Brain-Based Learning, Behavioural Challenges & Mental Health: The Toronto Educators’ Conference

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Demonstrate how to apply the “Three Ingredients” template for understanding how, why and when anxiety develops in children
2. Describe how to recognize and modify the sources of stress in children and adolescents
3. Explain the anxiety management skills to use with young students
4. Identify effective treatment strategies for each of the seven key anxiety disorders
5. Identify steps that schools can take to reduce student anxiety

COURSE OUTLINE:

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Utilize effective techniques for the treatment of behaviour disorders in children
2. Develop specific behavioural interventions that address the developmental stage of the child or adolescent
3. Consider the efficacy of biologically-based interventions to address behavioural and emotional disorders in children
4. Explore clinical manifestations among anxiety disorders, ADHD, mood disorders, ODD, and conduct disorder as they relate to diagnoses
5. Develop skills for establishing an interpersonal rapport to overcome resistance to change in children and adolescents
6. Analyze the symptoms of behavioural and emotional disorders in children and adolescents and establish how this informs your intervention strategies

COURSE OUTLINE:

1. Introduction-
   1. Introduce speaker
   2. Daily agenda
   3. Defining Terms/Seminar Warm-ups
2. Immediate Interventions: Physiological
   1. Neuropsychology
   2. Hormones
   3. Gender/Relationship to School
   4. Medication Primer
3. Tools to Manage Anger
   1. Creating Common Language
   2. Expand Emotional Awareness/Vocabulary
   3. Standing 8 Count
   4. Tom McIntyre
   5. Empathy Building:
   6. Time-In/Restitution
4. General Mental Health
   1. Physical Health
   2. Mental Health
5. Siphoning Energy/Counterconditioning:
   1. Settle Mind
   2. Settle Body
6. Positive Reinforcement/Stabilization
   1. Home: Listening Jar
   2. School
7. Hendrix Intentional Dialogue
8. Autism Spectrum
   1. Read & React
   2. Rules of Engagement
   3. Building a Broader Structure
   4. Temple Grandin
9. Jay Haley – Prescribe the Symptom
   1. Classroom Examples
   2. Separate Behaviour from application

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Identify individual educational objectives that could be successfully met in the general education classroom
2. Describe how to determine individual abilities and how to support students
3. Demonstrate the ability to implement instructional supports starting with the most challenging inclusive strategies for middle school and high school students
4. Identify critical program components at the middle school and high school levels
5. Describe how to analyze a learning environment to accommodate students with severe and multiple impairments
6. Describe how to implement strategies in an elementary school setting
7. Create multi-level instruction which can be provided in the general education setting that incorporates provincial standards
8. Determine in a systematic way which individual educational goals can be met in a general education classroom or may need to be implemented in a more restrictive environment.

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Educational Objectives in the General Education Classroom
• How to Determine Individual Abilities; Student Supports
• IEPs and State Standards; Instructional Supports for Middle and High School Students
• Critical Program Components at the Middle School and High School Levels
• How to Analyze the Learning Environment to Accommodate Students with Severe and Multiple Impairments
• How to Implement Strategies at the Elementary School Level

COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

1. List the three factors under IDEA to qualify a student for special education services under the category of emotional disturbance
2. Describe various school services that can be provided for students as related services
3. Discuss the functions of behaviour as they relate to emotional disturbance
4. Write examples of IEP goals to teach replacement skills
5. Write positive behaviour support plans to support difficult behaviours
6. Design intervention strategies to address a student with aggressive behaviour
7. List several ways to assist a student with stress and/or anger management

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Description of emotional disturbance and IDEA; symptoms exhibited by students with emotional disturbance
• Underlying factors that may contribute to a student’s disturbance in the school setting
• Functions of behaviour
• Related services and specially designed instruction for students with emotional disturbance
• Interventions to address defiance, anger and stress management, and aggression
• Writing the IEP and Positive Behaviour Support Plan
• Case study – ideas for implementation

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Discuss the relationship between emotional disorders and poor self regulation skills, bullying behaviour, and limited academic success in school
2. Discuss the neural architecture of emotional functioning by examining six key brain regions responsible for behavioural self-regulation
3. Explore the neurobiological correlates and treatment options for psychopathy and emotional dysregulation, depression, and anxiety disorders in children
4. Present a treatment algorithm utilizing counseling, cognitive-behavioural therapy, parent training, and neurofeedback to promote emotional wellness in children
5. Explore effective classroom interventions, treatment options, and assessment strategies for children with emotional self-regulation and conduct disorders

COURSE OUTLINE:

• The coding conundrum for children with emotional disorders
• Curbing bullying behaviour in our schools
• Neural architecture of emotional regulation
• Emotional disorders, behaviour and academic success
• Treatment for anxiety, depression, and self regulation disorders
• De-escalating behaviour and promoting social-emotional learning
• Assessment of social-emotional disorders

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Adequately describe a comprehensive model of executive functions
2. Explain how executive function difficulties are manifested in individuals diagnosed with various psychological disorders and/or enrolled in special education programs
3. Describe and apply strategies that use external control to help a student function more effectively in school settings
4. Describe and apply strategies that enable students to improve their use internally self-regulated capacities to improve their functioning in school settings
5. Describe and apply strategies that help students bridge the gap between being externally controlled and internally self-regulated
6. Identify and access sources of information about evidence-based programs that foster executive function development and/or remediate difficulties

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Executive functions: What they are and what they are not
• A comprehensive model of executive functions; executive functions development; executive functions and clinical diagnoses
• Internally commanded and externally demanded use of executive functions; motivation and executive functions; learning vs. producing: the nature of producing disabilities and how they are different from learning disabilities
• Orienting strategies: increasing awareness of difficulties and setting goals for intervention
• External control strategies for helping students improve functioning in school settings
• Bridging strategies for helping students transition from externally controlled to internally self-regulated
• Bridging strategies continued; strategies for strengthening internal self-regulation

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Identify the use of positive vs. negative reinforcement and positive vs. negative punishment when given behavioural scenarios
2. Describe ways to incorporate the use of reinforcement to decrease the frequency of problem behaviour
3. List particular antecedent strategies to support difficult behaviour, including strategies for students with emotional disturbance and oppositional defiant disorder
4. Describe the skill deficits that may be associated with problem behaviour and write appropriate IEP goals to address them
5. Write positive behaviour support plans to teach new skills so that children will not use problem behaviour to achieve escape or attention
6. Initiate the use of appropriate data collection tools to study behaviour objectively and learn what is reinforcing it

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Difficulties presented by children with
  behavioral deficits and conflicts between
  staff and parents
• Antecedents to difficult behavior;
  consequences: reinforcers and
  “punishers”
• Functions of behaviour; types of data collection tools
• Developing a PBSP based on data collection
• Executive functions and how they impact problem behaviour
• Interventions for motivation, transition difficulties, perseverations
• Interventions for inflexibility, oppositional defiant behaviour, sensory disturbances, attention difficulties and emotional control

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Identify target behaviours that are developmental and will most likely go away vs behaviours that will most likely continue to get worse over time
2. Identify effective communication strategies from ineffective ones in order to minimize undesirable behaviours
3. Demonstrate the ability to design a classroom that promotes goals of intended instruction for different areas of the room
4. Demonstrate the ability to design stimulating lessons that engage diverse learners
5. Adequately demonstrate power struggle avoidance techniques with students exhibiting challenging behaviours
6. Identify the functions of a student’s behaviour by focusing on one’s own reaction to the behaviour
7. Describe how to troubleshoot breakdowns in your own classroom, school or therapy environment
8. Identify 3 visual tools you can use to help minimize disruptive behaviours

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Targeting Diverse Learners in the Classroom – Who Are They? Why These Strategies are for ALL Students
• Critical Components, Teacher Behaviour, Teaching the Way They Learn
• Classroom Environment
• Positive Behaviour Supports
• Meaningful Instruction and Learning Strategies
• Student Behaviour

Dr. Webb will additionally address key childhood disorders that left untreated can lead to maladaptive coping behaviours in adulthood. Dr. Webb will teach participants how to apply and adapt various skills training to reflect the language of children and how to establish a safe and supportive classroom in which children can learn and generalize these skills. Working with emotionally-dysregulated children in your classroom can be overwhelming and exhausting. You probably feel the pull of being the “saviour” for dysregulated children and their worried parents. Learn how to implement the skills you need to be more effective in the classroom, avoid burnout and achieve positive outcomes.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Describe the biosocial model of pervasive emotional dysregulation disorders found in innately sensitive children.
2. Utilize behaviour modification strategies at the earliest stage of dysregulation.
3. Summarize the importance of structure in both skills training and home environments and how to teach parents or care providers to implement these strategies.
4. Explain how to adapt each skills module to reflect the language of the child.
5. Explain the role of educators, care providers, and parents and how to reestablish a safe and loving structure that enables the child to learn and generalize skills.

COURES OUTLINE:

• Biosocial Model
• Attachment style
• Impact of trauma
• Effects of inadequate validation in early emotional development
• Symptoms of pervasive emotional dysregulation disorder

Adapt Dialectical Behaviour Skills Training to Key Childhood and Adolescent Disorders ADHD

• Attachment Disorder
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)/Conduct Disorder (CD)

COURSE OBJECTIVE:

1. Discuss current literacy rates in Canada and trends in reading achievement
2. Differentiate “developmental dyslexia” from other learning disorders, and discuss how schools can best screen for early reading pitfalls in children
3. Discuss four universal truths with respect to teaching reading based upon brain-behavioural principles
4. Describe a brain-based educational model of reading and written language disorders by classifying each disability into basic subtypes, with specific remediation strategies linked to each subtype
5. Discuss five essential steps for effective written language instruction
6. Describe the 90 minute LD evaluation measuring eight core constructs associated with learning disorders in children, including the Feifer Assessment of Reading (FAR) battery

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Discuss national trends in reading and literacy
• Define “dyslexia” and main pitfalls of using solely IQ testing or Rtl to identify this condition
• Four universal truths with respect to reading
• Subtypes of reading disordered and interventions
• An introduction to the FAR
• DIscuss national trends in written language and gender differences in writing achievement
• Discuss eight core cognitive constructs involved with written language development
• Four main subtypes of written language disorders

This workshop will begin by providing an overview of executive skills, including definitions and a description of the developmental progression of these skills in the first two decades of life. The approach to understanding executive skills presented in this workshop is structured around two key concepts: 1) that most individuals have an executive skills profile that includes both strengths and weaknesses; and 2) by defining executive skills discretely rather than grouping them in broader categories, it is possible to design interventions to address specific deficits that lend themselves to data-based decision making. Workshop participants will gain a deeper understanding both of the model being presented and of their own executive skills profile.

The heart of the workshop will address how to assess executive skills and develop interventions designed to address specific executive skill weaknesses.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Define executive skills and identify how executive skills impact school performance and daily living
2. Use assessment tools to identify executive dysfunction
3. Access a repertoire of strategies to improve executive skills in students
4. Design your own intervention strategies tailored to the needs of individual students
5. Utilize classroom-wide interventions to improve executive skills

COURSE OUTLINE: 

Part I: Overview of Executive Skills

• Definitions
•  Underlying theory
• Executive skills in the context of brain function and child development

Part II: Assessment of Executive Skills

• Parent/teacher/student interviews
• Behaviour Rating Scales
• Observations
•  Informal Assessment
• Formal Assessment

Part III: Three Intervention Strategies

• Environmental modifications to reduce the impact of weak executive skills
• Teaching strategies/routines to help youngsters develop/improve executive functioning
• Using incentives to help youngsters practice or use skills that are difficult

Part IV: Coaching as an Effective Strategy for Building Executive Skills

•  Overview of coaching
• Description of 2-stage process
• Coaching with younger children
• Clinical case examples
• Description of research studies

The challenging co-occurring issues to be addressed are:

• Social Skills Deficits
• Communication Deficits
• Sensory
• Anxiety/Rigidity
• Depression
• Meltdowns, Outbursts, and Non-Compliance
• ADHD & OCD
• Psychotropic Medications

Gain valuable insight into how information processing, communication, and social skills deficits lead to difficulty in the home, school, occupational, and social settings. Learn how to prioritize a plan for intervention and implement strategies in order to improve functioning across all areas. We will explore HFA and the new DSM-5® diagnosis of Social- Pragmatic Communication Disorder. You will receive the necessary tools to gain effective collaboration between clinicians, educators and parents.

Through case studies, video clips and class participation you will leave this workshop with an improved understanding of HFA and the confidence to develop and implement effective treatment plans. Don’t just manage these individuals; provide interventions that lead to successful independence into their adult years!

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Explain how the DSM-5® updates impact service delivery
2. Utilize several social skill interventions to improve long-term success for children/adolescents with HFA
3. Employ specific coping and calming techniques for children/adolescents with HFA
4. Identify medication side effects that can mimic behavioural issues and may even cause behavioural issues
5. Design effective strategies for successful transitions for children/adolescents with HFA
6. Select specific behavioural interventions that target the most difficult behaviours in children/ adolescents with HFA
7. Summarize the new DSM-5® diagnosis of Social- Pragmatic Communication Disorder and design treatment interventions

COURSE OUTLINE:

DSM-5® and ICD-10 Updates

• Social-Pragmatic Communication Disorder
• Impact on service delivery (school/community)
• Successfully link home, school and therapy
• IEP/504/Do they qualify for school services?
• Co-morbid disorders: Why the difference is important

Social Skills Interventions

• Improve social skill deficits
• “Kid Cop” behaviours and why other kids get angry
• How to get peers to recognize them in positive ways
• Group activities that have a proven track record

Communication Interventions

• Help peers and family members relate
• Verbal interventions that overload processing
• The importance of incorporating visuals in communication
• Pragmatic language and other abstract issues

Sensory Interventions

• Self-stimulation
• Coping/calming techniques that reduce meltdowns
• Sensory diet

Anxiety Interventions

• Anxiety-reducing activities
• How anxiety impacts rigidity
• Help them “self-regulate”
• Successful transitions

Depression Interventions

• Assessing for mood disorders
• Therapy that works for people with HFA
• Solitude vs. loneliness

ADHD Interventions

• ADHD vs. hyper-focus
• Commonly prescribed medications and possible benefits and side effects
• Specific triggers and what fuels the rage
• Reduce aggressive and disruptive behaviours
• Mistakes that escalate defiant behaviours
• Overcome refusals to comply with even simple requests

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Interventions

• Differences between ASD and OCD
• Specific medication interventions
• Impact on socialization and behaviours

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Explain why an agenda/schedule is important for persons on the spectrum
2. Explain how to use a Surprise Card or Change of Schedule Card in a clinical or classroom setting
3. Differentiate between a meltdown and a tantrum
4. Differentiate chronic over-arousal to behaviours observed in students with an ASD or another developmental disorder
5. Demonstrate the ability to role-play a Social Script Adequately describe how to apply a Video Model
6. Accurately identify examples of over-stimulation when presented with videotaped examples of student behaviours
7. Discuss how to implement Power Cards and Social Stories in classroom or therapy settings

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Use of Agenda/Schedules, Suprise Cards or Change of Schedule Cards
• Meltdowns, Tantrums, Chronic Overarousal; Social Scripts
• Video Models
• Myths and Facts of ASD; Autism Research, Neurology of the Brain and Behaviour
• Video of Overstimulation; How to Implement Power Cards and Social Stories
• Video Scenarios-Critical Components in General Education Classrooms
• Implementing Instructional Consequences; Using Visual Tools