Solutions For Learning Speakers
These presentations from world-class professionals will cover vital topics in the field of Learning Disabilities.
Dr. David Kilpatrick
David A. Kilpatrick, PhD is a professor emeritus of psychology for the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is a New York State certified school psychologist with 28 years experience in schools. He has been teaching courses in learning disabilities and educational psychology since 1994. David is a reading researcher and the author of two books on reading, Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties, and Equipped for Reading Success, and is a co-editor of a third, Reading Development and Difficulties: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice.
Word-Level Reading Problems: Implications for Instruction and Intervention: Saturday, March 4th @ 9:15 am
Dr. Ross Greene
Dr. Greene served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for over 20 years, and is now founding director of the non-profit Lives in the Balance (www.livesinthebalance.org), which aims to disseminate the CPS model through no-cost web-based programming; advocate on behalf of behaviorally challenging kids and their parents teachers, and other caregivers; and encourage the use of non-punitive, non-adversarial interventions. He is currently Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech and Adjunct Professor on the Faculty of Science at University of Technology Sydney in Australia. He is also developer and executive producer of the award-winning documentary film The Kids We Lose. Dr. Greene’s research has been funded by the Stanley Research Institute, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. He lectures and consults extensively to families, general and special education schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities throughout the world.
Collaborative & Proactive Solutions: Fostering the Better Side of Human Nature in Classrooms and Families: Friday, March 3rd @ 8:00pm
Dr. Diana Velikonja and Associates
Dr. Velikonja completed her graduate studies in the Biological Psychology Program at the University of Waterloo and obtained clinical training as well as conducted research with both pediatric and adult populations. Afterwards, she completed her residency and post-doctoral training at Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals. She then became licensed for independent practice specializing in Neuropsychology, Rehabilitation Psychology and Clinical Psychology across the lifespan. She has worked since 1997 in a clinical and research capacity at the Acquired Brain Injury Program at Hamilton Health Sciences, where she continues to work with residents and research students. She actively publishes and is a reviewer for a number of scientific journals.
Dr. Velikonja is also on faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at the DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Psychology at McMaster University.
Dr. Velikonja was the Chief of Psychology Practice at Hamilton Health Sciences between 2004 and 2011. She is Past-President of the Hospital Psychology Association of Ontario, Director on the Board of the Hamilton Brain Injury Association, and the President-Elect of the Ontario Psychological Association. She also sits on the advisory board for the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation and is actively involved in the development of guidelines for concussion management and concussion clinics, as well as with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.
Dr. Velikonja has also completed the post-doctoral training program awarding a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Diversity in Neurological Mechanisms of Perception and Learning: Friday, March 3rd @ 6:15 pm
Literacy Stream: March 04, 2023
10:45am – 12:00pm
10 Key Strategies to Build Comprehension
By Martha Kovack
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Although decoding challenges underlie most reading comprehension problems, they are not the only aspect of reading that we need to teach more effectively. Learning to understand language (both spoken and written) is a comprehensive, all-encompassing, and lifelong endeavor. Join Martha to learn about 10 key strategies that have been found to improve comprehension that may be implemented more easily and/or effectively into your daily routines.
Bio: Martha Kovack is a member in good standing with the Ontario College of Teachers, and is a certified Orton-Gillingham and Practical Linguistics Teacher with the Canadian Dyslexia Society. She received her Masters Degree in Education at the University of British Columbia, and teaches English Language Arts to preservice teachers and early childhood educators. Martha is also the creator of SoundReaders.com, and "LetsGetReadingRight.com", a website dedicated to providing educators with information and resources to help them get started on their Science of Reading/Structured Literacy journey.
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Decoding Strategies – Where Do I Begin?
By Sherrie Rain
Even when following a science of reading or structured literacy program, there will be students who still get stuck and don't seem to be able to learn the skills being taught. This presentation will address how to go about remediating those problems for students in tier 3.
Bio: Sherrie Rain has been teaching students with learning disabilities and reading disorders for over 40 years. She has taught in private schools for students with learning disabilities, a First Nation school, a Ministry of Education Demonstration School, as well as public school boards. Her passion for cognitive neuroscience in reading informs her practice for remediation. She is currently retired and tutors students with reading disorders.
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
What a Difference a Morpheme Can Make: Words with Spelling Connections Have Meaning Connections
By Nancy Cushen White
Explicit instruction in spelling that integrates phonology, orthography morphology, and etymology is also effective for teaching word identification, vocabulary, content knowledge, and reading comprehension. Pronunciation of the same morpheme within different words may vary when spelling and meaning do not: decision→decisive; sign→signature→signify. These variations in pronunciation often depend on the number of syllables and where, within a word, the stress is placed: define→definition→infinite→ infinity→final→finality. Good readers notice meaningful parts of words—and make connections between words related in meaning and spelling. Words that share structural elements at the morpheme level (especially bases) activate memory for word meanings revealed by their spelling connections: conscious→science→omniscient.
Bio: Nancy Cushen White, Ed.D. is a Clinical Professor in Pediatrics-Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine, at University of CA-SF—and a member of the UCSF Dyslexia Research Center Team. She has taught in general/SPED classrooms at public/private schools, provided psychoed assessment and literacy intervention, trained pre- and in-service teachers and practitioners, developed curricula, and been involved in policy. She piloted a San Francisco Unified School District special day class for 2e—Twice Exceptional students ( gifted with a diagnosis of dyslexia), has taught young adults in a pre-trial diversion program through San Francisco Superior Court—Mentor Court Division; worked as a Literacy Intervention Consultant and Case Manager for Lexicon Reading Center—Dubai—United Arab Emirates for 9 years; and trains teachers in the Slingerland Multisensory (Multimodal) Structured Language Approach (Structured Literacy) as a certified Instructor of Teaching for the Slingerland Literacy Institute.
Evelyn will introduce a sequential and cumulative approach to teaching creative writing and expository paragraphs.
You will learn only as much grammar as needed to create sentence variety. The nuts and bolts of sentence creation will be demonstrated, as well as drills, visualizing techniques, sentence patterning, and sentence combining. In longer passages, you will learn how to promote coherence and unity. Attendees will receive a classroom-ready package of templates to support your teaching.
Math Stream: March 04, 2023
10:45am – 12:00pm
Thinking about Math(s) and Learning Disabilities for Older Students.
By Thabit Al-Murani
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This presentation will discuss how care for the mathematics and care for the learner can be enacted to create a learning environment that encourages deeper mathematical thinking and engagement. The ways in which the content is handled both from a mathematical content perspective as well as a pedagogical perspective are considered. The session will contain interactive elements designed to offer the participants opportunities to experience some of these ideas in practice.
Bio: Hello, I am Thabit. I have been involved in maths education for 25 years. Over this time, I have been a teacher, head of department, and researcher. I am currently an associate lecturer at the Open University in the UK as well as a maths education consultant and specialised tutor. My work has afforded me the opportunity to live and work in several countries including the US, Sweden, Australia, Malaysia, and the UK. I have a DPhil in Mathematics Education and my research interests are variation theory, the teaching and learning of algebra, and SEN mathematics education.
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Development of the Mathematical Brain
By Daniel Ansari
It is well established that early math skills are a strong predictor of later mathematics achievement. Moreover, low numerical and mathematical skills in childhood have been shown to relate to low socio-economic outcomes in adulthood. Against this background it is critical to better understand the early predictors of numerical and mathematical skills and to use this information to inform early mathematics education. In this talk I will provide an overview of what insights have been gained from recent research in Developmental Psychology and Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience on the building blocks of mathematical competence. Specifically, I will discuss research that has shown that basic number processing (such as comparing which of two numbers is larger) is related to individual differences in children’s arithmetic achievement. Furthermore, children with mathematical disabilities (Developmental Dyscalculia) have been found to perform poorly on basic number processing tasks. In this talk I will review evidence for an association between basic number processing and arithmetic achievement in children with and without mathematical difficulties. By doing so, I will also discuss whether individual differences in mathematical abilities are driven by innate differences in a ‘number sense’ that humans share with other species or whether such variability is related to the acquisition of uniquely human, symbolic representations of number (e.g. Arabic numerals). I will draw on evidence from both brain and behavior and discuss the implications of this research for assessment, diagnosis and intervention. Moreover, I will review research on Mathematics Anxiety and Gender Differences in numerical and mathematical development.
Bio:Daniel Ansari is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning in the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of Education at Western University in Canada, where he heads the Numerical Cognition Laboratory (www.numericalcognition.org). Ansari and his team explore the developmental trajectory underlying both the typical and atypical development of numerical and mathematical skills, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. Ansari has published over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is an alumnus of The College of the Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science as well as the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Impact of Language for Math
By Marilyn Zecher
Bio:
Evelyn will introduce a sequential and cumulative approach to teaching creative writing and expository paragraphs.
You will learn only as much grammar as needed to create sentence variety. The nuts and bolts of sentence creation will be demonstrated, as well as drills, visualizing techniques, sentence patterning, and sentence combining. In longer passages, you will learn how to promote coherence and unity. Attendees will receive a classroom-ready package of templates to support your teaching.
Social Emotional Strength Stream: March 4, 2023
10:45am – 12:00pm
NVLD: A Developmental Visual-Spatial Disorder (DVSD)
By Amy Levine
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Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD/DVSD) can feel like an enigma and people with it are often misunderstood. In this workshop, attendees will learn what NVLD (DVSD) is, what it looks like in the classroom, and how it impacts social and executive functioning. Attendees will be given strategies for support and intervention with both social skills and executive functioning and will be provided with additional resources to further the work they do with this population.
Bio: Amy Levine is the Upper School Assistant Director at the Mary McDowell Friends School, a Quaker school for students with learning disabilities. As an educator who has been working in the field of learning disabilities since 1998, she has worked in both general education and special education settings. She has organized and presented numerous professional development workshops for faculty as well as informational workshops for parents. In 2018, she presented an educators perspective of NVLD at the annual conference of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Amy has also been an adjunct professor at Hunter College training masters students in differentiated instruction and learning disabilities.
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
ADHD
By Dr. George McClosky
Bio:
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Practical Strategies for Children who Exhibit Anxiety
By Beverly Holden Jones
This session will focus on the characteristics of children who exhibit anxiety, the implications of those characteristics, and what are practical strategies that can be used to support the children. This will be appropriate for k-12 age children
Bio: Beverley Holden Johns has 40 years experience working with students with learning disabilities (LD), and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) within the public schools. She supervised LD and EBD teachers in 22 school districts, was the founder and administrator of the Garrison Alternative School for students with severe EBD in Jacksonville, Illinois, and later the coordinator for staff development for the Four Rivers Special Education District. She is now a learning and behavior consultant, and was a Professional Fellow for MacMurray College (where she taught courses on Special Education Law, on EBD, Adaptations, and on Diverse Learners ). She also has taught classes at Illinois College.
Evelyn will introduce a sequential and cumulative approach to teaching creative writing and expository paragraphs.
You will learn only as much grammar as needed to create sentence variety. The nuts and bolts of sentence creation will be demonstrated, as well as drills, visualizing techniques, sentence patterning, and sentence combining. In longer passages, you will learn how to promote coherence and unity. Attendees will receive a classroom-ready package of templates to support your teaching.
General Room: March 4, 2023
10:45am – 12:00pm
Put the Pro in Cognitive Proficiency: The critical role that working memory and processing speed play in learning and in Learning Disabilities
By Tanya Keto
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse viverra ante ac mauris consectetur posuere. In vel posuere ligula. Quisque pharetra eget orci ut iaculis. Phasellus non ullamcorper dolor. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Cras feugiat augue magna, eget pulvinar turpis porttitor quis. Pellentesque posuere magna non quam tristique condimentum. In tincidunt eget neque sed consequat. Sed ac massa ut nibh aliquet faucibus quis sed nulla. Mauris mollis dapibus faucibus.
Students with Learning Disabilities (LD) consistently experience deficits in processing speed or working memory (or a combination of both). Processing speed abilities are required to work with ease, efficiency, and automaticity. Working memory is the brain's Post-It Note: the ability to identify visual and auditory information, maintain it in temporary storage, and re-sequence it for problem-solving and storing information in long-term memory. Processing speed and working memory combine to indicate our cognitive proficiency abilities: the efficiency with which we process information for learning. A typical classroom has incredibly high demands for students to process information automatically and quickly without intentionally thinking through each piece of information. It's no wonder, then, that deficits in cognitive proficiency can significantly impact learning and achievement across all academic areas. Join Tanya as she highlights: The relationship between processing speed, working memory, and LDs How deficits in these areas can impact learning and academic success & Evidence-based practices, strategies, and accommodations to increase student success
Bio: Tanya Keto is a Permanent Professionally Certified Teacher and Registered Psychologist with a Master of Education in Child and Applied School Psychology. She is the Manager of Professional Development and Community Education for Foothills Academy Society, a leader in Learning Disabilities (LD) since 1979. Tanya has over 20 years of experience working with individuals with LD and ADHD as a teacher, learning strategist, guidance counselor, and educational assessment psychologist. She now specializes as a school psychologist, adult educator, university instructor, and advocate for individuals with LD and ADHD at school and in the workplace. With a unique ability to combine her real-world experiences with empirically driven practices, Tanya presents from a place of knowledge, empathy, and expertise, making evidence-based information accessible and practical to all participants.
12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Monitoring Student Progress
By Todd Cunningham
Bio
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Assistive Technology for Diverse Learners in the Classroom
By Cathi Graveline
My presentation covers the use of assistive technology for diverse learners in the classroom. Assistive technology can bridge the gap for many students, allowing them to learn, instead of struggling with tasks that are difficult for them and getting in the way of their learning. Topics covered are Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, iPad accessibly, graphic organizers, Rocket notebooks, SmartPens, C-Pens, note-taking solutions, math solutions and more.
Bio: I am an Assistive Technology Specialist with 20+ years of experience working with diverse learners. I specialize in teaching and mentoring students in the use of assistive technology accommodations.I am experienced in Google, Microsoft and Apple accessibility. I pride myself in staying up to date with new developments in technology that would contribute to helping students become successful, confident learners using Assistive Tech. I present and coach to students, parents and educators to share the tools that they can add to their AT toolbox.
Evelyn will introduce a sequential and cumulative approach to teaching creative writing and expository paragraphs.
You will learn only as much grammar as needed to create sentence variety. The nuts and bolts of sentence creation will be demonstrated, as well as drills, visualizing techniques, sentence patterning, and sentence combining. In longer passages, you will learn how to promote coherence and unity. Attendees will receive a classroom-ready package of templates to support your teaching.
