AASR Live

Join us for this special presentation with Caroline Braun.

Behavioral approaches to feeding intervention attempt to increase children’s variety and volume of food intake while also claiming to eliminate or diminish challenging mealtime behaviors. Behavioral approaches to feeding do not develop intrinsic motivation for eating, honor children’s mealtime cues, or teach children to honor and interpret vital biological cues such as hunger and satiety. 

Instead, behavioral interventions for feeding rely upon the use of external rewards to “get” children to eat while also frequently incorporating the use of highly aversive procedures such as force-feeding and restraint to ensure compliance. 

We know that restraint has a devastating effect on children’s emotional and psychological well-being. We know that fear and stress actively suppress our appetites and the desire to eat. So why would we intentionally subject children to stressful events like restraint and then expect them to want to eat? 

Caroline Braun is an Autistic speech-language pathologist specializing in the treatment of complex motor speech, language, and feeding needs. She is the owner of a neurodiversity-affirming private practice and a therapy advisor for the Therapist Neurodiversity Collective. She is passionate about raising awareness of traumatizing feeding practices and advocating for responsive approaches to feeding therapy.

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Joe has been the victim of two separate violent anti-gay hate crimes and what began as a personal healing response to the trauma, he has transformed into professional involvement in the field of community and restorative justice. He is the author of the recently published book, Building a Trauma-informed Restorative School: Skills and Approaches for Improving Culture and Behavior.

In this session we will talk to Joe about his new book, below is a description of the book.

Covering both theory and practice, this book will teach educators everything they need to know about developing restorative practices in their educational settings, in a way that is also trauma-informed.

The first part of the book addresses the theory and philosophy of restorative approaches, and of trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive schools. The second part outlines the five restorative skills (mindfulness, honest expression, empathy, the art of asking questions, and the art of requests), what they look like in practice (including using circles, respect agreements and restorative dialogue), and how to implement them. Every strategy is clearly explained and adapted to be appropriate for children and adults who have experienced trauma.

Everything the book discusses has been specially designed to be adapted for different school settings and their particular challenges.

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So we need to move beyond ABA and behaviorism, but what should we do instead? A special presentation by Olivia Hauge.

Olivia is a licensed occupational therapist with over 20 years of experience supporting kids and their families in the private school sectors. She is also a licensed marriage and family therapist, supporting clients experiencing anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, sexual identity questions, life/career transitions, and aging. Olivia is also a mother of three, two with neuro-differences, and uniquely integrates her professional expertise and lived experiences with her clients. She is the co-division leader of the OT department at The Center for Connection in Pasadena, CA. She is also the co-director of The Center for Connection and Neurodiversity in Duarte, Ca, which is part of the flagship center in Pasadena. Olivia specializes in providing support to children, adults, and their families through a neurodevelopmental, relational, sensory integrative, anti-behavioral, playful approach. She, along with her colleagues, provides one-to-one therapy, parent consultations, paraprofessional training, in-services, and assessments. She is a regular speaker at professional conferences and universities integrating occupational therapy, marriage and family therapy, and the parent perspective.

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Join us for a special presentation by Dr. Lori Desautels.

Our nervous systems and physiological states create and produce the behaviors in school we observe, question, discuss, punish, suspend, seclude, and attend to in all moments throughout the day! As educators who sit with 30 to 180 plus nervous systems every day, we have traditionally paid attention to observable behaviors, assessing them as appropriate, disrespectful, inappropriate, oppositional, aggressive, manipulative, and a variety of other labels and classifications. Polyvagal Theory and the social and affective neuroscience research now share; that education requires “state regulation” so we are able to access and integrate the cognitive and mental tasks we need to succeed in school and positively navigate life experiences. In this webinar, Dr. Desautels will share the practices that address the nervous system states of our children and adolescents in the classroom preparing the brain and body to learn deeply, mitigating negative behaviors and meeting students in their brain and body state. 

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. Lori was also an Assistant Professor at Marian University in Indianapolis for eight years where she founded the Educational Neuroscience Symposium. Currently, the Symposium is in its eighth year, and now sponsored by Butler University College of Education. Through these conferences and symposiums, educators, parents, and the community learn to implement the tools to help our students be successful and feel a sense of purpose and connection as they walk into their classrooms. Because of her work, Lori has been able to attract the foremost experts in the fields of educational neuroscience, trauma and adversity, which significantly grow the conference each year.

Lori has created a nine-hour graduate certification at Butler University in Applied Educational Neuroscience/Brain and Trauma. This certification has grown from 6 graduates in its pilot year in 2016 to 70 graduate students in its third cohort and continues to expand. The certification is open to students around the world as it has transformed into a distance learning, hybrid format. The Applied Educational Neuroscience Certificate, created by Lori 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.

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Connie Persike, M.S., CCC/SLP, is a highly experienced Speech Language Pathologist and Educational Consultant. She has 20+ years of experience in educational settings and holds a certificate in instructional coaching, positive education, and applied educational neuroscience. She served as a member of the multi- state work group to help develop the Common Core Essential Elements for English Language Arts. Connie is a published writer for Autism Parenting Magazine and writes for Exceptional Needs Today. She created an innovative process to assess student behavior, which deviates from the traditional behaviorism approach and aligns with current relational and neuroscience while maintaining a trauma-sensitive and neurodiversity approach. Connie works from the guiding mission that Connection + Collaboration = Endless Possibilities.

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Join us for this special presentation with school principal Claudio Moschella on the topic of Self-Reg.

Self Regulation is about understanding stress and managing energy and tension.

The original psychophysiological definition of self-regulation refers to how we respond to stress—whether in a manner that promotes or restricts growth. Mindful self-regulation, which enhances learning and emotional, social and physical well-being, involves learning to recognize and respond to stress in all its many facets: positive as well as negative, hidden as well as overt, minor as well as traumatic or toxic.

Claudio Moschella, a husband and father to 7 and 3 year old girls. Working full time as an Elementary School Principal in a Kindergarten to grade 5 setting. A part time online course facilitator with the Mehrit Centre supporting individuals in their learning journey of Shanker Self-reg.

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The Neurosequential Model is a developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach to clinical problem solving. The model, developed by Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, is not a specific therapeutic technique or intervention. It is an approach that integrates core principles of neurodevelopment and traumatology to inform work with children, families and the communities in which they live.

Dr. Erin Hambrick is the Director of Research for the ChildTrauma Academy, an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Child and Family Studies. She works with children and families who have faced adversities and studies treatment options that best fit their strengths and needs. 

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Julie has been the Executive Director of the Attachment & Trauma Network since 2009. Julie works with other parenting mentors and leaders at ATN to support and educate parents about the impact of early trauma on their children’s development and behavior and the need for trauma-informed, attachment-focused interventions and strategies.She also leads the planning of ATN’s annual Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference. Julie frequently presents workshops on whole-brain, whole-hearted approaches to therapeutic parenting, as well as co-hosting ATN’s Regulated & Relational Podcast. She also frequently writes articles and blogs about parenting, schools and early childhood trauma, as well as a chapter on educating internationally adopted children in the EMK Press Adoption Parenting book.

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The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) was created in December 2015 by 25 representatives from diverse sectors, including education, mental health, justice, and government. We will interview Jesse Kohler to learn more about CTIPP.

Jesse Kohler is Executive Director of the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice (CTIPP). Jesse is a passionate advocate and leader in the trauma-informed space who works on systems change to provide comprehensive support for individuals, families, and communities so that, someday, all people have the opportunity and support necessary to reach their full potential. After graduating with his Master’s, Jesse became the Director of Development for North Light Community Center. In addition to development activities for the organization, Jesse helped to create and fund three programs/initiatives. While working for North Light, Jesse became a member of the National Trauma Campaign core team and went through an 18-month training program at Lakeside Global Institute and received trauma-competent professional certification. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Jesse got a new job as an associate at Council for a Strong America on the Fight Crime: Invest in Kids team and serving as the Florida state lead. Jesse continued serving in his volunteer roles for CTIPP and the National Trauma Campaign during this time and joined the steering committee of the Child Trauma and ACEs Policy (CTAP) working group. Jesse Kohler considers himself a passionate advocate who believes that trauma-informed, resilience-focused, and healing-centered policies and practices would improve society drastically.

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Restraint and seclusion are crisis management strategies that are used in many schools across the nation and the world. Physical Restraint, is exactly what it sounds like, it is a personal restriction that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a student to move his or her torso, arms, legs or head freely. Seclusion is the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving. These interventions are dangerous and have led to serious injuries and even death in students, teachers and staff. 

Restraint and seclusion can lead to trauma, injury and death. In this live session we will talk about the impact of these crisis management approach, and alternatives to better support students, teachers, and staff.

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