Creating a plan to support a student to be able to access, engage and progress in their education can be a complicated one.  The legal requirements and logistical barriers often are a focus in our IEP process. This learning event strives to put the child’s experience into focus and provides supports to show up implementing the lEP we create.  The College and Career Ready IEP process helps in keeping the “I” in IEP.  In this training we will focus on the implementation of the CCR-IEP process for the areas of significantly divergent social and emotional learning skill needs. Helping teams take a deep look at the supports, learning, and access points for their students that are planned for in their IEP.

Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to the CCR IEP Five Step Process and what implementation of each step can look like

• Disability-related needs in significantly divergent SEL skills will be explored and navigating possible supports will be practiced

• Resources on the CCR-IEP process will be provided so that participants can further their understanding

Are you newer to working with students with autism? Come join us on a walk through of common strengths and barriers that might arise for a  student identified with autism in accessing, engaging and progressing in their education.   Learn a process of asking  “why” and how to stay curious when we are challenged by behavior or social actions we don’t understand. 

Objectives:

• Familiarize participants with characteristics of autism spectrum disorder

• Participants will leave with an understanding of common barriers to learning associated with autism to be able to use it to support individuals  

• Participants will be given information to help change their approach to supporting student needs

Participants will deepen their understanding of the question “Does the student’s behavior impede their learning or that of others?” We will dig into a variety of approaches to support inclusive strategies to address behavioral needs including:  interrupting bias, building healthy relationships, building proactive positive approaches, understanding the response cycle, and shifting adult mindsets. 

Objectives:

• Participants will be exposed to belief systems that support showing up for a student who exhibits behavior that is challenging to adults

• Participants will be shown methods to engage with the information they have and determine if they need more information to be able to identify the underlying cause for outward behavior

• Strategies for being proactive and positive to behavior that is challenging to adults will be provided

Looking for ways to talk to others and methods to be able to interact in a successful way with your colleagues to ensure more inclusive practices are used with the students you serve?  Struggling to collaborate with colleagues when views on behavior may be divergently different?  These barriers can cause stress, and prevent best practices from being used with, and around students.  This session will support participants in using purposeful strategies to approach, and share information with colleagues around students with neurodiverse needs.

Objectives:

• Participants will be able to verbalize that behavior is an output of a skill deficit or an inefficient action system to be able to react/produce the desired output 

• Participants will be able to identify three skills that support approaching a collaboration ready to be able to handle interactions with colleagues that may not have the same belief systems

• Participants will be able to determine a goal in their interactions with colleagues and develop methods of approaching collaborative conversations

Participants will learn the importance of teaching students about how their brain works.  Information about the emotional  part of our brain, the social part of our brain, and how those two parts can affect academic access, engagement, and progress will be provided. 

Objectives:

• Participants will leave with strategies and resources to create their own lessons on how to support students in learning about their brain

• Participants will learn the importance of teaching students about how their brain works

• Participants will leave with strategies and resources to create their own lessons on how to support students in learning about their brain

Participants will learn about how the brain works and how we can adjust to meet students where they are.  Executive functioning is the ability to organize cognitive processes. This includes the ability to plan, prioritize, stop and start activities, shift from one activity to another activity, and monitor one’s behavior.  It affects everything we do, so when a student has differences in these processes it can cause a barrier to their access, engagement, and progress in their education. During this learning event, we will focus on how to support versus “fix” these differences to support students being the best them they can be. 

Objectives:

• Gain a basic understanding of processing

• Moving from “fix” methods to supportive methods

• Expanding participant's knowledge of strategies to support executive functioning differences

Students who exhibit behavior that is challenging to adults often struggle with cognitive flexibility.  When the brain lacks access to its ability to gain and send out certain information, it may result in behavior that can look very rigid.  When rigid thought patterns, behavior patterns, and a feeling of a need for control interfere with learning and teaching, working on flexibility skills is a strategy we can use to impact student outcomes.  This workshop will explore how the brain works and the factors that impact a student’s ability to access and use flexibility. 

Objectives:

• Understanding of how the brain works

• Using root cause analysis, participants will be able to identify factors that impact the student’s ability to access and use flexibility

• Participants will be introduced to strategies for adult behavior change to support a student who may struggle with the skill of  cognitive flexibility

Participants will deepen their understanding of how educators’ behavior impacts the students' learning.  They will walk away with techniques to change their own practice in supporting student behavior by utilizing proactive support and environmental design.  We will be changing the lens we look at behavior through to overcome the challenging behavioral issues we deal with daily.

Objectives

• Participants will be able to identify at least one strategy to change their own practice

• Participants will be able to identify at least one resource to support understanding the social communication interaction that happens between adults and students

• Participants will be able to identify at least one evidenced-informed improvement strategy that supports the growth of students in adaptive behavior output

Using the root cause analysis process, participants will work through using language and building belief systems that flip the idea of challenging behavior from its “naughty” behavior  to understanding the behavior  as a  communication of a skill deficit or an inability to perform an expectation.    We will dive into the understanding of how educators' behavior impacts the students' learning.  Walk away with techniques to change your own practice in supporting student behavior utilizing proactive support and environmental design.  We will be changing the lens we look at behavior through to overcome the challenging behavioral issues we deal with daily. Already have this belief? Come join us to help gain ways to support others on their learning journey. We don’t change students, we can change our behavior and hope for support in change in others. 

Objectives:

• Participants will be able to identify at least one strategy to support behavior as a skill

• Participants will be able to identify at least one resource to support understanding the social communication interaction that happens between adults and students

• Participants will be able to identify at least one evidenced-informed improvement strategy that supports the growth of students in adaptive behavior output

Regulation is the foundation upon which we are able to access our learning.  When a student experiences a regulation system that is in distress, it may result in a lack of access to learning as well as behavior that is challenging to adults.   We will learn how the stress response system works within our brain and the role it plays in a student's ability to be regulated.  A deep dive into understanding the skill sets it takes to be an active participant in self-regulation will be explored and strategies to better support co-regulation will be provided.

Objectives:

• Participants will interact with the concept of the brain-based reaction system of the lower brain, the amygdala hijack.

• Participants will be introduced to two paths of thinking to plan for support - co-regulation and self-regulation

• Participants will be taught the basic skills of regulation - Knowing signal, language, action, and reflection along with strategies to teach these skills within

Adapting to adversity is a struggle we all have. We often do not think of resilience as a skill set but rather a way of being.  In this training, participants will learn about the components of resilience, and how their practice can influence the building of resilience in their students. We will look at the effects of a system that struggles to naturally cope with that adversity and the relationships it takes to build resiliency.

Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to the definition of resilience  and the connection to education

• Participants will interact with strategies that build the opportunity to become a protective factor for a student

• Participants will explore strategies related to relationship-building and coping strategies

Participants will see and interact with a variety of different visual supports addressing the Social and Emotional Learning Competency of self-management. Participants will be shown how to use visual systems with the whole group down to an individual to strengthen student awareness and self-regulation.  

Objectives:

• During this training participants will learn new strategies and ideas to implement in their educational setting in the are of self-management

• Participants will see and interact with a variety of different visual supports addressing the Social and Emotional Learning Competency of self-management

• Participants will be shown how to use visual systems with the whole group down to an individual to strengthen student awareness and self-regulation

There are a lot of layers of barriers our learners face.  Anxiety can be a large barrier to learning, and can take a fully engaged learner and put them in a place of distress or, even at times, crisis.  Not only affecting them emotionally but blocking their access to their education.   Come join us in learning the brain basics of anxiety and supports we can put in place for others.  

Objectives:

• Learning what is going on in the brain when anxiety is a factor

• Engage in supports that can support the  mitigation of the effects of anxiety

• Introduce the art of staying curious through the root cause analysis process

This training aims to serve as an introduction for educators and families supporting children with disability-related needs in the area of social and emotional learning (SEL). The goal of this session is to give an introduction to skill-based approaches to challenging behaviors that will improve social understanding and self-management of neurodiverse students. Learning opportunities with a focus on self-regulation, social communication, flexibility, resilience, sensory processing, and executive functioning will be provided.

Objectives:

• Support adult changes in behavior through an understanding of neurodiversity

• Introduce areas of possible social and emotional skill need at the deep dive

• Provide connected resources for further learning

Have you ever not understood a joke or felt lost in an interaction with someone?  Understanding the social context around us is a skill set many of us have without much conscious awareness.  When our brain does not take in and process social information in the same way as those around us, it can result in a mismatch within our interactions.  In this training, we will explore components of how we socially communicate and, when our brain thinks differently, how that can cause social mishaps or mismatched interactions.  At times, the social information can be hidden to us; this training supports educators to provide information around social context and interaction. 

Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to the social communication skill of  social cognition and its use. 

• Attendees will leave the session with the tools to problem solve challenging behavior output and extreme social misunderstandings

• Participants will also be given strategies to enhance their current lessons, conversations and learning tasks with social cognition skill builders

The word sensory is used in many different contexts within education, and between educational disciplines; we use it to mean many different things.  In this training, participants will norm their language around the sensory systems and how sensory systems influence our brain.  We will explore how environments can influence sensory input and look at how we might utilize our favorite sensory tools in more effective ways that are  accessible to both related service providers and classroom teachers.  When we discover concepts such as  “fidgets aren’t for everyone,”  we can better set up environments and implement strategies that support individual student needs and how their body shows up.  We will learn to shift our focus from simply “sensory” to a deeper understanding of “regulation.”

Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to the sensory systems and how they influence our brain and body (helping to norm the language used when referencing "sensory")

• Participants will examine tools and strategies commonly used and learn how to make an informed decision on their use by all providers

• Participants will leave with evidence-based information about universal strategies to support outcomes for students with sensory processing differences

Students who do not use verbal language as their main communication mode are often misunderstood. At times, their communication modes are ignored, misunderstood, or viewed as wrong or bad.  Behavior that is challenging to us is only challenging until we know strategies to meet learners where they are.  Come increase your understanding of how to show up for students who may have significant support needs.

 Objectives:

• Participants will be introduced to social communication through the lens of communication modes and supporting those with significant needs.  

• Participants will also be given strategies to enhance their current lessons, conversations, and learning tasks with ideas on how to practice communication exchanges. 

• Attendees will leave the session with the tools to problem-solve challenging behavior output and communication difficulties.

Data collection can be frustrating when trying to progress monitor social or emotional skills.  Your standard go to’s for academics may not work and often there is no product to buy that matches a students need.  We know progress monitoring and data collection is required for each of our IEP goals but often we are not trained or given enough tools to make this data collection useful.   Coming from a lens that behavior is an output of a skill deficit, we will explore how we can set up a system to be able to evaluate progress in social and emotional skills for individuals.  Progress monitoring takes going from a need, making a goal, then matching a tool to find out if progress is being made. When we start thinking about data for social and emotional skills in a different way, explore data collection tools and check to make sure we are learning what we need, progress monitoring goes from being a requirement to informing our practice.

Objectives

• Understand the process of taking a need and matching a data progressing tool 

• Connecting participants to resources on social and emotional skills

• Start to build an understanding of the when, the what and the how of progress monitoring social and emotional skills.

*Resources not developed by DPI, and they do not endorse any product or business. These are free resources pertinent to the topic and provided for your review. We encourage you to do your due diligence to determine if these resources are consistent with your district’s vision and mission.