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Thursday, February 5th Friday, February 6th |
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Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
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our keynote speaker: Polly Nichols
Polly Nichols is an educator whose focus has been on strengthening young people who have social, emotional, and behavior problems through therapeutic teaching. As the director of a college preparatory school, she found the troubled students of compelling interest and entered the University of Iowa for her special education teaching credentials to work with them. Soon after, she joined the staff of the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics¹ Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Department as a clinical teacher in their inpatient service, serving there later as an educational consultant and as the Director of Educational Services until her retirement. Now she teaches as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University¹s College of Medicine as well as in the areas of special education and school psychology. Dr. Nichols has focused her
career on helping children and youth who are the most hurting and outcast
because of their disordered brains and environments and the behaviors they
choose but little understand. She founded the Iowa Residential Educators
Organization in Iowa to focus on the special needs of young people in out-of-home
placements. She is active in Iowa s state-level initiatives for improving
children¹s mental health service delivery in schools and communities
and is designing mental health training materials for Iowa¹s shelter
and detention facility workers. The focus of all her work is on providing
young people with the thinking skills they need to clarify their beliefs
and regulate their emotions to gain a measure of personal power over their
own lives. Her curriculum Clear Thinking and Whispering Shadows is used
throughout the country, and she is a frequent writer and speaker on topics
related to psychoeducational interventions, gender issues, and youth empowerment.
National Organization Attends We are pleased to include
in the program PeaceBuilders a community based program launched
in schools that shifts the entire school climate to a peaceful, productive
and safe place for faculty and students. Peace Builders affects risk factors
which predict violence, bullying, drugs, tobacco, etc. Peace Builders builds
and reinforces protective factors. These factors improve academic achieve
ment, positive social skills and helps build character through easily implemented
research based proven tools. Check out http://www.peacebuilders.com
for more information!
Highlights of Innovative Research Projects from the local area: The "BE TIGHT" Program: An Enhanced, SchoolWide PBS Program for Urban Middle School Students The efficacy of PBS in suburban schools is well established, however less is known regarding implementation of such programs in urban settings. This session describes an enhanced PBS program and reports preliminary findings regarding the behavioral outcomes experienced by 920 students in a 6th through 8th grade urban middle school. Seventy percent of the students were African-American, 27.4 percent were Anglo, two percent were Hispanic, and .06 percent were Asian, the majority of whom participated in the free or reduced meal program. First year results show that students experienced a number of positive behavioral outcomes, chief among them a reduction in office discipline referrals as well as fewer incidents of student fights. CrossingPoints: Authentic and Empowering Transition Connections CrossingPoints is a collaboration between The University of Alabamas Interdisciplinary Teacher Education Department in the College of Education, the Tuscaloosa City Schools, and the Tuscaloosa County Schools. The purpose of CrossingPoints is to provide "best practice" transition-related services for students with disabilities ages 18 to 21. Students participating in CrossingPoints receive hands-on transition training in the vocational/employment domain while engaged in job placement practicum. The practicum consists of strategically selected or designed job sites located in the local community or on The University of Alabama campus. Authentic employment related skill instruction occurs up to four hours a day, four days a week in these "real-job" setting placements. Also, classroom space is provided on The University of Alabama campus wherein students receive instruction in functional academics and other transition-related domains. For additional information regarding CrossingPoints, please visit the following website: http://education.ua.edu/crossingpoints/index.html Positive Approaches To Childrens Education: An Enhanced, SchoolWide PBS Program for Urban Elementary Students The efficacy of PBS in suburban schools is well established, however less is known regarding implementation of such programs in urban settings. This session describes an enhanced PBS program and reports preliminary findings regarding the behavioral outcomes experienced by 440 students in a K through 5th grade urban elementary school. Eighty-nine percent of the students were African-American, eight percent were Anglo, and three percent were Hispanic, the majority of whom participated in the free or reduced meal program. The school served students living in three of the four subsidized housing programs in the community. First year results show that students experienced a number of positive behavioral outcomes, chief among them a fifty-five percent reduction in office discipline referrals.
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1-hr Presentations 11:15 12:15 Slot 1 (#145) Physical Education
for Students with Disabilities (Sayers Menear)
1:30-2:30 Slot 2 (#129) Positive Approaches
to Childrens Education: An Enhanced, SchoolWide PBS Program for Urban
Elementary Students (Marcia Rock & Members of the Northington PBIS
Leadership Team)
2:45 3:45 Slot 3 (#148) Destination Success
Does Not Mean Everyone Goes to Mars (Bullard & Rogers)
4:00 5:00 Slot 4 (#146) Motor Curriculum for
B-5 Year Olds with Delays/Disabilities (Sayers Menear)
2-hr Extended Sessions 1:30 3:30 Slot A (#100) Makes Sense Strategies
for Process Writing (Farmer & Ellis)
3-hr Workshops 1:30 4:30 Slot Y (#139) Promoting Success
for ALL Students: Collaborative Processes and Co-Teaching in Inclusive
Classrooms (Worthington)
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1-hr Presentations 8:30 9:30 Slot 5 (#138) Subtle Obstacles on
the Journey to Success: Real School/Classroom Vignettes (Pennerman)
9:45 10:45 Slot 6 (#130) Using Computerized
Resumes to Obtain Employment for Students with Disabilities (Cameron)
11:00 12:00 Slot 7 (#125) Hand-in-Hand: A Multi-Sensory
Approach to Teaching Beginning Readers (Lawrence)
1:30-2:30 Slot 8 (#133) Leaps & Bounds:
Auburn Autism Center Early Childhood Model Program (Simpson)
2:45 3:45 Slot 9 (#134) Writing Effective
Behavior Plans (Allday)
2-hr Extended Sessions 10:00- 12:00 Slot B (#128) CrossingPoints: Authentic
and Empowering Transition Connections (Susan Kizziah, Becci Hauser, Kagendo
Mutua, & Marcia Rock)
1:30 3:30 Slot C (#102) Thinking-to-Write-to-Learn
Content Strategies (Ellis & Farmer)
3-hr Workshops 9:00 12:00 Slot Z (#141) Reaching and Teaching
Diverse Secondary Age Learners: The Importance of Differentiated Instruction
(Kronberg)
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