Meghan Whittaker, National Center for Learning Disabilities‘ Policy & Advocacy Manager and Robert Stephens, Sr. Manager, Federal Relations, share the latest federal policy developments relating to K-12 and college education for students with learning and attention issues and the opportunities for parents to take action and effect change on a large scale. Read more »
Natasha Quiroga, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and PREP Director, covers the IEP process and outline steps to take before, during, and after the IEP meeting. Be better prepared to fully participate in upcoming IEP meetings and advocate for your child’s needs. Read more »
Dan Peters, PhD, Executive Director of The Summit Center, reviews a typical public school academic assessment and discusses how to interpret academic assessment results in relationship to the school psychologist and speech and language pathologist’s reports. Dr. Peters explains how to “connect the dots” between findings to determine a dyslexia profile. Read more »
In this session, John Neville , founder of Mindful Test Taking teaches valuable mindfulness strategies to quiet your mind, relax your muscles and reduce stress so you can stay calm under pressure and discusses tools to help you manage and navigate stressful situations, including taking tests.
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“Mindfulness is a form of attention or awareness training that can be applied in any activity throughout the day- seeing, hearing, walking, eating, playing and homework. Its purpose is to increase self awareness, emotional balance, impulse control and overall focus.” (Mindful Schools 2013). In this session, middle school learning specialist Cori Maiden, M.S.Ed, and music teacher Cynthia Pistone, both from Charles Armstrong School, show how to practice these skills with students through mindful activities and games. Read more »
In this workshop Thomas Maffai, MA , Innovate Public Schools, Senior Research and Policy Lead and lead writer and facilitator Amanda Machado show how to advocate for changes to policies and practices in order to benefit students with disabilities in their local school or district. Read more »
Pam Lozoff, MSW, RYT, Spirit of Youth Yoga Project Director discusses how yoga, breathing, and self-calming techniques can help children reduce their stress levels, learn to self-soothe, and be better equipped to regulate their emotions and behavior. Read more »
Jared Leaderman, PhD of Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto explores the many dynamic ways that music making can both promote mental health and therapeutically address experiences of anxiety, depression, and heightened stress. The workshop is also grounded in contemporary neuroscience as a way to highlight the holistic and integrative potential of music based modalities to foster wellness. Read more »
Learn more about how stress can impact a child’s brain and how mindfulness practices can make a positive impact in this presentation by John Rettger, PhD, Director of Mindfulness at Stanford University’s Early Life Stress & Pediatric Anxiety Program. Read more »
Executive functioning is critical as students move into adulthood and prepare for college. Yet, there is an epidemic of disorganized teens — students who are overwhelmed when they need to, for example, schedule their own appointments, get a driver’s license, apply for a job, or just get to class on time. How do parents teach these executive skills to their teens when they may not want to listen? Read more »
