This professional development focuses on using trauma-informed practices to help create safe, inclusive, and engaged classroom environments. Educators will explore how trauma impacts brain development, behaviour, emotional regulation, and learning. The goal is to create classroom environments where every student feels valued and included.
Participants will learn practical strategies to support students who have experienced trauma, including those with autism and diverse learning needs. By understanding trauma, educators can focus on the use of positive behaviour supports, restorative practices, and social-emotional learning to build resilience, improve well-being, and support student success.
Why Are They Doing That?
Date: Coming 2027
Details & Registration: TBA
Figuring out the ‘why’ of student behaviour and how to develop strategies that teach adaptive and effective ways for students to get their needs met.
As many schools have teams to develop and implement Behaviour Support Plans, understanding the ‘why’ of the behaviour is a critical component to the development of strategies that are chosen to help improve them. In this one-day workshop the participants will first learn what behavioural functions are, and how these are different than just looking at how a behaviour looks or sounds. They will learn the multitude of ways in which teams can figure out the ‘why’, and how the functions may be different in different context, situations, or change across time. Finally, in the second half of the workshop, participants will learn which strategies are generally recommended to start with that respond to each different function in order to teach the student adaptive and effective ways to get their needs met.
Unlocking the World of Reading: A Comprehensive Workshop
Date: Coming 2027
Details & Registration: TBA
The Science of Reading has provided a body of research that explains how individuals learn to read and best practices for reading instruction. This workshop will synthesize that evidence, break-down why some students have challenges learning to read, discuss specific strengths and stretches that students with ASD may present with, and present research-backed instruction that teachers can incorporate into their classroom to support reading development for ALL students.
A core feature of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is impairment in social interaction and communication. We know that with effective instructional strategies, children and teens with ASD can learn a range of skills to successfully engage with their social world. What social skills should we teach? How do we teach them? How will we know the interventions are effective? Drawing on social motivation theory, this 2-day interactive super-workshop will prepare participants to effectively and systematically teach this vast group of skills.
The characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often manifest in challenging behaviour, causing school support personnel much distress as they struggle to understand and address the behaviors. Thankfully, there is a large evidence-base of effective instructional strategies to support positive behaviour in children and teens with ASD. This 2-day introductory super-workshop will prepare you to answer questions such as: For what reasons does challenging behaviour occur? How can I find out why my student is engaging in such behaviour? How can I limit the likelihood of challenging behaviour, both before it has occurred and after? Participants will walk away having learned the fundamental basics of how to make changes in programming that may lead to improvements in challenging behaviour displayed by students in their classrooms.
Difficulties with self-regulation are a common challenge for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), significantly impacting learning and behaviour. Self-regulation skills at a young age have been linked to future achievements in school and life, pointing to the importance of prioritizing and teaching this set of skills. This 2-day interactive super-workshop will prepare you to answer such questions as: How do the common challenges associated with ASD impact self-regulation? What is Stuart Shanker’s model and what is the evidence base of associated strategies? By the end of this workshop, participants will be equipped with a toolbox of skills and resources to both structure the environment and teach skills to support students’ self-regulatory abilities.
Communication: Supporting Minimally Verbal Students in the Classroom Setting
It is estimated that about 30% of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are minimally verbal. Having a means of effective communication is an essential life skill that supports positive behaviour, academic achievement, and quality of life. If my student is minimally verbal how can I support their communication skills? Should they be using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)?
These are some of the questions that will be explored in this 2-day interactive workshop. By the end of the workshop, participants will feel prepared to support communication skills in the areas of social interaction, expression, and understanding in individuals with limited verbal abilities.
Lack of student cooperation leads to a decrease in learning, negatively impacts social relationships with peers, and may result in physical harm to staff and/or other students. It is crucial to teach cooperation as it is a foundational skill required for learning, developing social skills, and independence as adults. This 2-day introductory super-workshop will introduce you to a variety of strategies to increase student cooperation based on research including rapport building, preference assessments, and specific strategies for increasing student cooperation. Participants will walk away having learned how to find and use reinforcers to build rapport and create a plan for students who engage in challenging behaviour when given instructions.
Functional skills are necessary for establishing independence and contribute to quality of life. Students with autism often struggle to learn functional skills, and as a result may engage in challenging behaviour due to the inability to obtain their needs and may be over-reliant on others to meet these needs. With explicit and targeted teaching, students with autism can learn functional skills and gain access to a more independent life.
This 2-day engaging super-workshop will prepare you to answer questions such as: How do I decide what functional skills my student should be learning? What are evidence-based teaching strategies to teach my student functional skills? What is Behavioural Skills Training (BST)?
Learning to read and becoming an engaged reader is an essential life skill that can lead to higher success in life. Reading instruction can be especially challenging for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). How do I teach reading if my student is not interested? How can I support reading comprehension development? What if my student is minimally verbal? These are some of the questions that will be explored in this 2-day introductory workshop.
Login
Register
Login
Register
Thank you for your interest in working with us!
To apply for an open position with POPARD, please forward your cover letter and resume to:
