Practical Strategies for Teaching Self-Regulation, Social Skills, and Instructional Consequences to Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Webinar

As more and more students are being identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder, educators, parents and therapists are looking for the best practices to help these students experience success in the school and home setting as well as supports for communication, social skills and behavior. Most seminars address all grade levels, but this seminar will address the teen with ASD. How can we, as teachers and therapists, meet their unique needs in our classrooms and still meet the needs of the rest of the class?

Course Description/Agenda

Kathy Morris will engage you in a highly interactive and fast-paced seminar addressing the many questions and concerns you have as a special education teacher, classroom teacher, speech pathologist, occupational therapist, administrator or paraprofessional who works with these students. Using humor, demonstrations, video clips, and real-life experiences, Kathy will share successful techniques and strategies for increasing learning and positive behavior. She will give you ready-to-implement ways to develop predictable schedules, visual supports and organize your classroom both physically and visually appropriate to maximize learning and minimize distractions. You will leave this seminar with dozens of ideas and strategies to help you make a real difference in your students' learning.

Why you should attend

Working with adolescents with autism spectrum disorders who exhibit behaviors that interfere with social, academic, and self-regulation skills can be challenging. Adolescents with ASD sometimes appear willful, obnoxious, unfeeling and may over-react to a situation (sometimes with a meltdown). As an educator, therapist, clinician or parent, you may feel helpless, overwhelmed, confused and, sometimes, "ready to throw in the towel " because of this teen.

Without knowledge of the Critical Components recommended by the National Autism Research Council, those involved with these students or clients may be ill-equipped to handle the everyday challenges. Furthermore, they may be at a loss on how to provide instructional consequences (not punitive consequences ) to address the behavior.

This research-based seminar will help you teach or treat teens on the autism spectrum who may have trouble getting along with others, recognizing inappropriate behaviors, how to appropriately interact with peers and adults, have a hard time starting and finishing work, asking for help, difficulty with transitions, display anxiety that interferes with their ability to focus, and addressing social skills which start with communication skills.

It will be assumed that the participants already know the characteristics of ASD. This seminar will focus on adolescents and some unique manifestations in the teenage years and addressing supports.

Who Will Benefit

General Education and Special Education Teachers Serving Students on the spectrum grades 6-12
Administrators (Principals, Assistant Principals, Deans)
Diagnosticians
Counselors
Social Workers
Parents
Paraeducators
School and Clinical Psychologists
Speech Pathologists
Occupational Therapists
School Nurses

Agenda

Why an agenda/schedule is important for persons on the spectrum as well as all students (Harry Wong)
How to use a Surprise Card or Change of Schedule Card in a classroom setting
Differentiate between a meltdown and a tantrum
Identify chronic over-arousal in behaviors observed in students with an ASD or another developmental disorder
How to help prevent another meltdown by providing a system of visual supports throughout the day
Accurately identify examples of overstimulation when presented with videotaped examples of student behaviors , Discuss how to implement Social Scripts, Video Modeling, Power Cards, Social Stories, Self-regulation Strategies, T-Charts
Breathe Cards, SOCCSS, and Keychain Rules, Cartooning, and other strategies for teens, whether in a general education or special education classroom, therapy settings, or in the principal's office
Review real life videos of each strategy to help implement these in the classroom, therapy setting or principal's office or when asking a girl out for a date!

Instructor:

Kathy Kaluza Morris has been an educator for 45 years specializing in autism and behavior disorders as well moderate to severe cognitive disabilities. As a speech therapist for students with severe disabilities, a teacher of students with behavior disorders, including autism and emotional disturbances, she was mentored and supported by many national/international experts from whom she gathered many practical experiences and suggestions which she implemented. Her favorite classroom was a self-contained classroom for students with severe physical disabilities, including cerebral palsy. There she was attracted to technology and assistive devices to help support communication and independence. As a resource teacher and regular education teacher, she was concerned with the lack of including students with disabilities and she was an advocate for more inclusive strategies. She was also a diagnostician and a supervisor that started two of the first LIFE Skills programs in Texas. In Texas there are 20 education service centers which support school districts in their areas. Kathy was the autism, behavior and assistive technology consultant for 42 districts, providing seminars and technical assistance across all grade levels.

She left the service center to continue her doctoral program in educational psychology and started her own business, igivuWings, providing seminars and technical assistance nationally as well as internationally for the last 20 years.

Kathy and husband, Guy, “walk the walk and talk the talk” after the birth of their twin sons 32 years ago with autism and cerebral palsy. It has given them a 360 degree perspective of life as parents of children with disabilities as well as of educators.

More Webinar Information

Global Compliance Panel
Course Summary	As more and more students are being identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder, educators, parents and therapists are looking for the best practices to help these students experience success in the school and home setting as well as supports for communication, social skills and behavior. Most seminars address all grade levels, but this seminar will address the teen with ASD. How can we, as teachers and therapists, meet their unique needs in our classrooms and still meet the needs of the rest of the class?
Delivery Method	Virtual Classroom (Live)
Who Should Attend	• General Education and Special Education Teachers Serving Students on the spectrum grades 6-12 • Administrators (Principals, Assistant Principals, Deans) • Diagnosticians • Counselors • Social Workers • Parents • Paraeducators • School and Clinical Psychologists • Speech Pathologists • Occupational Therapists • School Nurses