In this session we will explore brain development through an educator's lens. We will learn how adversity and trauma affect the way we learn, behave, and perceive the world, addressing specific brain aligned strategies that regulate our nervous systems and help us to connect with one another.  We will begin to understand that traditional discipline works the best for kids that need it the least and works the least for kids who need it the most. When we are dysregulated, our brains do not respond to words, lectures, consequences, or rewards.  Relational discipline is not something we do to children, it is something we want to create within them.

Lori is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Butler University College of Education / Former special education teacher and school counselor and currently teaching applied educational neuroscience / brain and trauma to undergraduates and graduate candidates in the certification program. For the past six years, I have returned to the classroom co-teaching in multiple grade levels two mornings a week bringing these strategies and practices into the classroom preparing the brain to learn while dampening down our stress responses systems and attuning to the developing brain states of our children and youth. Author of several publications and writer for Edutopia. Currently preparing to birth my fourth book, "Connections Over Compliance," Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline." 

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This informational webinar will provide parents and educators with valuable information about executive functioning.

Robin Roscigno is a scholar/practitioner specializing in education for Neurodivergent children. She is a PhD candidate at Rutgers \University's Graduate School of Education and consults with school districts and parents on a range of topics. Most recently, Robin was awarded the Irving K. Zola Award for Emerging Scholar in Disability Studies from the Society for Disability Studies for her article "Semiotic Stalemate: Resisting Restraint and Seclusion through Guattari's Micropolitics of Desire" which combined her scholarly interests with her anti-restraint and seclusion activism.

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In this session Allison will share how she uses a comfort vs. control approach and creativity during this pandemic.

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Families and caregivers will gain a basic understanding of what trauma is, how it affects the brain, and how it can affect behavior.

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There are many factors that have contributed to an over-reliance on restraint and seclusion procedures in schools. There’s no question that many students are unavailable for learning, are not medically or behaviorally stable, and respond to frustration in ways that are extremely aggressive and violent. But there are other factors that have little to do with characteristics of the kids. For example, much of the training that school staff receive to help them prevent crises are actually primarily focused on managing crises. Staff have also been led to believe that such training helps keep them and their students safer, when there are actually no data supporting this claim. And many staff are still viewing challenging behavior through old, inaccurate lenses and still relying on traditional behavior management procedures, which can actually precipitate challenging episodes. Moving in a different direction requires new lenses, new timing, and new practices.

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Our special guest Mona Delahooke, Ph.D. will be talking about the hope that comes from understanding how we can manage stress from a Polyvagal (body-brain) perspective.

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An interview with Beth Tolley the Director of Educational Policy at the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint. Beth recently wrote an in-depth research article on the school-to-prison pipeline and in this episode we will explore the issue.  Why are more disabled and minority children ending up on a path from school to prison and what can be done to stop it?

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