In-Service Workshops

To truly understand the roots of behavior, it is essential that educators understand what is happening in a student's body when they are anxious or stressed. Anxiety presents in different ways, and we all predictably have a stress response of fight/flight/freeze. This workshop will help participants identify the difference between an anxiety disorder and basic stress and explore ways to best support students. An emphasis on how to integrate social/emotional support into a school setting, along with how to address oppositional behavior, school refusal, work avoidance, and bullying, will be explored through the lens of anxiety.

This webinar will provide an overview of the symptoms of ASD across the lifespan and specific strategies for first responders to utilize when interacting with potential individuals in the community. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is often referred to as an “invisible disability” because the symptoms of ASD are not necessarily overt. This is especially the case for individuals with ASD who are verbal and intelligent and, thus, might appear to first responders as typically developing. Yet, these individuals often possess significant if not debilitating sensory processing impairments, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and emotional dysregulation that can result in severe behavioral decompensation in the face of unpredictable events, including aggression, self-injury, and/or property destruction.

Research demonstrates that strong relationships between schools and families can positively affect student achievement and outcomes. By fostering stronger family and community engagement schools can increase student achievement, improve student attendance and behavior, and enhance staff's understanding of family. This workshop is 90 minutes.

Transitioning out of high school to either continued education or the workplace is extremely challenging for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Even though most individuals with ASD have intact cognition and language, most fail to achieve levels of independence in adulthood due to limited functional social, communication, and adaptive skills necessary for self-sufficiency. There is a critical need to prepare for this transition early, intensively, and comprehensively. This workshop will provide an overview of strategies, supports, and accommodations that can be implemented in schools to promote a successful transition.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) continues to broaden, with many autistic individuals having no cognitive and/or language impairments that confound their social disability. Therefore, many of these individuals receive educational programming within mainstream or inclusive settings. Yet despite their cognitive and language prowess, many students with ASD struggle with social communication and interaction. They often experience co-occurring challenges, including impairments in executive functioning and adaptive behavior skills, as well as social-emotional struggles that merit direct intervention in schools. This webinar will provide an overview of the more subtle but complex presentations ASD, including females, and will present evidence-based strategies for fostering all areas of vulnerability within the school system. Concepts of masking and camouflaging behaviors, as well the misnomer of the widely misinterpreted description “high functioning autism” will be discussed.

This interactive workshop focuses on building awareness and fostering a positive culture through human care and support behaviors. Participants will explore the science behind caring interactions, identify behaviors that derail relationships, and learn practical strategies to strengthen connections. Working collaboratively, teams will gain fresh ideas for transforming culture and as well as inspiring and encouraging them to discuss and open up with stories of their own.

This presentation helps students understand the value of respect—for themselves, others, and their environment. Through real-life examples, role-playing scenarios, and group discussions, students will explore what respect looks like in action and why it's essential for creating a safe, inclusive, and positive school community. Topics include respecting differences, active listening, digital respect, handling conflict with maturity, and the impact of respectful behavior on relationships and learning. Students will leave with practical strategies to demonstrate respect in everyday situations and contribute to a culture of kindness and responsibility.

Acknowledging someone’s experience is more important than we might think. Having one person to turn to that will believe and support them is the greatest indicator of healing. Educational professionals may be the person that their students look towards for support. In this session we will discuss the difference between responding and reacting and build confidence in our responses to disclosures. We will also talk about the many ways to develop a trauma sensitive classroom to help support students who have experienced trauma.

This workshop will address the social-emotional needs in the classroom, as well as a deeper look at what ACEs or Adverse Childhood Experiences are and how that stress can become toxic and its impact on learning. We will also explore some classroom techniques that can be used daily to help children with stress and trauma.

Effective Communication, expressing our needs, and understanding our emotions are vital skills to learn in life, yet not something taught extensively in everyday education. When communication breaks down and intense emotions are present, having the skills to self-regulate, to identify feelings, and engaging in collaboratively problem-solving is at the heart of restorative communication.

Our emotions are wonderful guideposts about needs being met or not met. Adults benefit from learning these essential communication skills and modeling empathy for young people to observe and learn from.

Howard Moody has extensive training in Non-violent communication, Conscious Communication and Emotional Responsibility. This workshop will be an overview of these helpful communication modalities and will use the PAIR UP model developed by Annie O’Shaughnessy from the Starling Collaborative, a restorative practices training organization, as our guidepost.

As always with Howard's work, this will be fun and engaging.