8:00am - 4:50pm
Full Day

*PREPaRE Workshop 1  (6.5 PD Credit) 25 person max
Presented by Rosario C. Pesce, Ph.D., NCSP & Michael Grenda, NCSP

Workshop Description: Participants will learn how to establish and sustain comprehensive school safety efforts that attend to both physical and psychological safety. The workshop addresses critical components needed to develop, exercise, and evaluate safety and crisis teams and plans and conduct building vulnerability assessments. The model also integrates school personnel and community provider roles in providing school-based crisis preparedness and response activities. Additional topics addressed also include media/social media, communication, reunification, students with special needs, culture, and memorials. After this workshop, participants will be better prepared to improve their school’s climate, student resilience, and crisis response capabilities of school personnel. With updated research and strategies, this workshop makes a clear connection between ongoing crisis prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.

WS1 LEARNER OBJECTIVES:

This workshop will help participants:

1. Identify the mission phases of crisis management;

2. Describe the critical importance of and components necessary for a balanced approach to comprehensive school safety and crisis preparedness;

3. Identify how to evaluate and implement physical and psychological safety efforts;

4. Identify the purpose, functions, and guiding principles of developing comprehensive safety and crisis teams and plans to include prevention, mitigation, protection, and response;

5. Identify the critical components, including when developing specific functional and threat- or hazard-specific protocols;

6. Identify the major functions of the Incident Command System (ICS);

7. Articulate specific strategies to address challenges associated with media/social media, communication, reunification, and memorials;

8. Describe how to meet diverse needs, including various cultures and students with disabilities; and identify strategies for examining effectiveness of crisis prevention and preparedness

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Participants for this workshop must also register through NASP’s InReach system where they will fill out some demographic information, complete a pre-test, and view an online 21- minute video. They will be sent a link and instructions shortly before the convention once registered for the session. Once completed, they will then be able to download all the handouts of the workshop, including those that will be used for activities throughout the workshop.

CPD CREDITS

Although this 1-day workshop involves 6.5 hours of content, participants will earn 7.0 hours of documented NASP- Approved CPD. The time required to watch the mandatory pre-workshop video is included in the CPD hours. ($45.00 required additional material fee)

Workshop 2: *Mindfulness for Educators (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Adena B. Meyers, Ph.D.

Workshop Description: Participants will attend a 3-hour workshop in which they will learn about the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of mindfulness-based interventions and applications of these interventions for school-based professionals and in educational settings. Legal and ethical considerations relevant to delivering mindfulness-based interventions in schools will also be discussed. Participants will be introduced to several formal and informal mindfulness practices that they can apply in their own personal and professional lives. They will learn skills related to self-care and stress-reduction, which may applied to enhance their presence, patience, and equanimity in their work with colleagues and students.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of mindfulness-based interventions and the applications of these interventions for school-based professionals

• Become familiar with ethical and legal considerations relevant to school-based mindfulness interventions

• Experience several formal and informal mindfulness practices, which may be applied in personal and professional contexts, adding to skills in self-care and stress-reduction 

Workshop 3: *QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training (3.0 PD Credit) 35 person max
Presented by Tracy Levine, MSW, LCSW

Workshop Description: Anyone can be a gatekeeper. Learn the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. We will review data and statistics, information about marginalized populations, causes of suicidal behavior, warning signs, suicide myths, and available resources, and get comfortable with language around suicide.

The mission of QPR is to save lives and reduce suicidal behaviors by providing innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training. QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer – the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. Gatekeepers can be anyone, but include parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, students, coworkers, emergency responders and many others who are strategically positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide.  

*This course does not teach clinical assessment. Participants will receive a two-year certificate from the QPR Institute with access to additional resources

8:30am-11:50am
Half Day

Workshop 4:The Neuropsychology of Reading Disorders:Developing Research-Based Intervention
(3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Steven G. Feifer, D.Ed., ABSNP 

Workshop Description: This workshop will examine reading from a brain-based educational perspective, and discuss current literacy trends in the United States.   The primary focus of the presentation will be to differentiate “dyslexia” from other reading disorders, as well as to classify developmental reading disorders into four distinct subtypes.  There will be a discussion matching each reading disorders’ subtype with scores of evidence-based interventions.   The use of a neuropsychological paradigm to discuss multiple facets of the reading process including phonemic proficiency and awareness, phonological processing, orthographic processing, working memory, and executive functioning will be featured.   Lastly, the Feifer Assessment of Reading (FAR) battery, a diagnostic educational assessment designed to examine the underlying cognitive and linguistic processes that supports proficient reading skills, will be introduced. Specific learning objectives include:

1. Examine current literacy rates in the United States and the prevalence rate of dyslexia. 

2. Introduce a brain-based educational model of reading by examining specific neural circuits that underscore phonological development, orthographic development, and reading comprehension skills. 

3. Discuss four subtypes of reading disabilities, and link scores of evidenced-based interventions and relevant classroom strategies to address each subtype.

4. Discuss the differences between a traditional achievement test versus a diagnostic achievement test, and introduce the Feifer Assessment of Reading (FAR) as a more viable means to both diagnose and remediate subtypes of reading disorders.

8:30pm -11:50am
Half Day

Workshop 5: Cognitive Behavior Therapy: A Basic Overview to Theory and Practice in Schools 
(3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by William Pfohl, Psy.D., NCSP

Workshop Description: This workshop will provide an overview of Cognitive Behavior Therapy using Beck’s 2014 reconceptualization. An overview of how to conduct CBT in schools will be covered.  CBT is useful for a variety of disorders which will be discussed.

Lunch

Workshop 1: *Collaborative Problem-solving with Parents: Effective Practices for School Psychologists (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Dennis J. Simon, Ph.D.

Workshop 2:* Introducing CIP-T2 BIGS, a Tier 2 Small Group Social Emotional Intervention to Help Students Manage Stress, Enhance Social Support, Increase Positive Behavior, and Set and Monitor Goals (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Christine Malecki, Ph.D. & Michelle Demaray, Ph.D.

Workshop Description:  Despite an overwhelming need, there is a lack of Tier 2 interventions for social emotional learning skills. This workshop will overview the SSIS CIP-T2 Social Emotional Health Improvement Program (SSIS CIP-T2) including a 12-lesson small group program called Brief Intervention Group Support (BIGS). CIP-T2 is a Tier 2, small group program to support students in 4^th through 12^th grade who have not progressed as expected in a universal social emotional learning program and who may need additional support. Students learn how to manage stress and use social support and related social emotional behaviors to achieve personal social emotional improvement goals. These healthy life skills are known to be important to the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults! In the BIGS phase of CIP-T2, four healthy behavior routines are taught and practiced in almost every lesson. A predictable opening and closing structure, instructional phases, and evidence-based explicit instruction with a lot of practice are utilized for positive results. 

The SSIS CIP-T2 is built on and expands the evidence-based SSIS SEL Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS CIP; Elliott & Gresham, 2020) that is a CASEL SELect program and a Tier 1 Strong program on WWC.  In CIP-T2, group leaders work with 4 to 10 students to create a mini-social supportive network while explicitly teaching skill-building lessons that lead each student to a goal-focused healthy behavior improvement program.  This workshop with two of the CIP-T2 authors will teach the intervention components and allow attendees free access to try the program for 60 days.

Workshop 3:  The Neuropsychology of Stress and Trauma: How to Develop a “Trauma Informed School”
(3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Steven G. Feifer, D.Ed., ABSNP 

Workshop Description: This workshop will explore the neural underpinnings of stress, trauma, and emotional dysfunction in children and its impact upon learning.   Environmental deprivation, poverty, childhood abuse, witnessing violence, and pandemics can impact both cognitive and social-emotional development in children.  There will be a discussion on five steps that schools can take to become more “trauma-informed”.   In addition, specific strategies to assist students in their return to school from the recent pandemic will be shared.  Schools can enhance emotional wellness through early prevention efforts, appropriate assessment and screening techniques, and an improved school climate to foster emotional growth for all children.  Targeted assessment strategies, specific classroom accommodations, and detailed school-based interventions will be presented for at-risk students. 

Presentation Goals

(1).  Discuss the prevalence of trauma and stress for school aged children, as well as the various sources from which trauma can occur.

(2)  Explore key brain regions that are impacted when students experience trauma, and the subsequent effect on academic and social skills’ development.  

(3)  Review five essential steps toward the development of a “trauma informed” school.   

(4)  Introduce the FACT trauma scale to measure the impact of trauma on academic functioning, as well as the PASS-12 screening instrument to assess for pandemic related anxiety concerns.

(5)  Discuss key aspects of a “trauma informed” assessment along with targeted  classroom accommodations to induce a more positive school climate for all students. 

Workshop 4: CBT for Anxiety Disorders in Children & Teens – What Me Worry! (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by William Pfohl, Psy.D., NCSP

Workshop Description:This workshop will build on the CBT paradigm and cover successful treatment of anxiety disorders in children and teens. DSM 5 categories for anxiety disorders will be covered as well. Case illustrations will be used.   

1:30pm- 4:50pm
Half Day

Workshop 5:  *QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training (3.0 PD Credit) 35 person max
Presented by Tracy Levine, MSW, LCSW

Workshop Description: Anyone can be a gatekeeper. Learn the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade, and refer someone to help. We will review data and statistics, information about marginalized populations, causes of suicidal behavior, warning signs, suicide myths, and available resources, and get comfortable with language around suicide.

The mission of QPR is to save lives and reduce suicidal behaviors by providing innovative, practical and proven suicide prevention training. QPR stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer – the 3 simple steps anyone can learn to help save a life from suicide. Gatekeepers can be anyone, but include parents, friends, neighbors, teachers, students, coworkers, emergency responders and many others who are strategically positioned to recognize and refer someone at risk of suicide.  

*This course does not teach clinical assessment. Participants will receive a two-year certificate from the QPR Institute with access to additional resources

8:00am - 4:15pm
Full Day

*PREPaRE Workshop 1  (6.5 PD Credit) 25 person max
Presented by Rosario C. Pesce, PhD, NCSP & Katherine Campbell, Ph.D., LCPC, NCSP

Workshop Description: Participants will learn how to establish and sustain comprehensive school safety efforts that attend to both physical and psychological safety. The workshop addresses critical components needed to develop, exercise, and evaluate safety and crisis teams and plans and conduct building vulnerability assessments. The model also integrates school personnel and community provider roles in providing school-based crisis preparedness and response activities. Additional topics addressed also include media/social media, communication, reunification, students with special needs, culture, and memorials. After this workshop, participants will be better prepared to improve their school’s climate, student resilience, and crisis response capabilities of school personnel. With updated research and strategies, this workshop makes a clear connection between ongoing crisis prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.

WS1 LEARNER OBJECTIVES:

This workshop will help participants:

1. Identify the mission phases of crisis management;

2. Describe the critical importance of and components necessary for a balanced approach to comprehensive school safety and crisis preparedness;

3. Identify how to evaluate and implement physical and psychological safety efforts;

4. Identify the purpose, functions, and guiding principles of developing comprehensive safety and crisis teams and plans to include prevention, mitigation, protection, and response;

5. Identify the critical components, including when developing specific functional and threat- or hazard-specific protocols;

6. Identify the major functions of the Incident Command System (ICS);

7. Articulate specific strategies to address challenges associated with media/social media, communication, reunification, and memorials;

8. Describe how to meet diverse needs, including various cultures and students with disabilities; and identify strategies for examining effectiveness of crisis prevention and preparedness

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Participants for this workshop must also register through NASP’s InReach system where they will fill out some demographic information, complete a pre-test, and view an online 21- minute video. They will be sent a link and instructions shortly before the convention once registered for the session. Once completed, they will then be able to download all the handouts of the workshop, including those that will be used for activities throughout the workshop.

CPD CREDITS

Although this 1-day workshop involves 6.5 hours of content, participants will earn 7.0 hours of documented NASP- Approved CPD. The time required to watch the mandatory pre-workshop video is included in the CPD hours. ($45.00 required additional material fee)

8:30am -11:50am
Half Day

Presented by Christine Malecki, Ph.D. & Michelle Demaray, Ph.D.

Workshop Description:  Despite an overwhelming need, there is a lack of Tier 2 interventions for social emotional learning skills. This workshop will overview the SSIS CIP-T2 Social Emotional Health Improvement Program (SSIS CIP-T2) including a 12-lesson small group program called Brief Intervention Group Support (BIGS). CIP-T2 is a Tier 2, small group program to support students in 4^th through 12^th grade who have not progressed as expected in a universal social emotional learning program and who may need additional support. Students learn how to manage stress and use social support and related social emotional behaviors to achieve personal social emotional improvement goals. These healthy life skills are known to be important to the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults! In the BIGS phase of CIP-T2, four healthy behavior routines are taught and practiced in almost every lesson. A predictable opening and closing structure, instructional phases, and evidence-based explicit instruction with a lot of practice are utilized for positive results. 

The SSIS CIP-T2 is built on and expands the evidence-based SSIS SEL Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS CIP; Elliott & Gresham, 2020) that is a CASEL SELect program and a Tier 1 Strong program on WWC.  In CIP-T2, group leaders work with 4 to 10 students to create a mini-social supportive network while explicitly teaching skill-building lessons that lead each student to a goal-focused healthy behavior improvement program.  This workshop with two of the CIP-T2 authors will teach the intervention components and allow attendees free access to try the program for 60 days.

8:30am -11:50am
Half Day
  

Workshop 3:  Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Depression in Youth (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by William Pfohl, Psy.D., NCSP

Workshop Description: This workshop will provide treatment for depression and mood disorders. It will follow up on the “Basic Overview” workshop. DSM-5 categories of depressive disorders will be highlighted.  Case studies will be used for illustration.

8:30am -11:50am
Half Day

Workshop 4: *Child/Adolescent Psychiatric Presentations and Medications (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Catherine Jaselskis, DO

Workshop Description:  

Horses and Zebras:Common and not so common psychiatric  presentations in children and adolescents.

         Goal: Understanding how a psychiatric consultation serves as a component in better understanding a                child/adolescent’s behavior.

Psychopharmocology typically used in children and adolescents.

Living in the Trenches: Topics that present such as gender, social medial, global issues, the impact of the quarantine year and Covid on children and Adolescents.

Workshop 5: *Collaborative Problem-solving with Parents: Effective Practices for School Psychologists (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Dennis J. Simon, Ph.D.

8:00am-12:00pm

 Job Placement

Workshop 1: *Mindfulness for Educators (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Adena B. Meyers, Ph.D.

Workshop Description: Participants will attend a 3-hour workshop in which they will learn about the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of mindfulness-based interventions and applications of these interventions for school-based professionals and in educational settings. Legal and ethical considerations relevant to delivering mindfulness-based interventions in schools will also be discussed. Participants will be introduced to several formal and informal mindfulness practices that they can apply in their own personal and professional lives. They will learn skills related to self-care and stress-reduction, which may applied to enhance their presence, patience, and equanimity in their work with colleagues and students.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the theoretical and empirical underpinnings of mindfulness-based interventions and the applications of these interventions for school-based professionals

• Become familiar with ethical and legal considerations relevant to school-based mindfulness interventions

• Experience several formal and informal mindfulness practices, which may be applied in personal and professional contexts, adding to skills in self-care and stress-reduction 

1. Describe the most widely used model of everyday executive function
2. Explain pros and cons of performance and rating scale measures of executive functions
3. Describe profiles of executive functioning in a common educational disability

Workshop Description:  

Horses and Zebras:Common and not so common psychiatric  presentations in children and adolescents.

         Goal: Understanding how a psychiatric consultation serves as a component in better understanding a                child/adolescent’s behavior.

Psychopharmocology typically used in children and adolescents.

Living in the Trenches: Topics that present such as gender, social medial, global issues, the impact of the quarantine year and Covid on children and Adolescents.

STUDENT, INTERN , & New Hires Tips and Tricks: You’re Hired! Tips to a Successful First Few Years as a School Psychologist  

 Workshop 1: Reports and Interventions for Executive Functioning(3.0 PD Credit)

Title Update: Describing and Enhancing Executive Functions
Presented by Peter Isquith, Ph.D.

DescriptionExecutive functions contribute demonstrably to students’ success in the academic, social, emotional and behavioral domains, and executive dysfunction contributes to a wide range of clinical conditions.  In this presentation, we will discuss a functional framework for understanding and describing executive function difficulties, and will review evidence for approaches to intervention.Learning ObjectivesFrom this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the most widely used model of everyday executive function
2. Articulate a general model of intervention
3. Identify one or more intervention programs or methods with demonstrated efficacy
   

    

Abstract

Executive functions are critical for school readiness (Blair & Razza, 2007), high school completion (Friedman et al., 2011), and career (Bailey, 2007), social (Hughes & Dunn, 1998), and health outcomes (Hall et al., 2010). Children with poor executive functions are at increased risk for poor educational achievement, for teen pregnancy, for addiction, for criminal behavior, and for reduced income as adults (Moffitt et al., 2011). Despite their importance, only recently has there been sufficient research to evaluate interventions to improve executive functions. For example, ClinicalTrials.gov now lists over 170 executive function intervention studies including medication, educational, and behavioral interventions, and there is sufficient published evidence warranting review. 

Diamond and Ling (2019) recently reviewed evidence for executive interventions and extracted important themes. For example, children with executive function problems benefit most from intervention, but intervention needs to be built into the everyday curriculum and preferably at home. The evidence suggests that an “executive function coaching” model, first articulated by Ylvisaker and Feeney (1998), is the effective ingredient in most intervention programs. 

This lecture format presentation will focus on the evidence for executive function interventions. We will review common approaches that have, or do not have, evidence of effectiveness, including working memory, n-back, and inhibition training, medication, cognitive behavioral, and exercise programs, mindfulness executive training, and coaching.  We will present a general coaching model that can be implemented in the everyday home and school environments to foster development of problem-solving routines across settings. 

8:30am -11:50am
Half Day

 Workshop 2: Socially Just Mental Health Services in Schools (3.0 PD Credit)
Presented by Brea M. Banks, Ph.D.

Workshop Description: As the number of students holding minoritized identities in schools increases, school psychologists must think critically about how the mental health services they provide are culturally responsive. Given our commitment to children and families and based on guidelines set forth by accrediting bodies, we are charged to respond to the needs of children and adolescents using a lens of equity and justice. As part of this session, the presenter will discuss strategies that practitioners may employ across their training and professional careers to engage in mental health/social-emotional practices that are culturally responsive. Session content will focus the importance of self-reflection and examination, while attendees will also be encouraged to consider the impact of traditionally implemented therapeutic techniques on individuals, groups, and families holding marginalized identities.

Objectives:

• Identify culturally responsive practices to address school-wide mental health needs of children and adolescents.
• Consider how commonly used individual and group counseling practices can contribute to inequities and instead consider the use of practices that are culturally responsive. 
• Learn about ways to ensure that verbal and written communication used during the provision of mental health services and psychological writing is socially just.