Training for Professionals
Training tailored for teachers, social workers, paraprofessionals,
and other service providers
Courses and options
The courses below are available to groups and organizations through contract. (At times, I offer courses that are open to the public. You may sign up for these as they become available.)
For many courses, it is likely that college credit can be offered. I will pursue and make the arrangements with a college/university, if possible; however, the participants or the contracting organization must pay any tuition and fees required by the college/university.
Please note that these courses can be modified to meet your particular needs and that other courses will be developed at your request.
Behavior management for very difficult students
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Very difficult students require a great deal of structure. In this course, the participants will learn how to design points and levels systems that provide the amount and type of structure that these individuals require.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals; education paraprofessionals; professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists); professionals from other fields (e.g., social welfare professionals and mental health professionals); pre-service professionals in these fields; case managers; managers of facilities that serve individuals with problem behavior; and direct care providers for individuals with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
Participants should have had experience with individuals who exhibit problem behavior. The participants should be capable learners; this course is the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately nine hours.
Note
I strongly recommended that this course be followed by one or two troubleshooting/problem solving sessions in which the participants return with questions/problems that have come up since they have implemented their points/levels systems. I will lead the group in troubleshooting each of the questions/problems. The participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit from learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Behavior management in the classroom
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides the basic tools necessary for teachers to manage student behavior so that unneeded disruptions do not rob precious instructional time. The participants will learn: (a) procedures for increasing compliance; and (b) how to provide structure in the classroom. This will include instruction in how to develop rules and how to design effecdtive consequences for both following the rules and breaking the rules.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals and professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists), paraprofessionals, and pre-service professionals from education and education related disciplines.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should have experience with school-aged children and/or preschool-aged children. The participants should be capable learners. The training in this course will be the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately nine hours.
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about four weeks by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Effective instruction for individuals with developmental disabilities
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Effective instruction for individuals with developmental disabilities must be very well designed. This course provides a thorough introduction to effective teaching techniques for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Topics in the course include:
- Near errorless learning techniques
- Data-based instruction
- Teaching concepts
- Considerations for teaching skills in each of the four stages of learning (i.e., acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization)
- Shaping behaviors
- Teaching a socially appropriate skill to replace a problem behavior
- Modeling
- Prompting
- Maximizing practice opportunities
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Professionals, pre-service professionals, paraprofessionals, parents, foster-parents, childcare workers, and any other individuals working with individuals with developmental disabilities.
PREREQUISITES
Participants should have had experience with individuals with developmental disabilities. The participants should be capable learners; the training in this course will be the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately twelve hours
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about a month by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Effective instruction for individuals with mild disabilities
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Individuals with mild disabilities (e.g., learning disability, AD/HD, developmental disability, significant identifiable emotional disability) require very well designed instruction in order to learn to their potential. This course is an overview of the different components that are necessary for the design of effective instruction for individuals with disabilities.
Topics course include:
- Advance organizers
- Modeling
- Prompting
- Maximizing practice opportunities
- Ensuring a high rate of correct responses
- Near errorless learning techniques
- Data-based instruction
- Considerations for teaching skills in each of the four stages of learning [i.e., acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization]
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals, pre-service education professionals, paraprofessionals, professionals and paraprofessionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists), case managers, managers of facilities that serve individuals with cognitive or behavior disabilities, and direct care persons who provide support to individuals with disabilities.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should have had experience with individuals with disabilities. The participants should be capable learners. The training in this course will be the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately twelve hours.
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about a month by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Effective instruction for young children with developmental disabilities
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Considerable research has demonstrated that effective early intervention for individuals with disabilities yields very strong positive results throughout that individual's life. Effective instruction for individuals with disabilities must be very well designed, and this course provides a thorough introduction to effective teaching techniques that professionals and paraprofessionals can use in their settings and that parents can use at home.
Topics in the course include:
- Near errorless learning techniques
- Data-based instruction
- Teaching concepts
- Considerations for teaching skills in each of the four stages of learning (i.e., acquisition, fluency, maintenance, and generalization)
- Shaping behaviors
- Teaching a socially appropriate skill to replace a problem behavior
- Modeling
- Prompting
- Maximizing practice opportunities
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Professionals (e.g., teachers, social workers, mental health workers, case managers), pre-service professionals, paraprofessionals, parents, foster-parents, childcare workers, and any other individuals working with children with developmental disabilities.
PREREQUISITES
Participants should have had experience with children. The participants should be capable learners; the training in this course will be the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately thirteen hours
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about a month by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Functional communication training
COURSE DESCRIPTION
At times, individuals with developmental disabilities will use problem behavior (e.g., self-injury or physical aggression) to communicate their needs and wants. Often the problem behavior is quite effective in helping them to achieve their goals. Many people often are left wondering: (a) why is the individual engaging in this behavior; and (b)how can I help this individual keep from doing this?
In this course, the participants will learn how to determine answers to both of those questions. To accomplish, the participants will:
- Target a behavior of concern in a specific individual;
- Collect direct observational data on that behavior;
- Analyze the data to help determine the function of the behavior; and
- Design an intervention for the individual's targeted behavior.
Although other types of interventions will be covered, the course will focus primarily on the development of interventions that teach an appropriate communicative behavior to replace the problem behavior.
Topics in this course include:
- The functions of behavior
- The role of reinforcement in learning of behavior
- Extinction
- Direct observation of behavior
- Analysis of behavior
- Prompting
- Setting event/antecedent interventions
- Communicative replacement behavior interventions
- Non-communicative replacement behavior interventions
- Embedding
- Choice-making
- How to avoid and/or repair problems with maintenance of newly learned replacement behaviors
- How to avoid and/or repair generalization problems of newly learned replacement behaviors
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals; education paraprofessionals; professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists); professionals from other fields (e.g., social welfare professionals and mental health professionals); pre-service professionals in these fields; case managers; managers of facilities that serve individuals with problem behavior; and direct care providers for individuals with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should have provided support to individuals with developmental disabilities who have exhibited problem behavior. The participants should be capable learners. The training in this course will be equivalent to college coursework.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately thirty-two hours. The course consists of six sessions of between four and six hours per session. Due to homework that will be asked of the participants, the course should take place over a period of no less than five weeks.
Note
I recommend that I provide support to the participants while they implement the interventions they design as a part of this course.
How can I get a child to comply?
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a three-hour interactive course in which the participants will learn several techniques to increase a child/student's compliance. In this course, the participants will be given opportunities to practice these techniques and will receive feedback so that they can master the techniques.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals; education paraprofessionals; professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists); professionals from other fields (e.g., social welfare professionals and mental health professionals); pre-service professionals in these fields; case managers; managers of facilities that serve individuals with problem behavior; and direct care providers for individuals with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
Participants should be capable learners and have had experience with children/students.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately three hours.
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about two weeks by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
How can I get an adult with a disability to comply?
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Individuals with disabilities have the right not to comply with requests; however, compliance with some requests can be very important. One example is a request to take medication. This course will teach the participants procedures for increasing an individual's compliance rate. Topics in this course include: (a) building rapport; (b) embedding; (c) choice making; and (d) behavioral momentum.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Professionals, pre-service professionals, and paraprofessionals who provide support to adults with disabilities; case managers; managers of facilities that serve adults with disabilities; direct care persons who provide support to adults with disabilities; and any other person who provides support to adults with disabilities.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should have had experience with adults with disabilities. The participants should be capable learners. The training in this course will be the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately 3 1/2 hours.
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in two to four weeks by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Providing behavior support to parents
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this training is to teach professionals and paraprofessionals how to provide support to parents with children who exhibit problem behavior. This training is provided from a “training of trainers” perspective. It is designed to provide skills to professionals/paraprofessionals that will allow them to teach parents to become more effective in their discipline. The participants in this training will learn:
- Skills to understand what motivates behavior and how to use this information to help parents;
- User-friendly, positive behavior management techniques; and
- Effective teaching skills that will allow the participants to teach parents the information provided in this training.
Some of the positive behavior management topics covered in this training are:
- How to increase a child’s compliance
- How to design family rules
- How to use praise effectively
- How parents can punishment while strengthening the relationship with the child rather than damaging the relationship
- How to solve common problems with timeout, such as the child refusing to go to timeout or yelling and screaming while in timeout
- Ways to decrease problem behavior without using punishment
- How to teach social skills
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Professionals and paraprofessionals who provide support to parents. This class would also be valuable to parents and foster parents of children with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should be capable learners. This course is the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
The training will last 18-20 hours and can be delivered in as few as three full days or in as many as nine partial days. The days do not need to run consecutively.
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about a month by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Structure and compliance
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an interactive course in which the participants will learn several considerations for providing structure to those who exhibit problem behavior. In addition, the participants will learn several techniques to increase a child/student's compliance. In this course, the participants will be given opportunities to practice these techniques and will receive feedback so that they can master the techniques.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals; education paraprofessionals; professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists); professionals from other fields (e.g., social welfare professionals and mental health professionals); pre-service professionals in these fields; case managers; managers of facilities that serve individuals with problem behavior; and direct care providers for individuals with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
Participants should be capable learners and have had experience with children/students.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately six hours.
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about a month by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Teaching Social Skills
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Individuals who frequently exhibit problem behaviors typically have a deficit in social skills. This often leaves these individuals with only problem behavior(s) to accomplish many goals in life. This course is designed to teach the participants how to teach social skills and how to teach others (e.g., parents) how to teach social skills.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals; education paraprofessionals; professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists); professionals from other fields (e.g., social welfare professionals and mental health professionals); pre-service professionals in these fields; and any other individuals providing support to individuals with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should have had experience with individuals who exhibit problem behavior and should be capable learners. This course is the equivalent of college coursework.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately 12 hours
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in two to four weeks by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.
Understanding Behavior
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Understanding why an individual engages in problem behavior often is essential information needed for changing that person's behavior. This course is an introduction to analytic procedures that can be used to determine why a behavior occurs. The participants will learn:
- the role of reinforcement in learning behavior;
- how environmental conditions affect behavior;
- how to collect direct observational data on a targeted behavior; and
- how to analyze the collected data to help determine the function of the behavior.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
Education professionals; education paraprofessionals; professionals from education related disciplines (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists); professionals from other fields (e.g., social welfare professionals and mental health professionals); pre-service professionals in these fields; case managers; managers of facilities that serve individuals with problem behavior; and direct care providers for individuals with problem behavior.
PREREQUISITES
The participants should have experience with individuals who exhibit problem behavior. The participants should be capable learners. The training in this course will be the equivalent of college course work.
COURSE LENGTH
Approximately twelve hours
Note
It is recommended that this course be followed in about a month by a problem-solving/troubleshooting session. In this follow-up session, I will lead the group in troubleshooting any problems or difficulties that the participants have encountered since the training. During this session, the participants will profit not only by learning solutions to their problems but will also profit by learning the solutions to problems that others have encountered.