AASR Live

Please join us for “The Journey to Develop Reframing Behavior: A New Neuroscience Aligned Program for Educators” with Susan Driscoll, Patricia Bosco, and Connie Persike.

Susan Driscoll is President of Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) and oversees the development of all products and programs, the trainers who deliver them, and for the support and care of the clients who use them. She joined CPI in 2017 and is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and in 2022 was named a Director of the company.

Prior to joining CPI, Susan served as President and CEO of Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional and Education, where she transformed the business from a traditional book publisher to a subscription-based healthcare content business. She has extensive experience in both healthcare and higher education publishing and training.

Susan also has startup experience: prior to joining Wolters Kluwer, Susan was CEO of iUniverse, an internet-based provider of self-publishing services that was funded by Barnes & Noble and Warburg Pincus.

Patricia Bosco is the Instructional Designer for Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI).

Patricia is passionate about creating change and growth through effective and engaging learning experiences. An avid advocate for designing learning that places the learner’s needs, capabilities, and experiences at the center of the design process.

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.

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Please join us for “Misunderstandings of Discipline” 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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Please join us for “Neurodiversity and the Myth of Normal” with Pam Collins from Neurodivergent by Nature. 

Pam Collins is a late-identified neurodivergent parent to two amazing multiply neurodivergent adult sons. She provides Neurodiverse-Affirming parent coaching, consulting, and education services to families and community partners and has been supporting families for over 25 years in British Columbia and outside of Canada. She is a volunteer for the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint. She is passionate about the most current research in psychology, especially related to neurodivergence (Autism, PDA, ADHD) and neuroscience (Trauma, anxiety, and depression). She works to share information with others so they can be informed to make decisions, experience joy, and be hopeful.

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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 eight years, where she founded the Educational Neuroscience Symposium. Currently, the Symposium is in its 10th year and is 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 social neurosciences, which significantly grow the conference each year.

Dr. Dustin Springer has been an educator for 27 years and is currently an elementary school principal in Kansas.  Additionally, he serves alongside Dr. Lori, Angie Zara, and Rob Beltz as affiliate faculty at Butler University in the Applied Educational Neuroscience certification program and as a consultant for Revelations in Education.  Dr. Springer is married with three children and actively pursues any opportunity to watch live music to bring calm to his nervous system.

Crystal Williams is a 7th-grade Social Studies teacher at Belzer Middle School. She began at Belzer in the Alternative to Instruction classroom in 2015 as an Instructional Assistant (IA). While as an IA, she returned to school to obtain her Master's in Education.  She has obtained the Applied Educational Neuroscience Framework Certification program with Dr. Lori Desautels.  Crystal has had the pleasure of presenting at the Lawerence Learning Summit, Lawrence Advance Academy, and the Butler Neuroscience Symposium; Crystal is on a mission to help adults and children become aware of themselves through Educational Neuroscience.  She aims to teach others how to integrate educational neuroscience in the classroom.

Born and raised in the heart of Washington, DC, Angelina Zara found her passion in education in 2015, serving students and caregivers in her hometown. As an elementary school teacher in a Title 1, full-inclusion classroom, Angie learned early on about the power of research-based, trauma-informed strategies, and her philosophy was forever changed. She has first-hand experience of the impact of trauma-informed education and the direct correlation to powerful relationships and increased student achievement in diverse learning communities. Angie completed Applied Educational Neuroscience Certification from Butler University in 2021, and has had the privilege to work closely with Dr Lori Desautels. These collaborations include designing and incorporating various applications within her Applied Educational Neuroscience (AEN) Framework. 

 Robert Beltz is a dedicated educator and consultant based in Oakland County, Michigan, and he also teaches the graduate Applied Educational Neuroscience program at Butler University. With an extensive background that spans over 20 years in the field of education, Robert has served in various roles as a teacher, ELD specialist, and trauma-responsive coach. He holds multiple certifications in areas such as Trauma-Responsiveness, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Applied Educational Neuroscience, and English as a Second Language (ESL). His primary focus is on enhancing social-emotional learning and promoting brain development, specifically for students who have been impacted by trauma. 

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Please join us for “Making Sense of a Chaotic World: A Discussion with Professor Andrew McDonnell.”

Professor Andrew McDonnell BSc., MSc., PhD. is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist to and Director of Studio III Clinical Services; Director, clinical consultant and Team Leader to Studio III Training; formerly worked as a Clinical Psychologist in the NHS until 2002 as the manager of a service. Visiting Professor of Autism Studies at Birmingham City University. Andrew has a particular interest in the design of community settings for people who present a challenge. He has extensive experience of working with service users with a learning disability and/or Autism who self-harm.

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Please join us for “The Importance of Neurodiversity-Affirming Approaches in Trauma-Informed Models of Care” with Trisha Thompson.

Trisha Thompson is a late-diagnosed AuDHD Early Childhood Education Consultant and parent to an Autistic child. She has been working in the field of ECE for almost 10 years. Prior to becoming a consultant, she worked in various teaching and leadership roles. She has a Master of Science in General Psychology (non-licensure) and is currently working towards a certification in Applied Educational Neuroscience. Trisha is passionate about helping others in the field understand that neurodiversity-affirming practice is an integral part of developmentally appropriate, anti-bias, and trauma-informed practice.

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Please join us for “The Truth About ABA: The Most Popular Autism Therapy in the US and Canada” with Anne Borden King.

Anne Borden King is a Toronto-based podcaster, writer and human rights advocate. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Healthy Debate and the Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, among other publications. She is the host of Noncompliant, a popular podcast about neurodiversity. Her Substack is entitled The Children Do Not Consent.

A co-founder of Autistics for Autistics, the Canadian autistic self-advocacy organization, Anne has presented before the United Nations and the Canadian Senate among others, about autism policy. She is the founder of The Autistic Health Access Project, which educates medical students and clinicians about making health care accessible for autistic patients. Her upcoming book, The Children Do Not Consent: The Search for Autism’s “Cure”—and the kids who pay the Cost, will be published in 2025.

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Please join us for “Your Child’s Point of View: A New Book from Kelsie Olds, the OccuPlaytional Therapist.”

Kelsie Olds, "The Occuplaytional Therapist", shares passionately every day online with thousands of parents, teachers, professionals--and adults simply seeking to heal childhood wounds in their own selves--about the healing and power in play as the core meaningful occupation that underlies childhood. Kelsie has most recently worked as an occupational therapist on an Air Force Base in England which gave them a unique perspective on both the US and UK systems of healthcare and education that intersect and affect the children they work with every day. Currently, Kelsie is working full-time in online advocacy, traveling, consulting, and lecturing.

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Please join us for “The Child Catcher: An Interview with Andrew Bridge About his Upcoming Book” 

Andrew Bridge spent 11 years in Los Angeles County foster care. After aging out, he attended Wesleyan University, then graduated from Harvard Law School and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship. He began his legal career representing children against the State of Alabama, where his work resulted in the closure of one of the country’s most notorious psychiatric institutions, the Eufaula Adolescent Center. Returning to Los Angeles, he became CEO of The Alliance for Children’s Rights, representing children in the foster care system where he grew up. Andrew is the co-founder of National Adoption Day and New Village Girls Academy for pregnant and parenting teens. His memoir Hope’s Boy was a New York Times bestseller and Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Most recently, he was a member of the executive management team for Illinois DCFS, and with Arizona as his home, he now serves on the Arizona Foster Care Review Board. His second book about that fight against Alabama, The Child Catcher, will be released in September. You can find information on The Child Catcher here: https://www.andrewbridgeauthor.com/

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Please join us for “What’s New at the Attachment and Trauma Network: An Interview with Ginger Healy and Julie Beem.”

Ginger Healy MSW, LCSW started her career as a child abuse investigator, hospital social worker, and school therapist. She spent 15 years as the social service supervisor at an international adoption agency where she learned about developmental trauma and attachment needs in children. She is currently a clinical social worker and the director of programs at the Attachment & Trauma Network. She co-anchors the podcast “Regulated and Relational” with Julie Beem, executive director of ATN. Ginger speaks and teaches across the nation on trauma-informed schools and therapeutic parenting. Ginger is the author of Regulation and Co-Regulation: Accessible Neuroscience that Brings Calm into the Classroom, and she is also the author of the accompanying workbook that aims to reach beyond the classroom for caregivers and child-serving professionals. Her third book Managing Big Emotions: Identifying Triggers, Developing Coping Strategies, and Communicating Effectively releasing in October 2024.

Julie Beem has been the Executive Director of the Attachment & Trauma Network since 2009 and an active member and volunteer since 2005. Julie lives in the Atlanta area and is the mom to four and grandmother to 3. Her youngest daughter, adopted internationally over 25 years ago was the reason she found support and education from the other parents at ATN.

Under Julie’s leadership, ATN has grown to reach families, schools and communities around the world. In 2016 ATN was given an Angel in Adoption award to honor the organization’s contributions to adoptive families across the US. And in 2014 the Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools program was created. Julie is a frequent speaker at adoption/foster parenting conferences and education events focused on early childhood trauma.

Julie’s educational background includes a BS in Secondary Education (English/Speech/Theatre) and an MBA with emphasis on Professional Services Marketing. Her true passion is making life easier for children impacted by trauma and the families who love them. Paying it forward has become the cornerstone of Julie’s work through ATN.

When not immersed in the daily tasks of a growing non-profit, Julie enjoys traveling with her husband, watching her daughter in swimming and dressage competitions and playing with the grandbabies.

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