Creating a Positive School Environment for Diverse Learners

National Special Education Professional Development Conference

Creating a Positive School Environment for Diverse Learners Keynote Speakers:

Rick Lavoie Dr. Howard Muscott

Featured Speakers:

Rabbi Yaakov Aichenbaum, Dr. Jed Baker, Dr. Karen Gazith, Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman

Collaboration to provide the best possible Jewish, general, and special education for ALL students; serving children with special needs; affording educational advocacy; providing leadership in staff and curriculum development, teacher recruitment and training; and developing programs of inclusion.

Because Everyone Belongs

THE INTERNATIONAL JEWISH RESOURCE CENTER FOR INCLUSION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION IS AFFILIATED WITH YACHAD / THE NATIONAL JEWISH COUNCIL FOR DISABILITIES (NJCD), AN AGENCY OF THE ORTHODOX UNION.

Sunday-Monday Feb. 9-10, 2014 Sunday: 12:00pm-9:00pm Monday: 8:00am-5:30pm Congregation Keter Torah

600 Roemer Avenue, Teaneck, New Jersey

Workshops at a Glance Sunday February 9

M4

Computation: Using Alternate Algorithms

M6

Auditory Processing in the Classroom

M7

Executive Functioning: Coaching for Success

Dr. Joel Dickstein

Understanding Challenging Behaviors and the Need for Social Skills Training

Dr. Jed Baker

M8

Workshop I S1

2:45-4:15 pm

Creating the Brain-Friendly Classroom

Workshop II

S3

Dr. Karen Gazith

Supporting Students with Learning Issues in the Mainstream Classroom Limudei Kodesh: What to Teach First Rabbi Naphtali Hoff

Workshop II 4:30-6:00 pm S4 Extra Adults = Extra Teaching: Using Paraprofessionals in the Classroom Batya Jacob & Chavi Kahn

S5

S6

Building Classroom Management Systems of Positive Behavior Support Dr. Howard Muscott

Getting Along with Others: Seven Relationship Teaching Kits for Children with High Functioning Autism and Related Conditions.

Dr. Joel Shaul

S7

M9

Why Teach Life Skills?

Robin Wahsager

Fred Nagler

Batya Jacob

1:30-2:45 pm

Making Words Visible: Seven Conversation Teaching Kits for Children with High Functioning Autism and Related Conditions

Dr. Joel Shaul

“Mom, Why Won’t Anyone Play With Me?” The Social Aspects of Learning Disabilities

Dr. Richard Selznick

M11

Response to Intervention

Dr. Karen Gazith

M12

Reading and Writing: Perfect Together!

Dr. David Katz

M13

Working with a Jewish Resource Room in Your School

abbi Yaakov Aichenbaum R & Rabbi Dovid Freeman

M14

Kriah for Struggling Students

Anat Maimon-Reznik

M15

No More Meltdowns: Managing and Preventing Challenging Behaviors

Dr. Jed Baker

M16

Effectively Integrating SMART Boards into your Math Curriculum

David Dickman

M17

Strategy-Based Instruction versus Content-Based Instruction

M10

Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman

Workshop III

M18

The Brain and Reading

Dr. Karen Gazith

M19

Study Skills: How to Become an Active Listener

Dr. David Katz

M20

Understanding the “Shut Down” Learner

M21

Managing Emotions Effectively: Five Emotional Regulation Teaching Kits for Children with High Functioning Autism and Related Conditions

Dr. Joel Shaul

Teaching to Multiple Student Intelligences

Rabbi Naphtali Hoff

The List: A Practical Way to Teach Chumash

Rabbi Yaakov Aichenbaum & Rabbi Dovid Freeman

Dr. Richard Selznick

9:00-10:30 am It’s So Much Work to be Your Friend: Social Success Rick Lavoie

M22

Workshop I M1

10:45 am-12:15 pm Last One Picked- First One Picked On

M24

Key Components of Effective Social Skills Programming

M25

Using Concrete Materials to Teach Abstract Ideas

M2

Dyslexia Research and Challenges

M3

M23

M26

STEM and NAO: Robotics in Education

Dr. Richard Selznick

Authentic Assessment: Differentiating the Product Rabbi Naphtali Hoff

Dr. Joel Dickstein

3:00-4:15 pm

Keynote Address

Rick Lavoie

Gershon Tave

1:00-2:30 pm Creating a Positive School Climate Dr. Howard Muscott

M5

Keynote Address

S2

Monday February 10

Using Technology to Teach Diverse Learners Limudei Kodesh

Keynote 4:15-5:30 pm Summation When Elephants Fight, It’s the Grass that Gets Trampled Rick Lavoie

Dr. Jed Baker Fred Nagler David Dickman

Schedule Sunday, February 9, 2014 12:00-1:00 pm

Registration

Synagogue Atrium

Light Lunch - Small Auditorium

Mincha - Synagogue

1:00-1:15 pm

Welcome

Batya Jacob Director, International Jewish Resource Center for Inclusion and Special Education

S2 Supporting Students with Learning Issues

in the Mainstream Classroom

Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman

International Director, YACHAD / National Jewish Council for Disabilities (NJCD)

Keynote Address

Creating a Positive School Climate Dr. Howard Muscott Director, New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Intervention and Support

Positive school climates have been associated with a variety of important school outcomes including safety, academic achievement, and school completion. Over the past decade, more than 14,000 schools (including special schools and Yeshivot) across America have adopted a multi-tiered framework of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS). SWPBS is aimed at improving school climate, addressing problem behaviors, and improving social-emotional and academic outcomes for all students including those with a disability.

This presentation will include an overview of the system, data and practice features of SWPBS with an emphasis on universal prevention (Tier I). Participants will gain knowledge about how to create a positive school climate conducive to school success. Examples of implementation from preschool to high school will be included along with data on the effectiveness of implementation. Strategies to address challenges to implementation will be provided.

2:45-4:15 pm S1

Workshop I

Creating the Brain-Friendly Classroom

Dr. Karen Gazith Director of Education, Bronfman Jewish Education Centre With the advent of 21st century technologies, it is becoming increasingly clear to researchers that there are certain teaching practices that are highly effective for all students. In this session, teachers will learn these specific and practical teaching methods that will engage all students and ensure their success in the inclusive classroom.

S6 Getting Along with Others: Seven

Relationship Kits for Children with High Functioning Autism and Related Conditions

Through case studies, we will identify potential challenges that the mainstream teacher and student face when placed in a rigorous Yeshiva classroom environment. We will suggest how to conceptualize the issue, and provide strategies to help achieve success for all: the student with learning issues, the teacher, and the other classroom students.

1:15-2:30 pm

routines such as arrival, small group, large group, independent work and transitions that are aligned to their core value and can be systematically taught and reinforced. In addition, participants will learn strategies for addressing minor staff-handled behaviors that can reduce the likelihood they will be repeated.

S3

Limudei Kodesh: What to Teach First

Rabbi Naphtali Hoff Professional Development and Consulting Services

Should every student learn to read Hebrew? Learn Chumash?

Learn Gemara? What are the goals of your Limudei Kodesh curriculum for each of your students? Explore the different areas typically taught to students on the elementary school level and develop a hierarchy of goals for your diverse learners.

4:30-6:00 pm

Workshop II

S4 Extra Adults = Extra Teaching: Using

Paraprofessionals in the Classroom

Batya Jacob, Director, Educational Support Services, Yachad &

Dr. Joel Shaul Director, Autism Teaching Strategies

Teaching social skills in a classroom setting works better if the lessons are clear, engaging and visual. This presentation provides distinct instruction with free downloads on social skills topics such as decreasing isolation, knowing when to be “formal” and “informal” and increasing awareness of how words and actions affect other people. (To preview one of the seven lessons, please go to: http://bit.ly/GW7uuG) S7

uilding Classroom Management Systems B of Positive Behavior Support

Dr. Howard Muscott Director, New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Intervention and Support

Robin Wahsager Principal, IVDU Lower School

Monday, February 10, 2014 8:00-9:00 am

Registration

Synagogue Atrium

Breakfast - Small Auditorium

Shacharit - Synagogue

Behavior problems such as disruptions, disrespect and inappropriate language negatively affect teaching and learning. Despite its widespread use, experience and research suggest that the overreliance on punishment is ineffective in reducing problem behavior in classrooms. A balanced approach to classroom management includes a focus on positive, preventative approaches as well as evidence-based responses to problem behavior. This presentation will help participants develop or enhance their classroom systems of discipline and positive behavior support. Participants will gain knowledge and skills in creating observable behavioral expectations for various classroom

9:00-9:10 pm

Welcome

Batya Jacob Director, International Jewish Resource Center for Inclusion and Special Education

9:10-10:30 am

Keynote Address

It’s So Much Work to be Your Friend: Social Success

Rick Lavoie Educational Consultant

7:00-9:00 pm Dinner P arent Forum: What I Wish My Special Education Teacher/ Administrator Knew About My Child!

Why Teach Life Skills?

Chavi Kahn, Principal, IVDU High School

Teaching students is a team effort in every classroom. Many of our students who are classified as diverse learners have classroom aides assigned to them. In addition, many classrooms have aides and assistants. Working cooperatively will increase the learning of all students in the classroom. Effectively utilizing all adults in the classroom will maximize learning and increase flexibility and help foster differentiation to enable all students to learn at their individual levels and strengths. Learn ways to use these extra hands in the classroom and how to maximize academic learning for all students.

S5

As teachers, we concentrate on getting through the core curriculum as mandated by our school. We need to stop and ask what the overall goals are for each child we are teaching. Reading, writing, math computation, chumash, and so on are essential to each child’s growth. However, we must also look at child as a whole and determine what they will each need to succeed in life. We cannot downplay the importance of life skills for our diverse learners. Teaching our students how to use money to shop for themselves will be more practical than teaching them straight computation skills. If the key is independence and inclusion into the “real world,” then we must add Life Skills curricula to our teaching repertoire.

Extensive studies have examined students with learning disabilities who have experienced chronic failure in mainstream classes and adults with learning problems who have been unsuccessful in the work place. Invariably, these studies have clearly demonstrated that this failure is due to the person’s SOCIAL SKILLS, not his or her ACADEMIC SKILLS. The majority of people with learning disorders have marked difficulty perceiving, understanding and responding to social situations. Social isolation, rejection and humiliation are often the result. This seminar will explore the relationship between learning disabilities and social incompetence and will identify the specific causes for particular social skill deficits. Field tested strategies will be presented that can be used by parents, teachers, coaches and caregivers to assist students in gaining peer acceptance and developing age-appropriate social skills.

Maariv to follow in the Synagogue

10:45 am-12:15 pm M1

Workshop I

Last One Picked - First One Picked On

Rick Lavoie Educational Consultant

Extensive studies have examined students with learning disabilities (LD) who have experienced failure in mainstream classes and adults with LD who have been unsuccessful in employment situations. Invariably, these studies indicate that the failure is due to deficiencies in SOCIAL SKILLS, NOT ACADEMIC SKILLS. People with LD often lack the ability to correctly perceive social situations and utilize required social skills to react to these settings. However, using specific strategies, students with LD can be taught to deal more effectively with social environments.

This session is designed to assist the adult in identifying and understanding specific social skill deficits and provide related learning strategies.

M2

Dyslexia Research and Challenges

Dr. Richard Selznick Director, Cooper Learning Center

Is your student struggling in school? Do you suspect your student may have dyslexia? This jargon-free workshop will define these complex issues and provide tips to help your student.

M3

A uthentic Assessment: Differentiating the Product

Rabbi Naphtali Hoff Professional Development and Consultant Services

Testing represents the classic educational “product” associated with the completion of a unit of study. Though good tests do connect with most of the learned material and accurately assess students on a variety of levels, they are still rooted in a student’s ability to recall and apply information, rather than on demonstrating the ability to display skills and concepts they have learned. For students who struggle with memorizing details, or with learning

strengths in other areas, tests tend to accentuate their weaknesses while downplaying their strengths. This session will introduce educators to alternative assessments, which teach students how to apply their skills, including analytical skills, toward tasks and projects. The learning process is valued as much, if not more, than the finished product itself.

M4

Using Technology to Teach Diverse Learners in Limudei Kodesh Gershon Tave TEQSmart Certified Educator

Remediate special needs students in an engaging, kinesthetic, self-paced program that emphasizes development and application of basic reading skills. Use technology to create simple materials that reinforce skills needed in the classroom. Employs multiple modalities and fosters student expression of process rather than just product while encouraging independent work.

This session will specifically look at how to use these tools in your limudei kodesh curriculum for the diverse learners within your classroom.

M5

Computation: Using Alternate Algorithms

Fred Nagler Math Consultant

M8 Understanding Challenging Behaviors and

the Need for Social Skills Training

Dr. Jed Baker Director, The Social Skills Training Project

In order to implement any strategy to help students with social and behavioral challenges, we first need to understand the reasons behind some of their challenging behaviors and understand the feelings those behaviors provoke in caretakers. This session examines the anxiety behind challenging behaviors in both our students and those that care for them.

12:15-1:15 pm

Panel Discussion: What Makes Up

My Whole Child? Beyond the Disability

1:15-1:30 pm 1:30-2:45 pm

M6

Auditory Processing in the Classroom Batya Jacob Director, Educational Support Services, Yachad

Language learning, a fundamental component of learning in the classroom, is primarily an auditory function. Statistics show that one in every five children in nursery through the first grade and one in every 12 children from grades two to six have some sort of hearing issue that is affecting their ability to learn language.

This effect on language learning is even more compromised in second language learning, such as Hebrew in our schools. We will explore the “red flags” that help identify these children; etiology of the disorder; different types of auditory processing disorders; classroom, acoustic, teacher style modifications; and hands-on programs that can help remediate these issues. Special attention will be given to how the Limudei Kodesh curriculum is affected by auditory processing challenges and to adapting the above techniques into the Judaic and Hebrew Language curriculum.

M7

Executive Functioning: Coaching for Success

Dr. Joel Dickstein Senior Consultant, National Education Resource Center of P’TACH Research has shown that the factors often contributing to the success of graduates include their abilities to map out plans to complete projects, work well with others, use time wisely, meet deadlines, analyze which areas need improvement, and produce a wide variety of products. If this is so, teachers may want to look more carefully at how we achieve these skills and, more challenging, how we teach them to our students.

Mincha Workshop II

M9 Making Words Visible: Seven Conversation

Teaching Kits for Children with High Functioning Autism and Related Conditions

Dr. Joel Shaul Director, Autism Teaching Strategies

“If you can’t memorize the times tables, you’ll never be able to multiply large numbers.” NOT TRUE! Any child who can add and double CAN multiply large numbers. Do you have a student struggling with subtraction when there is borrowing/exchange present? Come and see how YOU can have the student do the problem without borrowing/exchange. We will explore a number of alternate algorithms that can be used when a student is having trouble with computation.

Lunch

Students with high functioning autism, as well as many other children, learn conversation skills better when there is a clear visual reference. This presentation provides clear instruction and free downloads for seven conversation lessons based on simple visual prompts, wall displays, worksheets and games which all employ visual strategies. (To preview some of these, please go to http://bit.ly/15BNjkg) M10 “Mom, Why Won’t Anyone Play with Me?”

The Social Aspects of Learning Disabilities

Dr. Richard Selznick Director, Cooper Learning Center

Many factors contribute to a child’s difficulties with social relationships, friendships and play. Often overlooked is the interaction of learning disabilities with these social development skills. This workshop will focus on cognitive variables in the context of a child’s level of development through different phases of schooling.

M11

Response to Intervention

Dr. Karen Gazith Director of Education, The Bronfman Jewish Education Centre Over the past twenty years, schools have made great strides in supporting learners with special needs. In particular, resource rooms and special services have become an integral part of all schools. However, teachers, administrators, and all those involved in the education of students, are realizing the need to develop a more efficient and cost effective way of providing support to the increasing number of students with and without specific labels.

In this workshop you will learn: (1) The three tiers of Response To Intervention (RTI) and how to adapt each one to your classroom; (2) How to incorporate RTI into your daily schedule; (3) Researchbased practices to maximize student success (brain-based learning); (4) Differentiated instruction, assessment for and of instruction; and (5) Research-based remedial interventions for learners with challenging needs (fluency and comprehension strategies,

visual mapping, etc.). You will leave this seminar with a plan to help you get started with RTI right away.

M12

Reading and Writing: Perfect Together!

Dr. David Katz Learning Consultant

The process of writing is highly related to the process of reading: readers and writers are both constructing or composing meaning. In this hands-on session, participants will explore the structure of grammar, which includes basic sentence and paragraph types. Mapping and outlining techniques that can be used for both reading and writing, and techniques for incorporating students’ growing vocabulary into new reading and writing experiences will be discussed. Strategies will be presented that can be easily recreated in the elementary, middle, and high school curricula.

M13 Working with a Jewish Resource Room

in Your School

Rabbi Yaakov Aichenbaum - Director, Jewish Resource

Room, Scranton Hebrew Day School

Rabbi Dovid Freeman - Faculty, Cheder of Monsey

In spite of the considerable attention that special education has received in recent years, many schools do not have a properly staffed research-based Jewish Resource Room. In this presentation, you will learn how to establish a Jewish Resource Room in your school. You will learn about the significant strides that students can make both academically, emotionally and behaviorally when their needs are properly addressed in a resource room.

Among the many topics that will be addressed are professional training for resource personnel, referral procedures, assessments, determining educational goals, collaborating with staff members, and social stigma. A second focus of this presentation is how a resource room can help the classroom teacher. A resource room is not just a resource for the students, but also a resource for the whole school. We will show you how a resource room can help design modified/adapted curriculums, provide alternative testing sites, monitor classroom kriah, assess classroom performance, etc. You will learn that when the resource room and teachers utilize each other, it is a win-win situation.

M14

Kriah for Struggling Students

Anat Maimon-Reznik Director, Whole Body Hebrew

In this workshop, educators will review the research about the academic and social challenges facing students studying the Hebrew language. Anat will then introduce a new innovative method to teach Hebrew called Mind Body Hebrew. Educators will practice new ways to teach the Hebrew aleph-bet. They will learn the Hebrew vowels and corresponding imagery and body movement. Educators will have the opportunity for group practice of this technique. They will move from single vowel words to multi-vowel words.

M15 No More Meltdowns: Managing and

Preventing Challenging Behaviors

Dr. Jed Baker Director, The Social Skills Training Project

All of us can have meltdowns when we lose control and seem immune to reasoning. Having consistent rules and consequences for such behavior is important, yet there are times when such traditional discipline seems ineffective. When consistent discipline is not enough, we need to understand why these difficult moments continue. This presentation is designed to (1) learn

ways to de-escalate a meltdown in the moment, and (2) understand how to create an effective plan to prevent future meltdowns.

M16 Effectively Integrate SMART Boards

into Your Math Instruction

David Dickman Certified TEQ Trainer

Explore examples of how the interactive whiteboard can be successfully integrated into your curriculum, with this content specific course. See research-supported evidence on how the board can influence your students’ participation and expand their learning opportunities. Gain the skills necessary to begin integrating the interactive whiteboard into your math instruction, and further discover the possibilities of the board’s technology.

M17 Strategy - Based Instruction vs. Content -

Based Instruction

Dr. Joel Dickstein Senior Consultant of the National Education Resource Center of P’TACH

“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life.” Many times our lessons involve the transmission of information; and this is certainly necessary, for without knowledge we cannot grow. However, in this age of abundant and easily accessible sources of information, it may be more important to transmit to our students the learning process.

Teach a student strategies for gaining and using knowledge, and perhaps he/she will be able to teach him/herself “for life”.

3:00-4:15 pm M18

Workshop III

The Brain and Reading

Dr. Karen Gazith Director of Education, Bronfman Jewish Education Centre Neuroimaging techniques of the past decade have led to a wealth of understanding about how children learn to read.

In this session, we will examine current research on reading: how children learn to read, and why learning challenges occur. We will then highlight specific strategies to support students who experience early struggles in reading.

M19 Study Skills: How to Become an Active

Learner

Dr. David Katz Education Consultant

Participants will be introduced to the components of a Study Skills curriculum, which enable students to become independent and actively engaged in the learning process. Strategies on organization / time management, and homework will be presented.

Participants will also be introduced to strategies to strengthen reading comprehension in both fiction and non-fiction passages.

In addition, strategies on classroom management, note-taking, and test preparation will also be introduced.

M20

Understand the “Shut-Down Learner”

Dr. Richard Selznick Director, Cooper Learning Center

One of the worst feelings a child can have is being discouraged in school. The sense of hopelessness that pervades can become almost insurmountable. This is the emotional experience for the child called the “Shut-Down Learner.” The

Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child, describes a common, but poorly understood constellation of characteristics. Referred to in the text as “Lego kids” or “high spatial children,” such kids thrive with hands-on tasks that “load” on visual and spatial abilities. They excel in so many areas, yet when it comes to the core skills necessary for success in school, they are often quite lacking. This leads to the “ShutDown Learner,” a child who is discouraged and disconnected relative to school. As a result, teachers do not know what to do.

They become tense, frustrated, and frantic, feelings of which are conveyed to the child.

M21 Managing Emotions Effectively: Five

Emotional Regulation Teaching Kits for Children with High Functioning Autism and Related Conditions

Dr. Joel Shaul Director, Autism Teaching Strategies

Students with anxiety, anger and sadness learn a great many emotional regulation strategies from their teachers. This presentation provides five simple, visual teaching kits, with free downloads, to help children with high functioning autism, and other children as well, to manage their emotions. (To preview some of these kits, please go to: http://bit.ly/10rc92r) M22

Teaching to Multiple Students’ Intelligences

Rabbi Naphtali Hoff Professional Development and Consultant Services

Learn more about the eight identified intelligences that people possess and ways in which we can use this information to structure our classes to the needs of every student. Teachers will learn how their own personal intelligences impact the way they present classroom material.

M23 The List: A Practical Way to Teach Chumash

Rabbi Yaakov Aichenbaum - Director, Jewish

Resource Room, Scranton Hebrew Day School & Dovid Freeman - Faculty, Cheder of Monsey

The ability to translate the Chumash accurately often eludes many students. Students with LD can be even more challenged by the Chumash. THE LIST is a systematic and user-friendly methodology for Chumash instruction that is designed to significantly elevate the Chumash skills of the whole classroom. It is flexible enough to accommodate various teaching styles and to conform to the mesorah of your institution. The researchbased model of THE LIST will result in considerable quantitative and qualitative gains for all of your students and the built-in special education components will address the needs of children with LD as well. THE LIST methodology even allows enrichment activities to take place during classroom instruction without interfering with the flow of the lesson. THE LIST methodology has been implemented in various types of schools and educational settings. There are minimal costs involved in implementing the program. Optional teacher training manuals, student workbooks, assessment tools, and flashcards are available to supplement the program, but the program can be implemented successfully without any of these tools. We invite you to become part of the program that is elevating the standards of Chumash chinuch!

M24 Key Components of Effective

Social Skills Programming

Dr. Jed Baker Director, The Social Skills Training Project

This presentation reviews some of the research on social skills training that point to key components to consider when teaching social skills including motivating students, choosing teaching strategies, how to generalize skills into the natural setting and the importance of increasing acceptance and tolerance from peers. Information will be imparted though lecture, interactive exercises, and video clips.

M25 Using Concrete Materials

to Teach Abstract Ideas

Fred Nagler Math Consultant

Many students, not only students with disabilities, have trouble grasping abstract concepts. We will use manipulative materials and pictorial representation to prepare students for the abstract. Among the materials we will use are Base Ten Blocks, Pattern Blocks, Attrilinks, Geoboards, the Game of 24, and finger multiplication.

M26

STEM and NAO: Robotics in Education David Dickman Certified TEQ Trainer

Improve your science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction with our STEM and NAO course. Learn how to keep students engaged and better their learning outcomes as we help you successfully combine STEM concepts, proper pedagogical knowledge, and innovative technologies, including Aldebaran’s latest humanoid robot, NAO.

4:15-5:30 pm Keynote Summation Improving Home-School Communication: When Elephants Fight, It’s the Grass that Gets Trampled

Rick Lavoie Educational Consultant

A wise school administrator once cautioned his parent body, “If you promise to believe only half of the things that your child tells you happened at school, we will promise to believe only half of what he tells us about what happens at home!” Communication between home and school is an important ingredient in a child’s academic and social progress. Without this ongoing and collegial communication, the “right hand” cannot be aware of what the “left hand” is doing. This communication, however, is fraught with obstacles, hurdles and barriers. It is in the child’s best interest that parents and teachers become aware of these pitfalls and work closely together to overcome them. Open, direct and cordial communication will allow the child to reach his fullest potential. This seminar will offer practical advice and strategies to foster positive and constructive home/school communication.

Bios KEYNOTE SPEAKERS DR. HOWARD MUSCOTT is

director of the New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Interventions and Support (NHCEBIS), a statewide technical assistance and training network aimed at promoting positive and preventive school discipline systems and improving the emotional well-being of all children including those with emotional/behavioral disorders. In this capacity, Dr. Muscott serves as project director of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports-NH (PBIS-NH), the NH RESPONDS Response to Intervention for Behavior and Literacy, the Ready for School Success – NH in early childhood, and the Mental Health and Schools Together – NH statewide initiatives. Under his leadership, positive behavioral interventions and supports have been implemented in more than 30% of NH public schools and almost all the Head Start programs in the state. PBIS-NH has resulted in improvements in positive social behavior, school climate and returned time to teach and learn. It has also produced reductions in problem behavior, office discipline referrals, suspensions, students dropping out of school.

Howard has more than 30 years of experience in education ranging from preschool through high school and higher education. He has been a special education teacher and principal of three different schools for students with disabilities. In 2008, he retired as professor of education from Rivier College where he directed the Undergraduate Special Education program and the graduate program in Emotional and Behavioral Disorders for 15 years. A frequent keynote speaker and consultant to schools, he has delivered more than 400 presentations to educators and families in New Hampshire, across the country and internationally. His clients include the Boston Public Schools; the South Carolina, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia Departments of Education; the Sacramento County Office of Education; various school districts in Alaska, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire; and orthodox Jewish Yeshivas in New York and Mexico City.

Dr. Muscott was honored with the Excellence in Education Award by the New Hampshire College and University Council as the New Hampshire Professor of the Year in 2000. In 2003, he was named Distinguished Alumnae from the State University College at Buffalo, New York for his lifelong commitment to special education. In 2004, the New Hampshire Chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI-NH) honored him with their Outstanding Special Educator of the Year Award.

Howard’s 16 year stewardship as the founding President of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders Foundation (CCBD)came to an end this summer. CCBD honored his leadership by creating a national service award in his name and awarding him the first award in 2010. He was recently honored with the National Lifetime Leadership Award from the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

Howard is also an accomplished and exhibited photographer. His photographs have been published on the cover of national journals in education, in newspapers, and used on educational and other websites. His work has been exhibited at individual shows and juried exhibitions in New York and New Hampshire.

His wife Amy Jo and his son Nathan are his pride and joy.

OUR FEATURED PRESENTERS RICK LAVOIE served as an

administrator of residential programs for children with special needs for 30 years. He holds three degrees in Special Education and holds two Honorary Doctorates in Education from the University of Massachusetts and Mitchell College. He has served as a visiting lecturer at numerous universities including Syracuse, Harvard, Manhattanville College, University of Alabama, University of Melbourne and Georgetown. His many national television appearances include The TODAY Show, CBS Morning Show, Good Morning America, ABC Evening News, and Walt Disney Presents. He has served as a consultant on Learning Disabilities to several agencies and organizations including Public Broadcasting Service, New York Times, National Center for Learning Disabilities, USA Today, Girl Scouts of America, Child Magazine, INSTRUCTOR Magazine and National Public Radio.

In 2009, Rick was the recipient of the Learning Disabilities Associations of America’s Samuel Kirk award.

He has delivered his message to over 500,000 parents and professionals throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. He has the distinction of having delivered Keynote Addresses for all three of the major special needs advocacy organizations in the United States (Learning Disabilities Association, Council for Exceptional Children, Children with Attention Deficit Disorder).

Rick’s intensive experiences at residential schools provided him with a “living laboratory” in which he developed and refined his methods and philosophies related to the education of children and adolescents with special needs.

YAAKOV AICHENBAUM is the Director of the

Limudei Kodesh Resource Room in the Scranton Hebrew Day School. He also maintains a private practice as an educational consultant and lecturer.

He has presented workshops on various topics at national conventions as well as in individual schools.

He is also the co-developer (together with Rabbi Dovid Freeman) of the “Laying the Foundation for a Lifetime of Learning Torah Independently” workshop series. Rabbi Aichenbaum and Rabbi Freeman are the authors of THE LIST teacher’s manual and The Key to Chumash workbook series.

Rabbi Aichenbaum is the developer of The Chumash Vocabulary Test©. This test is a diagnostic tool whose purpose is to assess individual and schoolwide chumash vocabulary achievements. Rabbi Aichenbaum has conducted extensive research about the subjects of vocabulary acquisition and retention, overlearning and automaticity theory, and the effective use of flashcards. Most recently, he started The OnlineLimudei Kodesh Resource Room where he provides remedial help for students who do not have local services available.

Rabbi Aichenbaum learned in Yeshivas Bais Moshe of Scranton and its Kollel for many years and he later earned his Master’s degree in special education and elementary education from Felician College. He also trained under the internationally known special education consultant, Rabbi Shaul Klein. Many of his projects including workshop videos can be found on chinuch.org.

DR. JED BAKER is the director of the Social Skills

Training Project, a private organization serving individuals with autism and social communication problems. He also directs social skills training for Millburn Public Schools in New Jersey. He is on the professional advisory board of Autism Today, ASPEN, ANSWER, YAI, the Kelberman Center and several other autism organizations. In addition, he writes, lectures, and provides training internationally on the topic of social skills training and managing challenging behaviors. He is an award winning author of five books, including Social Skills Training for Children and Adolescents with Asperger’s Syndrome and Social Communication Problems; Preparing for Life: The Complete Handbook for the Transition to Adulthood for Those with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome; The Social Skills Picture Book; The Social Skills Picture Book for High School and Beyond; and No More Meltdowns: Positive Strategies for Managing and Preventing Out-ofControl Behavior. His work has also been featured on ABC World News, Nightline, the CBS Early Show, and the Discovery Health Channel.

Rick is the author of the book “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success. The book addresses the direct link between learning disabilities and social skills issues that many children face. Rick provides specific strategies for parents, teachers and caregivers about how to assist the child in making and keeping friends. The Library Journal praised the book as “a breakthrough.” Most parents and professionals know Rick through his videos “How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop”, “Last One Picked, First One Picked On: The Social Implications of Learning Disabilities” and “When the Chips are Down: Learning Disabilities and Discipline”. These classic, award-winning films have brought Rick’s sensitive and compelling message to countless thousands throughout the world. After viewing the videos, former First Lady Barbara Bush stated, “You really wowed us! I only wish that every parent and teacher in the United States today could also see your program.” His recent videos “Beyond F.A.T. City: A Look Back, A Look Ahead” and “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success” are among the most widely distributed films in the educational media. His newest book and PBS DVD on student motivation “The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning On the Tuned-Out Child” were recently released and were featured in USA Today.

DAVID DICKMAN is an Instructional Technology Specialist with Teq. He provides professional development to teachers in the integration of SMART products, iPads, and other technologies. He has a Master’s degree in Education from Long Island University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Binghamton University. Before working for Teq, he worked at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf for seven years. At Mill Neck he worked as a Teacher Assistant and High School Mathematics Teacher, for students with various needs and abilities.

Rick and his wife, Janet have three grown children and live in the shadows of historic Fenway Park in Boston.

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Directions to: DR. JOEL DICKSTEIN is an assistant professor

and coordinates the Office of Disabilities Services at Touro College. He also serves as the Senior Consultant of the National Education Resource Center of P’TACH. Previously he was instrumental in establishing, and was Program Coordinator of, the Yeshiva University High School-P’TACH Program. Dr. Dickstein has also served as a consultant and teacher trainer for various organizations, yeshivot and day schools. He is an advocate for effective teaching strategies and practices to address the different needs and learning differences of all Jewish children in an inclusive classroom.

RABBI DOVID FREEMAN was the 2nd and 5th

grade rebbe in the Scranton Hebrew Day School for sixteen years. He recently became the third grade rebbe in The Cheder of Monsey. He has developed innovative methods to teach chumash and gemara in order to ensure that students will acquire the core vocabulary needed for both subjects. He has also authored several workbooks on the subject. He has presented workshops on the subject of vocabulary acquisition at several national conferences and has also been invited to share his methods at various yeshivot and schools. He is the co-developer (together with Rabbi Yaakov Aichenbaum) of the “Laying the Foundation for a Lifetime of Learning Torah Independently” workshop series. Rabbi Freeman learned in the bais medrash and kollel of Yeshivas Bais Moshe in Scranton for many years before he started teaching in the Scranton Hebrew Day School.

Department of Education for the State of New Jersey.

Although she is involved with teaching teachers how to include students with various types of challenges, including visual impairments, motor impairments, and developmental disabilities, her area of expertise is Auditory Challenges. Batya received her BS in Speech and Hearing from Boston University and her MA in Audiology from the University of Connecticut as well as a Masters in Jewish Education from the BJE of New Jersey. She is a licensed audiologist in both New York and New Jersey and has written the handbook “The Hearing-Impaired Child in the Jewish Classroom,” published through the Orthodox Union.

CHAVIE KAHN is the principal of the Marilyn Davis IVDU High School in Brooklyn, New York. She has worked for Yachad for the past 6 years.

DR. DAVID KATZ, MAT, is a Fellow Candidate for

the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators. David is a Special Education Teacher in private practice in Metuchen, New Jersey. David has presented teacher training programs and parent workshops at over 200 conferences, and at public schools, private schools, and universities across the United States. David has also been an adjunct professor at several local universities in the tri-state area. David is the Past President of the New Jersey Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.

DR. JEFFREY LICHTMAN is the International DR. KAREN GAZITH taught in a number of spe-

cial needs institutions and schools, including the Instrumental Enrichment Institute with Dr. Feuerstein, before receiving her doctorate in Educational Psychology from McGill University. She then served as the Coordinator of Special Education at the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre. She is now the Director of Education at the Centre and an adjunct professor in the department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University where she has taught for the past twenty years. She has presented on topics related to meeting diverse needs in the classroom in many cities in Canada including the Canadian Arctic, the U.S., England, Israel and Australia.

RABBI NAPHTALI HOFF, M.Ed., provides pro-

fessional development and consulting services to day schools and yeshivot throughout the country, including PD workshops on a wide range of educational topics and mentoring support, as well as guidance for teachers, administrators, and lay leaders. He is an accomplished educator and sought after lecturer with over fifteen years experience in the field, including more than a decade as an administrator. Rabbi Hoff holds two masters degrees and is presently a doctoral candidate in human and organizational psychology, which studies successful individual or organizational change and development.

BATYA JACOB has worked for Yachad since 1997.

She has been the Program Director for Our Way for the Jewish Deaf and Hard of Hearing and is currently the Director of Educational Services for Yachad/The National Jewish Council for Disabilities, a division of the Orthodox Union. Among her responsibilities she serves as the Director of the International Jewish Resource Center for Inclusion and Special Education. She is also a member of the Non-Public School Advisory Committee to the

Director of Yachad / The National Jewish Council for Disabilities (NJCD), Dean of IVDU Schools, Director of the NJ Association of Jewish Day Schools and a consultant to schools and agencies working with individuals who have special needs. A school psychologist with many years of experience in both regular and special education, Jeff has masters degrees in school psychology and education from St. Johns University and NYU. He received his undergraduate and rabbinical training from Yeshiva University, where he completed his doctorate as well. His areas of expertise include individual & group counseling, social skills training, facilitating Inclusion & Teacher training. Jeff is a member of the New Jersey Department of Education Non Public School Advisory Commission and Past President of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy. He resides in West Orange, NJ with his wife Helen.

ANAT MAIMON-REZNIK was born in Tel Aviv

Israel and is a native Hebrew speaker. She completed her undergraduate studies in Semitic languages at Tel Aviv University. Anat has been teaching Hebrew in New York City for the last eighteen years.

She taught at the Park East Day School, Park Avenue Hebrew School and The Rodeph Shalom School. For the last four years she has been a coordinator and a Hebrew teacher at the Manhattan Sephardic Congregation. In the pursuit of creating the most efficient way of teaching Hebrew vowels (nekudot) Anat created The Mind Body Hebrew, a multisensory teaching method that engages all three perceptual systems; visual, auditory and kinesthetic.This method has been proven to be particularly successful in teaching students with learning disabilities.

She is the author of the soon-to-be-released book “Israel is Learning Hebrew” the inspiration for The Mind Body Hebrew method.

FRED NAGLER is a math consultant. He conducts

staff development workshops for teachers who use Encyclopedia Britannica’s Mathematics in Context

junior high school program. He has been an adjunct professor in Math Education at Queens College for 15 years. He is the former math coordinator of Community School District Five in New York City and was the math editor of Sesame Street Magazine.

He co-authored two problem solving series, co-authored the New York City eighth grade curriculum, and was a project writer on the Core Curriculum Companion for the NYS Mathematics Resource Guide. He has presented numerous workshops at professional conferences including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, The National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and the Association of Teachers of Mathematics of New York State. He just completed a three year assignment as a lecturer of Developmental Mathematics at Bergen Community College. He earned an M.A. and an ED.M. in mathematics education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Congregation Keter Torah

600 Roemer Avenue, Teaneck, New Jersey

FROM G.W. BRIDGE: Follow signs to ROUTE 4. Take Route 4 West to RIVER ROAD exit. At the end of the exit ramp, make a LEFT (toward New Milford) onto RIVER ROAD. Continue for approx. 1 mile to the intersection of River Road and ROEMER AVENUE. There will be a right turn lane. Make the RIGHT (toward Bergenfield) and go approx. 2/10 of a mile. The synagogue is on your right.

DR. RICHARD SELZNICK is a nationally certified school psychologist, graduate school professor, university professor of pediatrics and school consultant. The author of two books, The Shut-Down Learner: Helping Your Academically Discouraged Child and the recently published School Struggles: A Guide To Your Shut-Down Learner’s Success, he has presented to parents and educators internationally, in locations as far as Dubai and Abu Dhabi and throughout the United States. A down-to-earth presenter who discusses difficult topics in non-jargon terms, Dr. Selznick tries to present complex issues in lay terms. Among the many topics that he presents, some of the more popular include: “Relationship: The Key Variable in School Struggling,” “Myths & Realities of Dyslexia,” “Understanding the ShutDown Learner Formula,” “Stages of Reading Development: Signposts That Guide Instruction,” “Why’s Everyone Always Pickin’ On Me: Myths & Realties of Bullying,” “We Keep Telling Him You Have to Get Organized: Executive Function Deficits,” “Secrets of Parenting Success,” and “Regaining Control of the Ship.”

DR. JOEL SHAUL, LCSW, is a psychotherapist specializing in mental health services for children and teens on the autism spectrum. Through his company, Autism Teaching Strategies, Joel conducts trainings nationwide on psycho-educational interventions for young people with ASD, and creates psycho-educational books and kits for children, professionals and involved parents. His book, The Conversation Train, is to be published in March 2014 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Joel Shaul is the co-creator of Ryuu Cards and CD ROMs, which are social skills products featuring a fantasy world of autistic dragons. Joel’s website, autismteaching strategies.com, provides dozens of free downloads that support the presentations made in his workshops.

Joel provides clinical and consultation services for The Watson Institute of Sewickley, PA.

GERSHON TAVE is an Instructional Technology Specialist at Teq and the Judaics Expert in the Professional Development Department. He is a former classroom teacher in the United States and Israel with experience teaching both secular and Hebrew subjects from preschool through high school.

ROBIN WAHSAGER is the principal of the IVDU girls school, a school program of Yachad/NJCD. She has served in this position for the past six years.

FROM ROUTE 80 EAST: Get off at EXIT 67 (RIDGEFIELD PARK/BOGOTA). Make a LEFT at the end of the exit ramp.

You will be on PALISADE AVE. (ignore sign on right that says Second St.) Stay on Palisade Ave. for approx. 1.5 miles and then make a LEFT onto CEDAR LANE. Stay on Cedar Lane for approx. 1.6 miles until the bottom of the Cedar Lane hill. Make a RIGHT onto RIVER ROAD and drive straight for approx. 1.6 miles to ROEMER AVENUE. There will be a right turn lane.

Make the RIGHT (toward Bergenfield) and go approximately 2/10 of a mile. The synagogue is on your right.

FROM NJ TURNPIKE NORTH: Take the Turnpike beyond the last toll plaza. Follow signs toward I-95/GW BRIDGE and get off at EXIT 70 - TEANECK/LEONIA. Go up the Teaneck ramp (EXIT 70B) and continue past the Glenpointe Marriott complex until TEANECK RD. first intersection). Make a RIGHT onto Teaneck Rd. and go approx. 3 miles. (Teaneck Rd. name changes to WASHINGTON AVE) Turn LEFT onto NEW BRIDGE RD. (There will be a shopping center on your right). Travel on NEW BRIDGE for approx. 1.2 miles. Just before you see the synagogue on your left, NEW BRIDGE name changes to ROEMER AVE.

FROM GARDEN STATE PARKWAY NORTH: Take the parkway to ROUTE 4 EAST. Continue on ROUTE 4 EAST to RIVER ROAD exit. At the end of the exit ramp, make a LEFT (toward New Milford) onto River Road and dive straight for approx. 1 mile to the intersection of River Road and ROEMER AVE. There will be a right turn lane. Make the RIGHT (toward Bergenfield) and go approx. 2/10 of a mile. The synagogue is on your right.

FROM GARDEN STATE PARKWAY SOUTH: Take the parkway to ROUTE 17 SOUTH and then to ROUTE 4 EAST. Continue on ROUTE 4 EAST to RIVER ROAD exit. At the end of the exit ramp, make a LEFT (toward New Milford) onto River Road and dive straight for approx. 1 mile to the intersection of River Road and ROEMER AVE. There will be a right turn lane. Make the RIGHT (toward Bergenfield) and go approx. 2/10 of a mile. The synagogue is on your right.

The International Jewish Resource Center for Inclusion and Special Education Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, Founder Mrs. Batya Jacob, Director International Office: 11 Broadway, 13th floor, New York, NY 10004 212-613-8127/8229

Fax: 212-613-0796

Email: batyaj@ou.org

www.Yachad.org

Because Everyone Belongs

THE INTERNATIONAL JEWISH RESOURCE CENTER FOR INCLUSION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION IS AFFILIATED WITH YACHAD / THE NATIONAL JEWISH COUNCIL FOR DISABILITIES (NJCD), AN AGENCY OF THE ORTHODOX UNION.