Morning Session 8 am - noon
Creating and Maintaining Programs for the ASD Student and the ASD Classroom
A Comprehensive Seminar for Teachers and School Personnel
Stephen Shore, EdD
Valerie Paradiz, PhD

This seminar is designed specifically for teachers and other school personnel (therapists, teaching assistants, administrators, and behavior intervention specialists) who support students with Autism Spectrum conditions in their schools and districts. Diagnoses of autism and Asperger’s syndrome have increased dramatically in the past decade, posing an urgent need for educators to create effective, feasible programs that genuinely address the needs of their students, the demands of the IEP, and state and federal requirements.

Dr. Stephen Shore and Dr. Valerie Paradiz offer a “nuts and bolts” seminar, including important breakout sessions, that provide educators with what they need to return to their districts and programs with a clear plan of action and materials and resources for establishing an ASD program, enhancing an existing program, or providing more concerted support to individual students with ASDs who are served by their schools.

Topics covered include:

Who are your ASD students and how do you address the heterogeneity of ASD in academic, social and life skill arenas when establishing a classroom or program?
Efficient maintenance and updating of IEPs to address ASD specific needs as well as program needs
Developing meaningful and quantifiable program objectives and assessing their effectiveness
Recruiting the right teachers and staff for an ASD classroom; what are the qualities of a lead teacher, supporting teachers, assistants?
Understanding the role the school administrator plays in supporting students with ASDs and building programs for ensuring the success of students with autism and other special needs
Learning techniques developed for children with autism that can be generalized to those with other disabilities as well as regular education
Advocating for your ASD program
How proper training and education save effort and money in school, home, and in the community
Cross-district solutions & collaborating with other schools
Specialized curricula and programs for integrated teaching, including ISA™ lessons (developed by Paradiz and Shore) that address ASD specific needs, an annotated resource list of curricula, and developing your own ASD lessons
Working effectively in self-contained and integrated settings
Using team meeting time efficiently and effectively
Environmental considerations and setting up an ASD sensitive classroom

Afternoon Session 1 pm - 5 pm

The Continuums of Autism: Meeting the Needs of the ASD Individual Through Better Understanding
Marlo Payne Thurman, MS

This in depth seminar geared towards educators and professionals working with individuals on the spectrum will provided new insights and understanding about the cognitive, sensory, social and emotional continuums of autism spectrum disorders. Interactive and fun, the session will focus on intellectual differences and learning styles, sensory processing and arousal issues, social skills, and the mind-body basics of social, emotional and behavioral function. Through a World Café format, participants will also have the opportunity to join with the presenter in sharing best practices and creative solutions for meeting the unique needs of the ASD children that we serve.

An Outline of Topics Covered Follows:
Cognitive Continuums in Autism
The Role of Cognitive Energy and the Allocation of Energy for the ASD Child (Energy Pie)
Sensory Integration, Sensory Processing and Arousal (The Sensory Pendulum)
Classroom Accommodations for a Calm and Alert Learning State
Learning Styles (Thinking In Pictures)
Learning Disabilities and Differences That Are Often Overlooked
Identification, Assessment and Intervention
Introduction to the Learning Model for Teaching
The “Eureka” Learning Style and Traditional Education
Social Interaction, Social Energy and Social Skills Curriculum
Biomedical Contributors to the Mind-Body Imbalance
Behavior and the Continuums of Wellness
On Being “Out-of-Sync” From the Perspective of the Child
World Cafe: What Works? Reaching and Teaching the ASD Individual