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A01 Neurodiversity in a Singularly Focused World

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Shana Francesca
Summary
As a neurodivergent person, diagnosed with ADHD at the age of five, Shana Francesca helps us to understand how neurodivergent people see the world. She discusses how this can transform company culture and profitability when done intentionally and with support. Target Audience: All audiences

A02 A Closer Look at School-Based Partnerships with Community Colleges

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Stefanie Riehl - Executive Director of The Larc School
  • Kathy Tahmazian - Camden County College
Summary
This presentation examines the how and why of setting up a successful public agency/approved private school partnership. While the focus is on one specific alliance between the Larc School and the Camden County College Dental Programs, it provides a model that can be replicated in other areas of the state with healthcare, vocational training, and other underserved needs for vulnerable populations. The benefits of the specific partnership that will be discussed include bringing awareness and exposure about the oral health disparities that exist with individuals with disabilities, while providing the individuals themselves with greater access to basic preventative dental care. Target Audience: Administrators & Teachers

A03 Streamlining Administrative Tasks with Artificial Intelligence: Freeing Up Time for High-Impact Educational Activities

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Dr. Laura Grow - Executive Director of Garden Academy
Summary
Dr. Laura Grow will explore how large language models like ChatGPT can streamline administrative tasks for school administrators. Attendees will gain an understanding of the functions and capabilities of ChatGPT, learn how to craft effective prompts to maximize its utility, and discover practical use cases. Target Audience: Administrators, Teachers, & Clinicians

A04 The Life that Chose Me

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Marianne Reagan
Summary
Marianne Reagan, an author, motivational speaker and advocate, and parent of children with special needs. In her presentation she discusses her 25 years of experience as a paraprofessional. Target Audience: Teachers & Aides

A05 Finding a Voice: Ableism v Advocacy

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Myles Cabbagestalk
Summary
Motivational Speaker and Poet Myles Cabbagestalk presents 'Finding a Voice: Ableism v Advocacy'. Myles discusses his life with Cerebral Palsy, how he learned to advocate for himself after his school let him down and how teachers and other professionals can encourage students with a disability to advocate for themselves. Target Audience: Teachers, Aides, Parents & Families

A06 How To Be An Inspirational Leader

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Peter Kofitsas MS,PT
Summary
This presentation will detail how to be an inspirational leader through creating and sharing a compelling vision, becoming a great listener, leading by example, surrounding yourself with great people, consistently taking action and staying laser focused. Peter Kofitsas, author and health & life coach, breaks down each step to give the audience an understanding of how to be an inspirational leader within your organization. Target Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Clinicians, & Aides

A07 Boosting Social Skills with Social Emotional Learning for Special Education: A Supplementary Program

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Dawn Cicco - Supervisor of Instruction at Harbor School
  • Taylor Shea M.S. Ed - School Counselor at Harbor School
  • Angela Sopko - Special Education Teacher at Harbor School
Summary
In this presentation, research will be reviewed to support the importance of SEL and social skills for students with disabilities. The presenters will provide their experiences not only from a teachers perspective but a school counselors as well as an administrator. Target Audience: Administrators, Teachers, & Clinicians

A08 Using Google as a Learning Tool in Today's Classroom

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Stephanie Bloomer - Special Education Teacher at The Phoenix Center
Summary
This presentation is for individuals with pre-existing working knowledge of Google Applications. The workshop will cover the Google Applications most used and most valuable when conducting virtual learning. Target Audience: Teachers, Clinicians, & Aides

A09 Put the A Back in ABC: Special Education Teams Working Effectively Together

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Tracy Lee - Special Projects at the Gramon Family of Schools
  • Michael Farrelly - Director of the Gramon Family of Schools
Summary
An interactive session, Put the A Back in ABC, will emphasize the importance of collaboration amongst educators, related service providers, families, students and the community. They will emphasize the importance of creating a culture and mindset of providing special education services together during daily routines and in the natural environment. Target Audience: All audiences

A10 Multiple Intelligences- Multiple Solutions

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Christopher Eaves - Artistic Director of eavesdrop®
Summary
Multiple Intelligences-Multiple Solutions provides participants with an introduction and overview to Multiple Intelligences Theory and how it informs teaching and learning. How are we smart and how can we leverage our intelligences for the wellbeing of our students, our peers and ourselves? Multiple Intelligences- Multiple Solutions, features an array of group games and artful activities designed to become a meaningful part of an educators classroom practice. Target Audience: All audiences

A11 Alternative Therapies

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Jane St. John - School Nurse at Garfield Park Academy
Summary
Jane St. John, Nurse at Garfield Park Academy in Willingboro, New Jersey, invites nurses to learn about Yoga, Biofeedback, Meditation, Mindfulness, and Interactive Metronome® (IM) - an evidence-based training and assessment tool. IM is proven to improve cognition, attention, focus, memory, speech/language, executive functioning, comprehension, as well as motor and sensory skills. Target Audience: Nurses

A12 Regulatory Update: What’s New In Trenton And How Can I Prepare?

Session A

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Vito A. Gagliardi, Jr - Managing Principal of Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C., and the President and CEO of Porzio Compliance Services (PorzioCS) and Porzio Governmental Affairs (PGA)
  • Barbara L. DeMarco - Vice President, Governmental Affairs Consultant at Porzio Governmental Affairs
  • Patricia C. Morgan - Of Counsel to Porzio, Bromberg & Newman (Member of the Firm’s Education Team)
Summary
Recent developments at the Department of Education have led to changes impacting your schools, and elections over the past year have altered the composition of the Legislature, leading to shifted priorities. Special education funding, maximum salaries, teacher shortages, and busing are in keen focus for many schools. This session will provide timely updates and advocacy advice on these and other APSSD priorities, enabling you to better prepare for the road ahead. Target Audience: Administrators, Business Managers, HR Managers

No Session Choice

Session A

Location
TBD

B01 It's Hard To Be Me: Using Sensory Strategies in the Classroom to Optimize Student Success

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Sonali Sadarangani - Teacher at The Forum School
  • Deirdre Tallman MS, OTR/L - Occupational Therapist at Rickard Rehabilitation Services Inc.
Summary
The piece of treating behavior challenges that often gets overlooked is sensory dysregulation. This presentation aims to help you experience a fraction of the challenges our students go through to complete simple tasks. Target Audience: All Audiences Target Disability: Autism and Sensory Dysregulation Hands On Activity

B02 Cultural Humility

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Jonathan Meagher-Zayas, MSW, MPA, CFRE, CDP - Founder & Chief Strategist of Equity Warior Strategies LLC
  • Nicole DamaPoleto
Summary
Cultural Humility is a philosophy where you meet people where they are, don't make assumptions about someone based on their identity, and understand the power balances in relationships. In this workshop, participants will understand cultural humility and its positive impact, learn about power dynamics in relationship and group settings as well as develop and practice inclusive communication skills. Target Audience: All Audiences

B03 Building Inclusive Opportunities through School and Community Partnerships

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Dr. Laura Bejot - Head of Therapeutic Services at CTC Academy
  • Jonah Gold - Teaching Assistant / Disability Awareness Speaker at CTC Academy
Summary
This workshop will highlight the programs that CTC Academy has developed with local public and private gen ed schools promoting disability awareness and inclusive/partnership opportunities. Attendees will learn how to approach community partnerships and will be provided with curriculum templates to bring back to their schools. The goal after completing this workshop is for attendees to have the tools to start their own programs. Target Audience: All Audiences

B04 How to Build an Effective School Safety Eco-System: Leveraging Technology for a Safer Tomorrow

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Paul Jenne - Account Director and School Safety Advisor at Eastern DataComm
  • Randall Palmer - IT Coordinator at Spectrum360
Summary
This presentation will detail how best to leverage technological advances to address the challenges special needs schools face when it comes to communications and safety. Target Audience: Administrators

B05 Integrating Therapy into the Classroom Curriculum

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Marie Rem - Special Education Teacher at Pillar Elementary School
  • Patricia O'Connor - Occupational Therapist at Pillar Elementary School
Summary
This presentation will focus on how therapy programs can be incorporated into the school day and how they can enhance the students' academic learning. We will share our past and present successes and barriers to developing cohesive transdisciplinary learning. The presentation will detail specific programs that we have successfully implemented including sensory motor, assistive tech, and self-care plans. Target Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Clinicians, Aides

B06 Alternative & Augmentative Communication from Assessment to Implementation

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Kelly Barber MA, C - Lead SLP at Deron School
Summary
Lead Speech Pathologist at The Deron School’s Union Campus, Kelly Barber has 30 years of experience. In this session, she’ll discuss what speech and language are, why augmentative communication is needed, communicative competencies, give descriptions of low to high tech devices with hands on demonstrations. She’ll also discuss how to support AAC users at school, at home and in the community. Target Audience: All Audiences

B07 What Happens After the Last Exam? The Journey from School to Adult Life

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Stefanie Rinaldi - Coordinator of Special Education at The Center School
Summary
The presentation aims to help bridge the gap and cover not only the services available to individuals as both a student and as an adult, but will also discuss the necessary steps that will allow the individual to receive DDD and/or DVRS support. Key differences between the student experience and the adult world will also be highlighted so that everyone attending this session will have a better understanding of both support systems and be able to help facilitate support for individuals as they transition from student to adult. Target Audience: Administrators, Parents/Families, Teachers

B08 The Role of the Paraprofessional

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Ashley Agresti - Teacher at The Phoenix Center
  • Caitlin Malone - Teacher at The Phoenix Center
  • Ryan Brattole - Teacher at The Phoenix Center
Summary
This presentation is aimed for an audience that works with any age of students with special needs. This workshop would be beneficial for parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, therapists, behaviorists and admin. This class will review and refine skills required for success when working in the classroom and with students as a paraprofessional. Target Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Aides

B09 Differentiating Instruction for Small Group Activities

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Vincent LoBello M.A - Teacher of Students with Disabilities at Pillar Elementary School
  • Marlee Steiginga M.A CCC-SLP/ATP - Speech Language Pathologist, Assistive Technology Professional (ATP) at Pillar Elementary School
Summary
This workshop will provide an introductory discussion on how to differentiate educational and speech therapy instruction in small group tasks for students with significant cognitive, physical, sensory and communication disabilities. The goal is to provide ideas on how to promote student participation and engagement in small group tasks while addressing their individual goals at different levels. Target Audience: Teachers, Clinicians, Aides Target Disability: Multiply Disabled (non-verbal or minimally verbal, AAC users) K-8

B10 Roundtable Discussion for Nurses

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Jane St. John - School Nurse at Garfield Park Academy
Summary
This workshop will allow nurses to have a further discussion of Alternative Therapies and other topics/issues. This workshop will be interactive. Audience: Nurses

B11 Employment Law Updates from All Three Branches of Government

Session B

Location
TBD
Speakers
  • Kerri A. Wright - Principal, Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C. (Co-chairs the Education and Employment Team)
  • Janelle Edwards-Stewart - Principal, Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C. (Member of the Education, Employment and Labor Team)
Summary
The three branches of our government have been very active over the past year with mandates from State and federal agencies, new legislation, and updated guidance from the courts on a variety of laws impacting your employment practices. A few of the topics speakers will address include restrictive covenants, privacy compliance, and discrimination claims. Since each of these can have a substantial impact on your organization, you’ll want to know how you can land on right side of the new authorities. Target Audiences: Administration, Business Managers, HR Managers

No Session Choice

Session B

Location
TBD
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