For this webinar series, participants will automatically be enrolled in all 5 sessions.

Speaker

Alex Hirshberg, Psy.D., Hirshberg Behavioral Services, LLC

Description

This training series, designed for special education/building administrators and school counselors, will first review how our current systems for managing student dysregulation reinforce avoidance behaviors and can make problems worse. Using this understanding, the training will address several practices to become more proactive in working with students to prevent behavior and emotion regulation challenges before they happen.  

To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must attend all 5 sessions and successfully pass a quiz following Session 5. Within 24 hours of the live webinar, registrants will be emailed a link to view the recorded webinar. The recording will be made available for 7 days after each session. If you are not eligible for PDPs and/or CEUs, you may apply for a Certificate of Attendance.

This session will discuss the challenges of current reactive behavior response approaches to student dysregulation. Participants will understand how these supports can reinforce avoidant coping behavior and make classroom challenges worse. Participants will reflect on the different pressures that maintain this ineffective and inefficient behavior response system.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practice is about creating a flexible environment that allows diverse learners to find success in the classroom. This session will discuss UDL practices that support adaptive emotional regulation in the classroom environment.  Structures that will be reviewed include problem solving conferences, reset routines, in-class break spaces, counselor request forms, goal setting and self-monitoring, and teacher feedback. There will also be a discussion for how to think strategically about implementing these changes.

Decreasing avoidance coping behaviors typically requires the student to learn a new set of skills. This can include noticing uncomfortable emotions in their early stages, normalizing distress, communicating emotional needs appropriately, and engaging in cognitive or behavioral practices to reduce dysregulation. This session will review these skills and how to teach them effectively. Emphasis will be placed on how to choose interventions that will help generalize these skills across environments.

It is hard to keep up with the increasing mental health needs in schools. There are many competing responsibilities, between supporting student de-escalation, teaching social-emotional learning lessons, providing special education services, and engaging with family and community stakeholders. It is incredibly important to determine how to use counselor time efficiently. This is where it is essential to collect and analyze meaningful data about student and classroom challenges. This session will review the data to collect and how to use the data to make informed decisions about how and where to allocate staff.  

Many of the changes discussed in previous training sessions focused on the need to build new structures inside the classroom to promote adaptive coping. Implementing this work will require the expertise of school counselors and other behavior responders. This session will talk about how to work collaboratively with teachers to develop these skills.  Participants will learn how to adapt their approach based on the teacher and their openness to change. 

About the Speaker

Alex Hirshberg, Psy.D., (he/him) is the founder and executive director of Hirshberg Behavioral Health Services, LLC in Hadley, Massachusetts. Dr. Hirshberg is a clinical psychologist who provides behavioral consultation, professional development, and psychological assessment services to schools across Massachusetts. He also has a small outpatient therapy practice focused on using Cognitive Behavior Therapy for individuals with anxiety and mood disorders. His interest areas include Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in schools, trauma informed practices, and developing in-district social-emotional programs.

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Membership Information

Most MPY webinars are available ONLY to current staff from member districts and organizations. Public school memberships include police and fire personnel. Former and retired employees and members of committees, including but not limited to, PTO/PTA, PAC, School Improvement Councils, Health Councils, Drug/Alcohol Councils, and school volunteers, are not considered MPY members.

PDPs and CEUs

MPY is an approved Professional Development Provider through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (Provider No. F20180079). Professional Development Points (PDPs) are offered for most MPY professional development webinars. PDPs are issued in 10 hour increments, per DESE requirements.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for clinical staff through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Inc. (MaMHCA). The NASW and the MaMHCA approve each event individually. CEUs may be given in hourly increments.

To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must pass the quiz following Session 5.

Event Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to attend a MPY webinar you must cancel, through Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org, one business day before the webinar.

For MPY hybrid conferences, the date in-person registration closes will be posted on MPY’s website. Virtual conference registration will close one business day before the hybrid conference. You cannot cancel or switch your registration from in-person to virtual after in-person registration closes. Please email Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org with any questions regarding registration.

 

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If you are seeking to receive CEUs and/or PDPs, please click Register Now. Once you complete the webinar series, you will be able to take quizzes for CEUs and/or PDPs. Upon completion of each quiz, you will receive a certificate.

All sessions are 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm.

  • Session 1: October 6, 2025,  Examining Current Behavior Support Models
  • Session 2: October 20, 2025, Classroom Structures that Support Adaptive Coping
  • Session 3: November 3, 2025, Tiered Skill Building Supports
  • Session 4: November 17, 2025, Leveraging Data
  • Session 5: December 1, 2025, Consulting to General Education Teachers