MonTECH: Managing Transitions from One Activity to Another Throughout the School Day

Do you have students who struggle with transitions between activities and environments? In this session, we explore tools and strategies to establish routines and decrease transition-related frustration and behaviors.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to recognize behaviors that indicate transition challenges, identify three low-tech options to promote smoother transitions between activities, and determine three ways to support a student during a difficult transition.

Michelle Allen, ATP, is the Assistive Technology Professional for MonTECH. MonTECH is Montana's free assistive-technology resource and training center. Michelle has extensive experience working with equipment from low-tech to high-tech and strongly believes students can achieve their full potential with the right tools. She has worked closely with students with a wide range of diagnoses, learning disabilities, and behavioral needs to identify tools and strategies that support success.

Liz Kuehn, PTA, is the Eastern Clinic Coordinator for MonTECH's satellite location in Billings. Before coming to MonTECH, she worked for seven years as a physical therapist assistant for Billings Public Schools, where she discovered a love for adaptive equipment and assistive technology. She has a bachelor’s degree in disability studies and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in assistive technology studies and human services.

Liz' experience is an excellent complement to Michelle's; together they offer well-rounded perspective and extensive knowledge of tools and strategies to help you and your students.

• 2 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training
• May 14, 2025 2:30-4:00
• Register for this virtual training here

 

EdCOR Colorado: Classroom Strategies to Support Learners with Executive Function Barriers

Executive functioning encompasses a large number of cognitive processes including: Organization, Attention, Planning, Sequencing, Problem-solving, Working memory, Regulation, Initiation of action, Self-control, Emotional regulation, Monitoring internal and external stimuli, Moral reasoning, and Decision-making. All of these skills are paramount in accessing education. Come learn "use today" strategies for your classroom that will support learners with executive functioning barriers. 

Kelly Miller and Colleen Wattles are Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Autism Consultants. Their practical and hands-on experience spans two decades, including mental health and school settings. Kelly and Colleen work to expand teacher’s instructional repertoires to encompass not only academic, but social, emotional, and behavioral systems of support. With a focus of maximizing positive behavior momentum in the classroom, educators will reclaim valuable learning time. Kelly and Colleen coach and provide live modeling and support within the classroom. Workshops are rooted in inclusive practices, enabling teachers to develop their own “take away toolkit” full of evidence-based strategies that can be immediately applied in their classroom.

3 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training. 

March 7, 2025,  9:00-12:00

Register for this 3 hour virtual training here.

 

Dr. Jennifer Shoffer Closson: Stop Behavior Before It Starts:  Part 2 Getting Ahead of the Behavior 

This presentation looks at how you can use evidence-based practices to get ahead of the behavior (antecedent intervention).  This strategy can likely reduce the occurrence of interfering behavior.

2 OPI renewal units are offered for this training.

March 10, 2025 9:00-10:30

Register for this 90 minute virtual training here.

 

MonTECH: Beyond Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic: Tools for Anxiety and Self-regulation

This session will focus on ideas for supporting students with different sensory needs through assistive technology (AT). We will also discuss environmental supports for behavior management, AT to support self-regulation, and how you can implement these tools in your own classroom. 

Learning Objectives: 

Participants will be able to discuss two ways self-regulation tools can be part of universal design, identify three reasons a sensory space is beneficial, and compare the features of two different anxiety-reducing tools.

2 OPI Renewal Units are offered for this training.

March 13, 2025 2:30-4:00

Register for this 90 minute virtual training here.

 Dr. Jennifer Schoffer Closson: Girls with ASD

Girls with autism present differently and experience unique challenges.  Learn about girls with autism and what their supports can look like.

2 OPI renewal units are offered for this training.

March 14, 2025, 9:00-10:30

Register for this 90 minute virtual training here.

 

Dr. Jennifer Schoffer Closson: Using Evidence Based Practices to Teach Safety Skills

Safety is priority.  Learn how to use different EBPs to teach your students safety information and strategies.

1 OPI renewal unit is offered for this training.

March 14, 2025, 2:00-3:00

Register for this 1 hour virtual training here.

 

Please complete the 25/26 School Year MAEP training needs survey

25/26 MAEP Training Needs Survey

AAC & Proloquo2Go: How to Design a Better Implementation!

What is “best practice” for use of AAC with a student? Attendees will walk away from this presentation with renewed or new knowledge to confidently help individuals who rely on AAC. This presentation will provide the attendees with the “ins and outs” of the iOS app, “Proloquo2Go” from www.assistiveware.com.

Attendees will learn to navigate the app and discover new features. They will practice programming the app in a way that is salient to the user and support persons. This presentation offers a review case studies and a chance to talk about your specific student’s needs. Julie will share her teaching strategies with you to create interactions with AAC/Proloquo2Go are enjoyable for your student, the family, you, and your staff.

Julie Doerner is a nationally certified and state licensed Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Julie currently works for the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Tribal Health Services of the Flathead Reservation. She serves all ages of patients across the Reservation, but works primarily with Native American children attending Head Start preschool centers. Julie has worked in the public schools, private practice, in the rehab setting, and most recently worked at the University of Montana. At UM, Julie worked for the state assistive technology (AT) program, MonTECH, and the School of Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences. Her work focused on Augmentative Alternative Communication. Julie has been working with the Proloquo2Go app since 2012. When she isn’t working, Julie is riding her horses, training her mini-donkeys, and traveling.

May 13, 2025 8:30-4:00 Cottonwood Inn & Suites, Glasgow.

May 14, 2025 8:30-4:00 Sleep Inn & Suites, Miles City

7 OPI renewal units are offered for this training.

Register here for AAC & Proloquo2Go: How to Design a Better Implementation!

MSHA 2025 Scholarship Request

Topic: Assessment and Management of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: From Early Childhood to Adolescence

Limited scholarships are available for individuals working in Montana public schools. Scholarship recipients will be notified within 2 weeks of request. Please do not register separately for this conference unless you do not receive a scholarship award email by March 18, 2025.

Children with CAS are varied and dynamic. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. This presentation will help guide clinical decision- making through the ages and stages of the child. The ASHA position statement on CAS (2007) provided SLPs with an excellent foundation of information regarding the core characteristics of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), additional characteristics, and recommendations for assessment and treatment. Since its publication, more research has revealed how the disorder presents at different stages of development, from infancy (Highman et al., 2018; Overby et al., 2019) to adolescence (Burns, 2011; Turner et al., 2018). Hence, the core characteristics; inconsistent errors, disordered prosody, and poor co-articulation (ASHA, 2007), often used when diagnosing verbal children with CAS, have not always been helpful for very young children who are minimally or non- verbal or adolescents who have had some of their motor speech challenges remediated. Thankfully, there are more recent assessments (Strand & McCauley, 2019) guidelines, and resources (Fish & Skinder-Meredith, 2023; Iuzzini-Sigel & Murray, 2017; Iuzzini-Seigel, 2022) to direct our clinical decision-making when diagnosing a child with CAS.

Similarly, there has been an increase in research and resources made available to tailor the treatment technique to the child’s level of speech-motor proficiency. For example, where multisensory cuing (Hammer & Ebert, 2018), Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) (Dale & Haden, 2013) and Dynamic Temporal Tactile Cuing (DTTC) (Strand, Stoeckel, & Baas, 2006) may be more helpful in early speech motor development, programs that incorporate phonological awareness (McNeill, Gillon, & Dodd, 2009) become additional tools that can improve speech when benefits older children who can sequence most sounds, but still have residual errors in co-articulation and prosody (McCabe, Murray, & Thomas, 2018). These therapy programs and others will be discussed.

Speaker: Dr. Skinder-Meredith received her doctorate from the University of Washington and her M.S. from the University of Arizona. She is a professor at Washington State University in Spokane and is the chair of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She is an experienced clinician who has worked in public schools, hospitals, university clinics, and private practice settings. Her primary clinical and research interest is in pediatric motor speech disorders, and her secondary area is cleft lip and palate. She has published and presented her research on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) at national conferences and is co-author of Here’s How to Treat Childhood Apraxia of Speech, 3rd edition. She co-founded Camp Candoo for children with CASin 2013 and started a camp for bilingual children with CAS in 2024. Dr. Skinder-Meredith has given numerous workshops for practicing speech-language pathologists nationally and internationally on the assessment and treatment of CAS.

April 10, 2025 8:30-4:00 at the Stockman Bank, 3615 Brooks St., Missoula.

Request a scholarship here.

MonTECH: Beyond Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic: Tools for Anxiety and Self-regulation

This session will focus on ideas for supporting students with different sensory needs through assistive technology (AT). We will also discuss environmental supports for behavior management, AT to support self-regulation, and how you can implement these tools in your own classroom.

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to discuss two ways self-regulation tools can be part of universal design, identify three reasons a sensory space is beneficial, and compare the features of two different anxiety-reducing tools.

Michelle Allen, ATP, is the Assistive Technology Professional for MonTECH. MonTECH is Montana's free assistive-technology resource and training center. Michelle has extensive experience working with equipment from low-tech to high-tech and strongly believes students can achieve their full potential with the right tools. She has worked closely with students with a wide range of diagnoses, learning disabilities, and behavioral needs to identify tools and strategies that support success.

Liz Kuehn, PTA, is the Eastern Clinic Coordinator for MonTECH's satellite location in Billings. Before coming to MonTECH, she worked for seven years as a physical therapist assistant for Billings Public Schools, where she discovered a love for adaptive equipment and assistive technology. She has a bachelor’s degree in disability studies and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in assistive technology studies and human services. Liz' experience is an excellent complement to Michelle's; together they offer well-rounded perspective and extensive knowledge of tools and strategies to help you and your students.

March 13, 2025 2:30-4:00

2 OPI renewal units are offered for this training.

Register here for MonTECH: Beyond Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic: Tools for Anxiety and Self-regulation