How to Motivate and Support Students with Special Needs
Supporting Students with Special Needs During a Pandemic
Students with special needs are often dealing with higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and other emotional trauma. All of these can have a big impact on their self-confidence and their ability to learn and focus in school. Now add to that the challenges of this pandemic, the socioeconomic stress at home, and the political and social tension felt everywhere and we are entering uncharted territory! The need for practical tools to support and motivate special needs students has never been higher!
Thriving with Learning Differences
| Focusing on resilience is the key to teach students how to bounce back from challenges and find that inner motivation to not give up when things feel overwhelming. Our panel of experts will discuss strategies to teach students with learning differences and other special needs how to thrive in the face of adversity. These strategies can help to build confidence and self-esteem, engage, and create the inner motivation that students need in times like these. |
Preventing Burn-out and Helping Staff Supporting Special Needs Students
It’s no surprise that the current environment is not just affecting our students, but the toll it is taking on teachers may be equally concerning! There are reports across the country of educators leaving their careers in mass due to the stress and anxiety they are feeling during this pandemic. They fear for their health and in many cases are risking their lives. They are overwhelmed with the constant need to adapt their approach to teaching students as circumstances remain unstable. And perhaps most significant is the feeling that they are no longer able to make a difference in the lives of their students.
Panelists:
Bill Brown
Bill Brown MSW is a licensed School Social Worker through the Colorado Department of Education and the Affective Needs/Serious Emotional Disability Specialist for the Exceptional Student Services Unit at the Colorado Department of Education.
Bill has 12 years of experience working as a therapist in community mental health systems and 13 years of experience in education. He worked 9 years as an elementary school social worker, 2 years as a middle school social worker, and 2 years at the district level as a Behavior Interventionist. He has been certified as a Behavior Specialist for the Developmental Disability population and the Traumatic Brain Injury Population. He is also a crisis intervention instructor. At the school level, Bill has coordinated the implementation of MTSS and PBIS and has published papers on the implementation of MTSS and PBIS. His last clinical job before joining the CDE team was a private practice providing High Conflict Co-Parenting groups/classes.
Tara C. Jones
Tara is a special education district program specialist and WorkAbility I program coordinator for Hacienda La Puente Unified School District located in Los Angeles County. She began in the district in 2005 as a teacher at Willow Adult School. She taught in the Adult Transition Program that provides academic and vocational instruction to students 18 to 22 years old that are on a certificate pathway.
During the last 10 years, she has worked closely with pre-K – adult transition special education programs throughout the district. She is currently the state chair for the Government Relations Committee through the Workability I grant with the California Department of Education. The Workability grant assists individuals receiving special education, with paid work experience and other transition resources that help prepare students for adulthood.
Christian Moore
Christian Moore is a licensed clinical social worker and an internationally-renowned speaker, and a passionate advocate for youth. He is the author of “The Resilience Breakthrough” and founder of the WhyTry Program, one of the top social-emotional learning programs, used in over 30,000 schools across the United States.
Jason Johnson
Jason is a licensed school psychologist and has published research on resilience and student performance. Jason is a passionate advocate for disadvantaged students and currently consults and trains educators across the nation as the director of training and research for the WhyTry organization.
Jason is a thought leader on resilience education and has spoken at hundreds of conferences around the country. He has led successful implementations of all WhyTry programs and has pioneered training for clients in healthcare, corporate, and the US Military.
Want to Learn More?
Our online social and emotional learning curriculum can be taught in virtual classrooms. Help your students develop resilience in this time of crisis and isolation.