Para Supervision Training

Para Supervision Training         

                          With                                            

                Barb Stimson

      February 22 - Wingate Missoula

This course provides the professional educator with core knowledge and skills to work effectively in teams composed both of professionals and paraeducators. Specifically, participants will refine their knowledge of the characteristics of paraeducators in education, the distinction between professional and paraeducator roles and responsibilities, liability and ethical issues.  This session is a continuation  of  Session I in August of 2017...but participants need not have gone to session I to benefit from this training.  Sessions will be continued at the Summer Institute in June.

Register here.

If you have queestions about this workshop please contact:

programcoordinator@wmcspd.org

406-847-2236

ADOS-2 REFRESHER TRAINING

                                                 WITH

                          LAUREN SWINEFORD - PHD CCC SLP

                                      FEBRUARY 15,2018

                                    Hampton Inn Kalispell

     

THIS IS A ONE DAY REVIEW OF THE ADOS 2 TRAINING COMPLETE

WITH SCORING PRACTICE AND PRACTICAL QUESTION REVIEW

PARTICIPANTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS TO DR  SWINEFORD IN ADVANCE FOR DISCUSSION. PARTICIPANTS ARE REQUIRED TO BRING THEIR ADOS MANUALS FOR REFERENCE IN SCORING PRACTICE

              REGISTER HERE . . . LIMITED TO 30 PARTICIPANTS

Please contact Western Montana CSPD with any questions about this workshop.

Cass Rocco

programcoordinator@wmcspd.org

406-847-2236

People on the Autism Spectrum Are Boycotting 'To Siri With Love'

People on the autism spectrum are boycotting “To Siri With Love: A Mother, Her Autistic Son, and the Kindness of Machines,” a book written in 2016 by Judith Newman, a mother whose son is on the autism spectrum. In her book, Newman says she wants medical power of attorney when her son, who is currently 16, turns 18 so she can get him a vasectomy.

Read more here at The Mighty.

Mental Health Issues in the Classroom: Practical Strategies for Helping Children and Adolescents Succeed

Missoula - February 21, 2018
Bozeman - February 22, 2018
Billings - February 23, 2018

$200

Course Description:
Join child/adolescent behavioral expert, Jay Berk, PhD, and learn how to best manage the students at your school diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), mood disorders, anxiety and depression. You will walk away with concrete, yet practical, strategies to successfully intervene with their serious behavioral issues, such as:

• Anger and outbursts
• Cutting and self-injury
• Defiance
• Impulsivity
• Sensory issues
• Meltdowns and tantrums
• Obsessive compulsive
• Truancy
• Rigidity
• Electronic addiction

Through case studies, video clips and dynamic class discussion you will learn:

• 30 second teacher strategies to manage challenging and disruptive behaviors
• New ways to reduce the costs of out-of-district placements
• How to engage students in class, increase productivity and reduce truancy
• Behavioral assessments and strategies for the IEP team
• Side-effects of common psychotropic medications
• How skill deficits from mental health conditions create behavioral difficulties
• Characteristics of at-risk students’ mental health problems
• Strategies to gain collaboration with clinicians

Find more information here.

NOTE: This workshop costs $200 and is not provided by the OPI Montana Autism Education Project. We will not offer scholarships because of the cost and not knowing the speaker.

Archived Webinar - Assistive Technology to Support Children’s Sensory and Behavior Development

This workshop discusses the wide range of assistive technology available to help support children’s sensory and behavior needs. Tools, apps, and resources will be discussed and demonstrated.

Watch the recording here. 

Assistive Technology to Support Children’s Sensory and Behavior Development - Assistive Technology to Support Children’s Sensory and Behavior Development - Wa

Archived Webinar - Staying Organized at Work: Technology Tools for Task Management and Focus

This workshop, for transition-age youth and adults, addresses the use of technology to support task management and focus. Whether you have ADHD or simply struggle with organization, learn about tools and apps to help you succeed at work.

Watch the recording here. 

College programs, funding, and other key resources to ensure success

Intellectual disabilities, also known as Low IQ, exist within the larger spectrum of developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome, cerebral palsy and down syndrome. As the number of academic programs for students with these types of disabilities grows, it’s important for learners and their families to have access to details about their options. Read on to learn about various college programs and funding opportunities to support this population of students, and see what our expert has to say about available support services and resources on today’s college campuses.

See the resources here. 

The link between parental age and autism, explained

Older men and women are more likely than young ones to have a child with autism, according to multiple studies published in the past decade. Especially when it comes to fathers, this parental-age effect is one of the most consistent findings in the epidemiology of autism.

The link between a mother’s age and autism is more complex: Women seem to be at an increased risk both when they are much older and much younger than average, according to some studies.

Nailing down why either parent’s age influences autism risk has proved difficult, however.

Read more here at Spectrum. 

Cultural barriers lead clinicians to misdiagnose or miss children with autism in immigrant communities.

Gboro and Nabunyi sat on a sofa in the living room of their apartment and watched as the women from a community health clinic offered the toddler various objects. The women’s goal was to observe how Baraka would play with the objects — standard protocol for an autism evaluation. But the protocol seemed geared toward a child with a typical American upbringing. There was a pretend birthday cake, but Baraka had not yet been to an American birthday party. They gave him a plastic bag of Cheerios, the popular American breakfast cereal, but a typical breakfast in the Congo — and in Gboro’s household — is cheese, bread and milk, or sometimes porridge. And there was an African interpreter, too, but he spoke an unfamiliar French dialect and gave the boy instructions with words his parents never used. Sometimes, the clinicians spoke directly to Baraka in English, which he didn’t understand at all.

Those complexities, experts say, make it difficult to interpret the evidence that certain immigrant communities have an unusually high or low prevalence of autism. As some researchers dig into possible explanations, from stress to environmental factors, others say the true issue may be societal: a mix of diagnostic challenges, communication barriers and culture clashes that lead clinicians to misdiagnose or miss children on the spectrum in these communities.

Read more here at Spectrum. 

Teaching Self-management

Self-management interventions help learners with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) learn to independently regulate their own behaviors and act appropriately in a variety of home, school, and community-based situations. With these interventions, learners with ASD are taught to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, accurately monitor and record their own behaviors, and reward themselves for behaving appropriately. As learners with ASD become more fluent with the self-management system, some of the implementation responsibilities shift from teachers, families, and other practitioners to the learners themselves.

Find a short manual here.