Keynote
Reducing Anxiety in the Classroom
With a growing number of students struggling with anxiety in our classrooms, overwhelmed adults are in need of a new approach as well as an effective and easy-to-implement toolkit of strategies that work.
Through the use of case studies, humorous stories, and examples of common challenging situations, participants will learn easy to implement preventive tools, strategies, and interventions for reducing anxiety, increasing self-regulation, executive functioning, and self-monitoring.
Pre Conference
Practical Strategies for Reducing Anxiety and Disruptive Behavior in the Classroom
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States reports that one in four thirteen-eighteen-year-olds has had an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. Without intervention, these children are at risk for poor performance, diminished learning, and social/behavior problems in school. Understanding the role anxiety plays in a student’s behavior is crucial and using preventive strategies are key to successful intervention. Effective behavior plans for these students must avoid the reward and punishment-based consequences from traditional behavior plans and focus instead on the use of preventive strategies and on explicitly teaching coping skills, self-monitoring, and alternative responses.
As a result of this workshop participants will be able to easily implement preventive tools, strategies, and interventions for reducing anxiety, increasing self-regulation, executive functioning, and self-monitoring.
Workshop
Kids who Challenge Us: Increasing Work Engagement and Reducing Oppositional Behavior in Students
Among the many reasons new teachers leave the field within their first five years, disruptive students are on the top of the list. Without intervention, these children are at risk for poor performance, diminished learning, and social/behavior problems in school. As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to easily implement preventive tools, strategies, and interventions for increasing work engagement, initiation, persistence, and self-monitoring.
Bio
Jessica Minahan, MEd, BCBA, is a licensed and board certified behavior analyst, special educator, and consultant to school’s internationally. Jessica has over seventeen years of experience supporting students who exhibit challenging behavior in public school systems. She is a blogger on The Huffington Post, as well as the author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students, with Nancy Rappaport (Harvard Education Press, 2012) and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors (Harvard Education Press, 2014).
Jessica’s Website for more information.