Full Course Description

The Hard-to-Engage Student: Strategies to Minimize Work Avoidance, Increase Connectedness, and Enhance Academic Success for Struggling Students

The kindergartener who refuses to join the others at circle time. The fifth grader who has yet to complete an assignment. The freshman who leaves school daily after lunch.

As educators, our goal is to inspire and unlock each student’s passion for learning. But what happens when our best efforts are met with refusal or hostility?

Join Savanna Flakes, Ed. S, international educational consultant, for this unprecedented seminar that will equip you with proven interventions and strategies to engage the hardest-to-engage students.

Through interactive activities, video demonstrations and collaborative discussion you will acquire dozens of evidence-based, practical strategies to increase academic achievement.

Discover:

Inclusive and equitable practices to remove barriers to student engagement
SEL strategies for building positive relationships and productive interactions during learning
Innovative technology tools to support struggling students
Evidenced-based practices to support effective group work and team collaboration
Practical and low-prep strategies to differentiate reading and math instruction on-the-fly
Strategies to support student resilience, mindset, and independence
Collaboration, co-teaching, and interdisciplinary approaches for success

Program Information

Target Audience

Educators
School Administration
Counselors
Social Workers
General Education Teachers
Special Education Teachers
School Social Workers
School Occupational Therapists
School Paraprofessionals

Objectives

Implement structures to provide positive learning environments and effective teamwork structures to support students with positive social behaviors and relationships with peers and adults.
Apply instructional strategies to support students with working memory, organization, and language across the academic curriculum.
Evaluate differentiated instructional strategies to accommodate children’s areas of instructional need in writing, reading, and math.
Assess various grouping strategies in academic content to match various student learning profiles.
Analyze common barriers to engagement and incorporate appropriate strategies to accelerate learning progress.
Differentiate an upcoming lesson activity using the resources and brain-research to increase student motivation.

Outline

Activities & Instructional Practices To…

Build A Connected Classroom Community

The neuroscience behind school classroom connectedness: Ideas for working with student diversity
Cooperative learning structures to promote teamwork: Experiential activities
Components of building positive and effective relationships with teacher/peers
10 Strategies to Reduce classroom anxiety and increase student belonging

Principles of Engagement

Five important “Principles of Engagement”
High-leverage inclusive practices
Equitable brain-based instructional opportunities
Lesson plan ideas and templates

Differentiated Instruction

Effective, cutting-edge, research-based instructional strategies
Key components of exemplary programs
Dynamic assessment strategies to inform instruction
Flexible grouping practices to remediate and accelerate learning
Co-teaching success strategies
OT, SW, SLP, teacher: Collaboration at its finest

Supporting Academic Success

Technology tools and resources to support engagement and completion
The power of visuals and video for task initiation, working memory, and sequential thought
Scaffolds and supports to engage students with special needs in writing opportunities
Proven strategies to increase sustained attention
Resources, resources, resources!
Video demonstrations of students demonstrating mental flexibility in rigorous problem- solving activities

Brain-Based Engagement Strategies

Innovative strategies to reduce classroom anxiety and increase student connection
Powerful instructional moves to increase achievement
Trauma-informed grounding strategies

Rethinking Behavior

The power of Social Emotional Learning
Quick on-the-spot behavior interventions that get big results
Growth vs fixed mindset: Research-based case studies
Build perseverance: Video demonstrations
Develop resilience toward rigorous and complex tasks
Mistakes as opportunities and prevent fear of failure

Copyright : 02/15/2024

School Refusal: Real help for children and teens who can’t or won’t go to school

School refusal creates chaos in families and often becomes a vicious cycle in which students become trapped.

Often a symptom of anxiety and depression, school refusal creates an immediate short-term relief for kids seeking to escape aspects of the school day. But the result typically includes falling further behind academically, increased feelings of disconnection from peers, and lowered self-esteem.

Join Susan Gibbs, LPC, to learn from her extensive experience in addressing school refusal effectively. She will bridge the clinical and educational words and share approaches for both environments so you can help struggling students and families.

You will leave with the ability to:

Identify the 4 functions of school refusal
Anticipate and plan for 5 critical times of day
Create student and family specific plans that focus on the student’s inner wealth and human connection
Equip parents and educators with age-appropriate interventions to successfully handle school refusal in-the-moment
Apply the Nurtured Heart Approach to school refusal

Program Information

Objectives

Recognize the four functions of school refusal.
Anticipate and plan for five critical times of day when school refusal may be heightened.
Learn effective interventions to increase class and school attendance.
Identify 3 core elements of the Nurtured Heart Approach and apply it to school refusal.
Create a treatment plan based on the identified function of the school refusal.
Equip parents and educators with strategies to effectively handle school refusal at home and school.

Outline

The What and the Why of School Refusal

Simple dislike, truancy, or something else entirely?

Soft school refusal vs outright refusal
Refusal vs truancy
Co-morbid DSM-5 disorders
- Anxiety – the self-fulling prophecy
- ODD – can't or won’t?
- Learning disorders – avoiding failure
- Depression – lacking a “why”
- PTSD – self-protection
- Conduct disorders – rethinking behavior
- Autism – sensory and social overload
Tool to measure school refusal objectively
Standardized assessment measures to employ
Critical questions to ask refusers and their parents

School Avoidance: A Vicious Cycle

Short-term relief with long-term consequences

Early morning pleas, somatic complaints, bargaining
Common triggers for avoidance
5 critical times of day and how to handle each
Ages and stages of avoidance and refusal
3 common parental responses to school refusal (that don’t work!) and approaches to recommend instead
The role of peers, academic struggles, and home life
Case conceptualization with integrated intervention plan

Grounding and Planning, Not Coping

Powering through or enhancing resilience?

5 tips for navigating the Distress Hill
Tapping into polyvagal theory techniques
8 powerful grounding techniques and when to use each
Activating cognitive ability, motivation and values
5 critical time periods each day and intervention strategies for each
The role of rewards and consequences and to how to use both effectively

The Nurtured Heart Approach®

Inspiring behavior vs managing behavior

3 Stands: absolute no, absolute yes, clarity
Starter ideas for the 4 Recognitions: Active, Experiential, Proactive, Creative
Interventions to expand the student’s reserve of Inner Wealth
Channel intense energy in a positive direction
Special considerations for ADHD, ASD, and other diagnoses

Engagement and Connectedness

Multi-tiered support and collaborative intervention

Helping parents trust their deepest instincts
Relationship as an energetic exchange
Medication considerations
Practical strategies for home and school collaboration

Limitations of the Research and Potential Risks

Target Audience

Educators
School Administration
Counselors
Social Workers
General Education Teachers
Special Education Teachers
School Social Workers
School Occupational Therapists
School Paraprofessionals

Copyright : 02/16/2024

Avoiding Legal Exposure and Enabling Learning: Accommodating the "Difficult" Student in 2024

Educators find themselves in a national crisis of student mental health.

What is the role of special education to address this crisis? How and when is special education a resource to address the struggling student? Have the legal boundaries changed regarding eligibility, in this time of mental health peril? How do conflicting “rights” of speech, and search and seizure, impact educators? When a student is not eligible for special education, how can educators meaningfully, in the student’s home school, provide intervention to support disconnected students? And why does our understanding of MTSS so desperately need to “broaden,” today?

This session, delivered by John Comegno, litigator and law professor, will engage, entertain, and empower educators to support students at risk, providing turnkey strategies to address students struggling behaviorally and emotionally, and most importantly, advance learning.

Program Information

Objectives

Recognize legal boundaries in supporting behaviorally involved students, today.
Apply intervention best practices to address behavioral and mental health difficulties to enable learning.
Identify crucial education practice missteps which present legal exposure.

Outline

Mental Health in Schools

Data and trends
The role of social media
Impact of substance use

MTSS, Section 504, and IEPs

Supports available
Decision-making standards and processes
Team members and roles

Safety and Student Rights

Risk assessment
Case study: school shooting
Safety and student rights
Exclusionary discipline

Building Resilient Students

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
Teaching flexibility
Healthy conflict

Target Audience

School administrators
Counselors
Psychologists
Social Workers
Teachers
Teacher Consultants
Special Education Teachers
Occupational Therapists
School Nurses

Disruptive Behaviors in the Classroom: Quick "On the Spot" Social-Emotional Learning and Behavior Interventions That Get Big Results!

Everyone who works in the field of education encounters students who have difficulty managing their emotions and behavior.

These children quickly shut down, become disengaged or unmotivated and act out disrupting the classroom, which gets in the way of everyone’s learning.

These students need concrete emotional and behavioral interventions to support their social-emotional learning (SEL) development for social and academic success.

This comprehensive recording provides practical SEL solutions to build the mindsets, skills, and necessary supports to help young people manage their emotions, cope with challenges, and demonstrate perseverance to attain goals and healthy behaviors.

Watch and equip yourself with evidence-based intervention strategies and instructional practices to build self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship-building and responsible decision-making skills to help your students:

Build healthy mindsets, increase engagement, motivation and decision-making skills
Invest in positive behavior and learning changes, including effective group work
Self-regulate emotions and reduce conflicts
Cope with challenges and decrease emotional distress
Reduce conduct problems and risk-taking behaviors
Stop shutting-down and reduce non-compliant behavior
Maintain positive social behaviors and relationships with peers and adults
Attain and maintain goals and healthy learning habits
Improve test scores, grades and attendance

Through interactive activities and video demonstrations you will finish this program inspired with a wealth of highly proactive and effective strategies to transform the social-emotional health of your classroom.

You will immediately be able to help your students develop responsibility for their own behavior and learning and contribute to a positive classroom environment!

Program Information

Objectives

Utilize best practices in the classroom to create a positive learning environment that fosters teamwork and helps students to develop prosocial behavior and relationships with peers and adults.
Implement instructional intervention strategies to support students’ social-emotional learning as it relates to frustration management, impulse control and perseverance to achieve personal and educational goals.
Differentiate between a growth versus fixed mindset and implement interventions to support the development of a perseverance and grit in students.
Analyze common challenging student behaviors and demonstrate the application of a positive behavioral strategy to facilitate social-emotional learning skills.
Implement both proactive and reactive strategies for the most challenging disruptive and explosive student behavior.
Develop a SEL plan or behavior plan that can be used to support challenging student behavior across all settings.

Outline

Whole Classroom SEL Techniques and Behavior Interventions, Activities & Instructional Practices To…

Build A Positive Classroom Community

The neuroscience behind your class: Ideas for working with student diversity
Cooperative learning structures to promote teamwork: Experiential activities
Reduce classroom anxiety and increase student connection to lessons
Build positive and effective learning-based classrooms
Evidenced-based practices for the five core competencies of SEL

Develop Student Perseverance and Grit

Growth vs fixed mindset: Research-based case studies
Build perseverance: Video demonstrations
Develop resilience toward rigorous and complex tasks
Mistakes as opportunities and prevent fear of failure

Increase Student Self-Awareness

Teach them how to assess their strengths and limitations Increase self-confidence, optimism and self-efficacy
Help them identify emotions, thoughts and behaviors in different situations
Teach self-discipline and goal-setting skills
Self-monitoring techniques to track learning and academic behaviors Improve

Student Self-Regulation Skills

Model positive self-talk and effective self-reflection
Support executive-functioning needs
Develop problem-solving skills and solving conflicts
Manage and cope with emotions using evidencedbased frameworks

Develop Student Social Awareness

Teach perspective taking and empathy
Social anxiety techniques to reduce stress
Lesson plans on social and ethical norms for behavior

Manage Disruptive Behavior

Proactive and corrective measures
Practical motivational incentives
Strategies for the basic functions and needs of chronic misbehavior

Enhance Whole Class Positive Behavior Interventions

Behavior strategies to support academic success
Core elements of evidenced-based classwide reinforcement systems
Lesson plans on character education

Respond to Trauma and Tragedy

Strategies to positively support trauma impacted students
Calm the stress response related to anxiety or depression
Alternatives to zero-tolerance policies to help nurture resilience
Mitigate stress through mindfulness exercises, goalsetting activities and group identity-building

Target Audience

General Education Teachers
Special Education Teachers
School Administration
School Social Wokers
School Counselors
School Psychologists
Speech-Language Pathologists
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapy Assistants
School Paraprofessionals
Other Helping Professionals who Work with School-Age Children