AASR Live

Join us for “An interview with Brian Dalla Mura: A special educator’s journey to reduce and eliminate restraint and seclusion.”

Brian is a special education teacher in Vermont. He holds a master’s degree in special education from Arizona State University. He has experience teaching students with emotional disabilities in kindergarten through high school. Brian began advocating for stronger and safer restraint and seclusion policies after witnessing prone restraints in his local school district where he worked, and his child attends. Brian contacted state representatives and successfully encouraged them to introduce a bill to govern the use of restraint and seclusion on a state-wide level.

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An Interview with Robert and Ryan Delena about their book “Without Restraint: How Skiing Saved My Son’s Life.”

As a child, Ryan DeLena had difficulty controlling his emotions and he was placed in therapeutic schools that relied on detrimental methods of behavior modification such as physical restraint. Nothing helped from a team of doctors to heavy medication. Then in 2010, Ryan was voluntarily committed to a mental hospital for further evaluation. His parents Rob and Mary Beth were counseled to place him in a group home. They refused. Two years earlier, after an impulsive decision to take Ryan skiing, Rob discovered a different child than the version experts were so sure about. By his second day of skiing, Ryan was executing advanced runs, and with each conquest in the winters that followed, Rob began to question the path laid for his son by the professionals paid to judge him. He later convinced Mary Beth to fight the medical and educational complexes over Ryan’s care and school placement, and together they fostered the freedom Ryan needed to pursue his dream of becoming a professional ski mountaineer.

Written in two voices, Without Restraint is a joint father-son memoir told with both pain and levity, struggle and strength, adventure and heart. It is the story of a misunderstood boy, a father’s growth, and a shared love of the outdoors that formed their unbreakable bond.

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A discussion with Mr. Chazz Mr. Chazz about how we can see, guide, and trust children
Chazz Lewis' mission is to help adults truly see, guide, and trust children. He is pushing the needle a little closer toward world peace with his approach. He is an Educational Specialist, Parent Coach, Conscious Discipline Practitioner, and Content Creator. He goes by, “Mr.Chazz” and he even has a song to prove it

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Join us for a special discussion with McAlister Greiner Huynh the educator also known as The Neurodivergent Teacher.

McAlister Greiner Huynh is a National Board Certified special educator, behavior support specialist, consultant, and international speaker who calls North Carolina, USA home. She has been working with and learning from Neurodivergent individuals professionally for twelve years, steadily growing in her passion for neurodiversity, disability culture, and radical acceptance. McAlister is the educator behind “The Neurodivergent Teacher” on Facebook and Instagram, where she connects with families, professionals, and neurodivergent folks worldwide to share philosophies around teaching, self-advocacy skills, accessibility, and coping strategies.

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Discipline for Learning Not Shaming with Jodi Place.

Jodi Place has served as a public educator for over 25 years. Prior to becoming a school administrator, she was a Nationally Board-Certified English teacher. As an administrator, she has experience leading in traditional high school and middle school settings as well as alternative education. She holds her Applied Educational Neuroscience certification from Butler University and is currently pursuing her Neurosequential Model in Education training led by Dr. Bruce Perry. She has published a Quick Reference Guide with ASCD, Supporting Emotional Regulation in the Classroom

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5 Tips to Assist in the Emotional Regulation of Humans: Trauma-Informed Lessons Learned from a Therapist a presentation from Stacy G. York Nation, LCSW.

Stacy has worked with families for over 20 years. Her passion is working with the "tough" humans, including adopted families and veterans. With intensive training in trauma-informed practices, Stacy excels at providing real-life, applicable strategies to parents, caregivers, educators, and mental health professionals. She wears multiple hats: international speaker, published author, clinician, Service Member, mother, sister, daughter, friend, co-parent with her ex-husband. The most important hat she wears:  HUMAN. Stacy earned a Bachelor's in Science Degree in Psychology Education and a Master's degree in Social Work. She became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in 2003. Stacy is also a Behavioral Health Officer in the Wyoming Army National Guard. She lives in the mountains of Colorado with her partner, 2 teenagers, and 2 puppers

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Join us for a special interview with Dr. Damiso A. Josey. Dr. Josey will share his story of success from a turbulent past, and how he uses his lived experiences to help students succeed.

Through a turbulent past, Dr. Damiso A. Josey learned to analyze the experiences of his life and to use them as a catalyst for success rather than a reason for failure. Dr. Damiso A. Josey has used his triumph through abuse and personal shortcomings to become a successful educational leader and businessman to give his audience keys to success. He takes his audiences through a flight of emotions landing at a place of success for students, educators and industry professionals. In addition to motivational speaking and keynote addresses, Dr. Josey has worked for the television networks ESPN and ABC, is currently an Elementary Assistant Principal, Creator/Director of the non-profit organization Arts Equality Inc., Founder of The Empowerment Perspective Group (Educational Consulting and Motivational Speaking) and author of the self-retrospective book Life Music. Dr. Damiso A. Josey is a graduate of Temple University, he holds a Master of Education from University of Scranton and a doctorate for Educational Leadership with the University of New England. 

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Dr. Lori Desautels, has been an Assistant Professor at Butler University since 2016 where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate programs in the College of Education. She was also an Assistant Professor at Marian University in Indianapolis for 8 years where she founded the Educational Neuroscience Symposium. Currently, the Symposium is in its 10th year, and now sponsored by Butler University College of Education. Through these conferences and symposiums, educators, parents and the community learn deeply about how adversity, trauma and resiliency impact the developing nervous system, helping our students to feel a sense of autonomy and purpose along with social, emotional and cognitive well-being. Because of her work, Dr. Desautels has been able to attract the foremost experts in the fields of developmental, relational and the social neurosciences which significantly grow the conference each year.

Dr. Desautels has created a nine-hour graduate certification at Butler University in Applied Educational Neuroscience / Brain and Trauma. This certification has grown from six graduates in its pilot year in 2016, to over 400 graduate students in its now 7th cohort. The certification is open to students around the world as it has transformed into a virtual platform and format. The Applied Educational Neuroscience Certificate, created by Dr. Desautels in 2016, is specifically designed to meet the needs of educators, counselors, and administrators who work beside children and adolescents who have, and are, experiencing adversity and trauma.

Dr. Desautels’ passion is engaging her students through the application of neuroscience as it applies to attachment, regulation, educator brain state, and teaching students and staff about their neuro-anatomy thus integrating Mind Brain Teaching, learning principles and strategies into her coursework at Butler. Dr. Desautels has conducted brain institutes and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Costa Rica and Dubai on Mind Brain Teaching and Learning. She has created webinars for educators, clinicians, and administrators illustrating how educators and students alike must understand their neuroanatomy to regulate behavior and calm the brain.

Dr. Desautels graduated with a BS in Special Education from Butler University, an MS in counseling education from Indiana University and earned her Ph.D. in philosophy with an emphasis in early adolescence/ thought formation from Indiana University and American Institute of Holistic Theology. Dr. Desautels resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband, Michael. She has three grown children, Andrew, Sarah and Regan and four rescue fur babies.

Regan Desautels, an artist from Indiana, USA, and Alexis Cruz Gómez, an artist from Hidalgo, México, are a creative team that works together on illustrations, woodburnings, murals. Regan has worked as an independent artist and muralist in Chicago and Hidalgo. Alexis has worked as a graphic designer for some local organizations like Saberes Colectivas (Collective Wisdoms), and ALDIMEX - Alianza Indígena Para el Desarrollo de México (Indigenous Alliance for the Development of Mexico), as well as international organizations like Slow Food. The creative team has most recently worked on graphics for Dr Stephen Porges and Seth Porges' new book and illustrated Dr. Lori Desautels' new book, "Intentional Neuroplasticity." Their development together and separate as artists has taught them to never stop learning from their work, and has shown them the magic that comes from collaborating with their clients and breathing life and color into their words and stories. 

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Join us for a special presentation from Rob Beltz, "Safety, Connection, & Validation: Creating Spaces of Culture and Identity."

Rob Beltz, ACTRP-C, has over 20 years of experience in education and leadership. He is certified in English Language Development, Trauma and Resiliency, Equity and Inclusion, and Applied Educational Neuroscience. His current work focuses on the nature of identity and on the forces that influence neurobiological systems, including identity development. Rob is committed to disrupting systems that harm our students, and has shared his work at numerous national conferences.

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Classroom Teacher to Social Emotional Learning Specialist: How to Create a Community of Safety and Belonging with Angelina Zara.

Angelina is Washington, DC educator with a philosophy rooted in trauma-responsive care, inclusion, and racial and social equity. She holds her Masters in Education from Trinity Washington University and completed her Certification in Applied Educational Neuroscience at Butler in 2020. Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, Angie will hold the newly created title of Social Emotional Learning Specialist at her school. This is a brand new role within her school that Angie championed for school leaders to create. Through consistent modeling in her practice, advocacy, and shared research in trauma-responsive care, Angie is pioneering the position of SEL Specialist and trailblazing as a trauma-informed leader 

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