat. Discover the STOIC Framework for Behavior Support
We have overly relied on punitive, coercive approaches to solve the puzzle of disruptive behavior. But, aha! Creating a positive school and classroom climate is a needed change and the missing piece for encouraging better behavior and boosting student achievement. Join us as one of our nation’s most sought-after speakers will surprise you with new
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Preventing Problem Behavior in Schools
Problem behaviors are symptomatic of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Learning how to better manage disruptive behavior is a top priority for school administrators, educators, therapists and parents. During this webinar, one of SPED’s most sought-after experts on classroom behavior management strategies will present a “Bio-Psycho-Social” perspective on the interaction of physiological, cognitive and social-environmental issues.
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Social Communication + Emotional Regulation: An Environment for School Success
With growing concerns about behavior issues that disrupt the learning environment, educators are seeking new evidence-based strategies to help students with challenges in social communication and emotional regulation. This webinar is an overview of The SCERTS Model, which helps create positive school climates. SCERTS prioritizes developmental areas of Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, and Transactional Support
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Positive Behavior Strategies: The Real Road to School Climate Change
The use of reactive disciplinary approaches such as seclusion, restraint, and out-of-school suspension has gained much attention recently, with numerous exposes, government reports, and proposed federal legislation. There is compelling evidence that these approaches are often dangerous for students and create a negative school climate. The challenge to schools seeking to reduce their use of
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Building Better Readers Through Early Collaborative Partnerships
Progress in creating literate learners is the cornerstone of education and a high-stakes yardstick by which academic performance is measured. Silos of school-based services are how we’ve traditionally helped students with special needs who are at-risk for reading failure. But now, there’s a new collaborative and results-oriented approach: parents and educators working together to provide
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Integrating Teletherapy Into Your Service Delivery Model Part One
Part 1 of a 2-part webinar aired on 7/16/20. PresenceLearning clinical experts, Kristin Martinez, M.A., CCC-SLP, and Stephanie Taylor, Ed.S, NCSP, share lessons learned from school closures to guide back-to-school planning for remote, hybrid, or in-person reentry.
Integrating Teletherapy Into Your Service Delivery Model Part Two
Part 2 of a 2-part webinar series aired on 7/23/20. PL clinical experts and school partners, Mike Lowers, Central Kansas Cooperative in Education, Melissa Phillips, CCC-SLP, Lewis Cass ISD, and Julian Duffey, Bonneville Joint USD #93, share strategies their districts used for back-to-school planning.
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Tele-Assessment: What You Need to Know
With extended school closures in place, schools nationwide are grappling with questions about conducting eligibility assessments: Should assessment be attempted in the home environment? How can schools best continue serving students in need of evaluation for special education related services? Can needed evaluations be conducted remotely without compromising validity? Which assessments and circumstances are appropriate
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Architecting the Promise of Differentiated Instruction
A one-size-fits all approach to teaching has been giving way to differentiation, but not without challenges to make it really work. While special educators appreciate the necessity for differentiation, they need help to create a vision for differentiation as an imperative and to understand second order change and how to use a yearly change plan
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Making it Real: RTI and MTSS for Reading and Reading Interventions
A fundamental blueprint for student success in school and in life is the ability to read. Special educators especially appreciate the need for constructs that help students with disabilities acquire literacy skills early in their academic career. Yet, even with hundreds of elementary reading programs and interventions we still have persistent gaps. What type of
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Getting Results with a Sustainable Multi-Tiered Support System
How effective is RTI in supporting students with learning and behavioral needs? RTI and the Multi Tiered System and Support Framework (MTSS) promised to close the achievement gap even for students who struggle with disabilities. But a persistent shortfall in achievement outcomes is raising questions about the multi-tiered approach and whether special educators really understand
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Uniquely Human: A Different Way to See Autism and Create Pathways to Success
Providing services for children with autism is a growing challenge. Special educators and families are hungry for advice and encouragement. Autism is usually portrayed as a checklist of deficits: difficulties interacting with others, sensory challenges, and repetitive–sometimes disruptive– behaviors. Therapy has focused on eliminating “autistic” symptoms. Now there’s a different perspective and a new approach–
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The New Science of Learning: Effective Approaches for Older Students with Autism and Attention Disorders
Change agents — leaders in special education– are transforming ways to help older students cope with ASD, attention deficits and related problem behavior that interferes with learning. What does the latest brain research suggest about how we can individualize services, help these students pay closer attention to oral instruction, develop self-regulation skills, complete assignments on
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Beyond Behavior: Creating a Culture for Data-Driven Behavioral Interventions
Using data to make better decisions about student behavior is a cultural and environmental shift impacting special educators, administrators, and counselors alike. While we continue to observe and document cases related to behavior problems, there is a heightened need for easier and more reliable ways to determine the effectiveness of behavioral interventions. Now we can
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Building Academic and S/E/B Progress for All Students
How do you structure a strong foundation for progress toward increasing academic outcomes and bettering school climate? How can you design a program that reduces referrals and minimizes the need for disciplinary action? Research and practice demonstrate that effective classroom management and student instruction in social, emotional, and behavioral self-management is a blueprint for success!
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How to Improve Transition Results for High School Students with Disabilities
Transition challenges are top-of-mind for every special educator. How can we improve achievement for students with disabilities and prepare them to transition from high school to college and career? With heightened accountability, special educators are using a range of tools and methods that go beyond core academics and include non-academic skills, while considering student motivation
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Family Collaboration: An Essential Element for SPED Success
The need for better collaboration with parents has been recognized for years, yet SPED administrators have had little guidance on how to develop successful family-professional partnerships. Parents often report being more challenged by insensitive professionals and confusing systems of services than by their child’s disability, but the focus of special education has been implementing therapies
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Come and Get It! A Legal Update on Discipline and Mental Health Issues for Special Ed Leaders
Bonus Q&A Podcast Your browser does not support the audio element. When it comes to legal topics, special education leaders and related services practitioners are always hungry for more! This summer, we’re unpacking a virtual picnic of meaty, legal topics like student behavior and mental health services. To carve up these hot topics into bite-sized
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Prepare for Impact: 3 Key Questions About RDA for Every SPED Administrator
For the first time since its announcement of Results Driven Accountability (RDA), the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has rated states for compliance with IDEA and student achievement. Now, district leaders are asking a key question: “How does RDA affect me, my work, and my schools?” The answer? The focus is at the
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Staying out of Due Process in Special Education
School administrators know: blunders can and do occur in the development and implementation of educational programs for students with disabilities. Process- or content-related mistakes can be the basis for finding a school system has denied FAPE (free appropriate public education). All school personnel should be trained about the development and implementation of IEPs, especially with
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Results Driven Accountability: Where Were We? Where Are We? Where Do We Go Next?
The Results Driven Accountability (RDA) initiative from OSEP has unfolded over the past several years. Now it’s time to take stock of the past, present, and future of this important new chapter in the history of special education in America. With RDA, the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) catalyzed a nationwide shift from a
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Inclusion Is for Every Learner — Or is It?
Data confirms what all special educators experience. Our vision of inclusion has not been achieved, particularly for children of color. What can we do to reduce instances of inappropriate identification of minority students for special education services? How can we learn to use a cultural lens to examine our current attitudes and practices for our
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Big Ideas in Neuroscience: Brains, Behavior and Engagement for Students and SPED Leaders
How brains uniquely develop impacts learning, social-emotional well-being and relationships. Understanding neurodiversity is essential for educators to create a positive learning climate for all students. Special educators will gain new strategies that best “prime” every brain for engagement, keep the stress response in check, and keep executive functions active and awake. Educators’ brains are part
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5 Easy Ways to Fail in Education
Special educators are feeling the impact of a changing student population and the heightened emphasis on the results of our services. There are so many ways we can get off track and sometimes fail in education. Join your colleagues as we take a look at just five of these common pitfalls, and with humor, share