The Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint and the Attachment and Trauma Network are proud to bring you this special event.
Compliance to compassion Supporting students, teachers, and staff in challenging times
October 14, 2022
Cost: $199
A full-day live virtual event
The past two years have been challenging – teachers, children, and families are struggling. There has been an increase in stress behaviors in the classroom. The approach to “managing” behavior in many schools is failing children, educators, and families. This full-day virtual event will focus on hope and solutions. Join us for the live full-day virtual event!
Agenda
What’s LOVE Got to Do With It? EVERYTHING
James Moffett
While the pandemic is not the root cause of the lack of love in our schools, it sure brought to light what can happen when our school-based actions are rooted in love. What do we do now to ensure we do not lose the momentum that love provided our schools and classrooms as we rush back to “normalcy” in education. The business of school is LOVE, and it should embody every decision and action every day.
The Negative Effects of Positive Reinforcement: Moving from ‘Doing to’ to ‘Working With.’
Alfie Kohn
Supporting children begins with understanding what sort of approach DOESN’T make sense, and why. In his presentation, Alfie Kohn, will argue that manipulating kids’ behavior — training them as though they were pets — is both morally objectionable and, according to decades of research, unlikely to be effective in the long run. Interventions such as ABA are particularly destructive for children on the spectrum. That’s true for multiple reasons: the preoccupation with measurable behaviors that ignores the experience of the human being who engages in those behaviors; the proven drawbacks of carrot-and-stick control across a wide range of settings; and the poisonous message of conditional acceptance: “You are valuable only when you act the way you are told.” What we need are humane, constructive alternatives rooted in a respectful relationship rather than in power and control.
Self-Reg Schools: Hope, Hurdles and Hows
Dr. Stuart Shanker
Susan Hopkins M.Ed.
With the rising awareness that excess stress causes most of the challenging behaviour we see in today’s students, enlightened educators are looking for better ways to understand and address students’ behaviour, rather than simply reacting to it. Shanker Self-Reg® gives educators and parents knowledge and tools that enable them to see the connection between stressors and behaviour, and, as a result, to recognize and respond with greater compassion, understanding and effectiveness.
In this presentation, Stuart Shanker and Susan Hopkins, co-authors of Self-Reg School: A Handbook for Educators, will introduce Shanker Self-Reg and show us how to create Self-Reg Havens in schools: Hopes: Self-Reg gives us renewed hope, both for our students and ourselves, by guiding us to new, more effective ways to understand, respond to and prevent challenging child behaviour and to build positive relationships with all students. Hurdles: Deeply entrenched self-control-based practices and mindsets can keep us from recognizing and addressing the excess stress, and hidden stressors that are behind the most challenging student behaviour. Havens: How to begin the journey of creating a Self-Reg Haven in your school—an environment where everyone feels a deep sense of physical, emotional, social, cultural and neuroceptive safety that helps students and teachers be their best selves.
The Re-Set Process: A Relational and Regulatory Approach to Supporting Students in Schools
Dyane Lewis Carrere, M.Ed.
The stress and trauma of the pandemic have left students, teachers and families dysregulated and, in many cases, with less connected relationships. This fragmentation of both our neurological systems and our relational systems often results in “behaviors” that move us away from being successful community members. Based in neuroscience, the Re-Set Process was initially developed for schools as an alternative to traditional behavioral approaches, but its applicability has become much broader. An instructional, relational and regulation-focused process, Re-Set offers an integrated approach to supporting students and their educators.
This session will provide participants with an understanding of the content and rationale of the 4 core steps of the process and how they intersect with other practices such as mindfulness. A bonus step, a complementary strategy, and the various forms of Re-Set will be described, including its applicability for educators and other adults.
The Person is not the Problem. The Problem is the Problem! Collaborative Approaches to Behavioral Support
Emma van der Klift
Norman Kunc
Responding to students we most commonly label as non-compliant, disruptive, or resistant can be frustrating, so it is understandable that teachers look for swift and efficient techniques to resolve the situations that arise. However, the majority of the current behavioral support programs locate the problem in the student and work from a “narrative of correction.” This perspective can inadvertently implant an “identity of inadequacy” and may make a difficult situation even worse.
Drawing on the divergent fields of hostage negotiation and narrative therapy, Emma Van der Klift and Norman Kunc explore alternative ways of perceiving “difficult behavior.” They will show how adopting alternative narratives that take into account the interactive nature of the educational relationship can help to normalize these situations and open up more opportunities to build upon the student’s existing resilience and foster more collaborative and helpful ways of interacting with the student.
The Power of One
Jim Sporleder
This presentation will offer alternative strategies to the traditional discipline strategies such as suspension, expulsion, seclusion, restraint, and corporal punishment. The Power of One is a mindset that draws on the power of connection and promotes positive caring adult relationships, as compared to punitive techniques that create disconnection and become barriers to positive outcomes through a caring adult relationship.
Interested in becoming an event sponsor?
If you are interested in becoming an event sponsor, please contact Guy Stephens.
Scholarships
Through the support of our sponsors, we are hoping to offer several sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship, please contact Guy Stephens.
