Please join us for “Shifting from Retribution to Repair: A Discussion with Margaret Thorsborne.”

Margaret Thorsborne is an author, trainer, and facilitator of Restorative Practice with a background in education and counselling. She is a pioneer of Restorative Practice in schools in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-to-late 1990s, and in the UK in the early 2000s. She has since trained restorative practitioners and change makers in education, workplaces, community, police, and justice sectors across Australia, Asia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, and Canada. She remains involved in this important transformation in schools, particularly around whole school implementation of trauma-informed, relational approaches and culture change. Marg has been awarded an Order of Australia medal for her contribution to education and a Lifetime Achievement award from NACRJ in the USA.

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Please join us for “Creating a Neurodiversity-Affirming Classroom: An Interview with Kara Dymond About Her New Book."

Kara Dymond, OCT, PhD, is a late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD advocate, teacher, author, researcher, and award-winning university lecturer. Kara teaches autistic elementary students who inspired her books, Creating a Neurodiversity-Affirming Classroom (Jessica Kingsley, 2025) and The Autism Lens (Pembroke, 2020). Kara earned the 2024 Award for Excellence in Initial Teacher Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, where she teaches graduate courses on neurodiversity-affirming classrooms. In 2025, she received the King Charles III Coronation Medal, a Governor General Award for service, for her dedication to improving the lives of autistic people and their communities across Canada. She researches intersections of neoliberalism, ableism, racism, classism, and neuronormativity in education; teacher reflexivity; and the transformative potential of neurodiversity-affirming pedagogy, where all are expected and welcomed, and is a co-investigator in a study on Universal Design for Learning and accessibility in teacher education. For fun, Kara co-hosts a podcast called Autistic Tidbits & Tangents, along with autistic psychologist Maja Toudal and autistic composer Bruce Petherick.

From Creating a Neurodiversity-Affirming Classroom: The world expects the impossible from teachers, with so many young people in our care, all with unique needs. How do we help everyone to thrive?

Imagine a classroom where there is no 'normal' - where all brains are expected and welcomed. Students are taught about neurodiversity, metacognition, and self-advocacy alongside the curriculum and are encouraged to identify their own needs. Learning tools are taught and available to everyone!

This thoughtful guide breaks down the learning process. It's brimming with practical tips, brain-based strategies, and illustrative examples that teachers can implement in the classroom. Stories of real teachers and neurodivergent students help educators envision how to apply neurodiversity-affirming approaches.

This book invites a compassionate lens for teachers and students alike. It's the how-to of forging partnerships with students - our best resources in collaboratively problem-solving pressing classroom concerns and invisible learning needs. Everyone benefits when we plan with accessibility in mind!

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Please join us for “A Data-Driven Analysis of Why Black Students and Students with Disabilities are Arrested Disproportionately in Maryland Public Schools” with Tamara Ward.

Tamara Ward is a 2023 NABJ Pew Youth Justice Fellow. A MDDC Press Association award-winning multi-platform journalist, she is also an accomplished communications professional with over 20 years of experience in various communications disciplines, including journalism, media relations, crisis communications, marketing, social media, and web. However, journalism is Tamara's first love. She has experience covering environment, sports, government, politics, and community news for a variety of platforms, including print, online, and broadcast.

The very first interview she conducted was with Rosa Parks. Decades later, Tamara reported for E&E News on Capitol Hill about environmental and energy policy and politics and where they intersect with the Trump administration, the 2020 Presidential campaign, the House impeachment inquiry, the State of the Union Address, and COVID-19. In 2024, Tamara completed a fellowship with NABJ and The Pew Research Center.

Previously, she covered the Maryland General Assembly, county government, and local and state politics for APG Media. Her articles appeared in a half dozen newspapers in Maryland, including The Calvert Recorder, The Maryland Independent, and The Enterprise.

A Brookings Legis Fellow in the House of Representatives, she managed gun violence prevention, veterans’ issues, voters' rights and more. Currently, she works in a robust press office in the federal government.

A two-time graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, Tamara earned a bachelor's in Speech Communications and, as an Eleanor Merrill Fellow, she obtained a master's in Broadcast Journalism.

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Please join us for 5 Things Every Parent of Neurodivergent Kids Needs to Know with Polina Shkadron.

Polina is a trauma-informed speech-language pathologist, family communication and feeding expert who specializes in autism and ADHD. She uses play to engage with each child’s unique perspective of the world. She earned her Master of Arts degree in Speech-Language Pathology from CUNY Queens College, where she was an adjunct lecturer for seven years. She also has a Master of Science degree in Nutrition Education from American University, which has transformed the feeding therapy aspect of her practice, particularly in the area of ARFID. With additional certifications in trauma and ADHD, Polina is an integrator of information, continuously expanding her knowledge and ensuring effective therapeutic intervention

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Please join us for “Diving into the NeuroRelational Framework: An Interview with Connie Lillas.”

Connie Lillas, Founder and Executive Director of the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF) Institute Research to Resilience (www.NRFcare.org), co-authored the NeuroRelational Framework textbook and later authored the NRF 3 Steps to Resilience Foundations Manual. She oversees the NRF Institute’s ongoing research, focusing on understanding toxic stress across all ages and cultural backgrounds.

The NRF Institute is an innovative social enterprise uniting passionate practitioners worldwide. The institute champions five key paradigm shifts, challenging the limitations of viewing behavior through a compliance vs. non-compliance lens and their long-term hidden costs. By applying assessment and intervention guidelines, we call NeuroRelational Care, the NRF provides customized, collaborative, and coordinated solutions for children and families navigating complex challenges.

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Please join us for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are Still Important in Education: An Interview with Nicole Keler.”

Nicole Keler is a passionate special education leader with nine years of experience working in the public charter school system across Washington, D.C. She is currently a Specialist on the School Equity and Effectiveness team at the D.C. Public Charter School Board. However, she started in the education system as a special education teacher, then transitioned to working as an inclusion manager to support families and students with diverse learning needs on a larger scale. She believes that home-school partnerships are the key to successful student outcomes. Rooted in trauma-informed practices such as Flamboyan and Conscious Discipline, Nicole works tirelessly to engage families throughout the special education process and has created systems to ensure team collaboration during the Tier 1,2,3 process. Her experience inspired her to establish LiveWellEd, with co-founder Angie Zara to bridge school and family best practices.

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Please join us for “A Parent’s Journey: From ABA to a Better Way” with Chantelle Hyde. 

When I think back to about five years ago now, around the time that I first learned of my daughter’s traumatic seclusion incident at school from another parent, I was in a state of shock. After running into one frustrating and upsetting experience after another with the school and district, and even in reviewing provincial education policies, the only thing that I could think to do was to search for the issue of seclusion and restraint online. This is when I found the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint. In this session, I’ll share my journey as a parent from ABA and behaviorism to finding a better way.

 Chantelle Hyde: Chantelle is a dedicated mother and advocate. She became an active advocate against restraint and seclusion after learning that their daughter was being locked in a room at school in rural New Brunswick, Canada. Chantelle’s path to advocacy was paved by her desire to be a part of a community of support for other families. Chantelle hopes to bring positive change to Canadian systems. Chantelle is the lead Canadian volunteer for the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint and facilitates book study groups for the organization.

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Please join us for “The Journey Towards Neuroscience-Aligned Education” with Katie Pagnotta, Ellen Surprenant, and Sam Chadwick.

Katie Pagnotta is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, functional success educational consultant, parent coach, and author. She is also the creator of the Brain- and Body-Aligned Responsive Systems (BBARS) of Excellence framework. She guides educators, administrators, and school staff in strengths-based approaches that leverage the human design and empower the development of the necessary mindsets and habits that lead to re-envisioned success; success the achieves goals by rooting in wellness.

Katie authored Empowered by the Human Design: Utilizing the BBARS of Excellence Framework to Foster Student and Educator Success, a book that includes interview segments from 18 experts within the fields of education, psychology, and neuroscience. The book is a work of collective wisdom grounded in Polyvagal Theory and synthesized in a user-friendly way to facilitate practical application for educators. Its reviewers have called it “a powerful and practical new model for regulation and resilience,” “required reading for all educators,” “a gift to the field,” and “a game-changer.” Throughout the book, Katie combines the wisdom of her interviewees with her own research as well as her years of experience as a former K-12 NH public school counselor.

Katie utilizes her book and framework as tools to support schools in their journey of moving towards neuroscience-aligned education. She is passionate about providing professional development opportunities that support the whole school community in order to help educators and students thrive!

Sam Chadwick has been working as an educator for five years, four of which have been at Somerset Elementary School. Even before graduating and starting her professional career she always had a passion for working with kids and did so as a tutor, nanny, and in the PreK/daycare setting. After working with, and learning about students with exceptionalities and students with trauma, she decided to get her masters degree in Trauma-Informed education to better her practice and approach to support all students. Sam runs her classroom with one main mantra for herself, the other adults in the room, and her students; "Be a good human." Sam believes it's important to remember everyone in the classroom has different needs to be successful and assists students in meeting their needs in ways that aren't hurting someone else's path to learning. She works to create a welcoming and encouraging environment where all adults and students can be successful using routine, setting and achieving goals, and using regulation as a path for connection.

In her 30 years as an educator, Ellen Surprenant has been privileged to learn alongside students, educators, and families, in a variety of public elementary school settings. She has worked as a PK teacher, a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, a special education teacher, and an Assistant Director of Special Services. Currently, Ellen is the building administrator at Somerset Elementary School in Hartland, Maine. Her mission is to use a neuroscience and strengths-based approach to grow and support a team that views behavior through a regulation lens; understanding actions as a response to the body's internal state, particularly the nervous system, rather than as intentional or willful choices. The ultimate aim of this approach is to foster a community of safety, creativity, curiosity, and kindness leading to improved job satisfaction and retention for educators and joyful, engaged learning for students.

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Please join us for “Lessons in Listening with Yeiter.”

Yeiter has 50 years of personal commitment to specifically supporting people who live in a status he names a “reputation for challenging behavior”. He draws on a rich personal history. His time in the company of people defined by a story of challenging behavior begins in an unreformed back ward in 1971 and continues through an attempt to reform the institution by implementing behavior analytic treatments, the move into local group homes and day programs, the implementation of integrated special education, and the development of individualized supports for work roles and establishing people in their own homes. In making a positive difference in people’s lives, he has taken many roles: ward attendant, behavior specialist, administrator, consultant, and teacher.

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Please join us for “Pathological Demand Avoidance: Born Outside the System” with Sandra McConnell. 

Sandra McConnell, who is sometimes known as the PDA Mama Bear, is an instructor, speaker, blogger, and parent coach. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology, and two graduate certificates in neurodiversity and learning differences. And her 13-year-old son is Pathologically Demand Avoidant, or PDA, an unofficial autism profile characterized by an intense and persistent anxiety-driven need to resist demands. It just so happens, Sandra is PDA, too, diagnosed in early 2024. While parenting her son and navigating the school system were certainly a challenge, they’ve had relative success, and she attributes the edge to her insider’s perspective – one she described as perpetually on the outside looking in.  

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