Seminar Topics

Practical Strategies for Today’s Difficult Child/Adolescent

This seminar will familiarize participants with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and other behavioral issues. It will equip participants with the knowledge and understanding needed to improve student and family life through proper diagnosis and treatment of this disorder, as well as strategies to be used in the classroom. The focus will be on practical strategies with up-to-date information regarding today’s issues, such as the impact of psychotropic medication on behavior.

Discussions will focus on:

- The General Nature of ODD
- Distinguishing ODD from Other Behavioral Conditions
- Treatment Options and Classroom Interventions that create rapid and effective changes
- Working with Parents, Teachers and Other Care-givers; both cooperative and uncooperative ones

Who Should Attend

This seminar is designed to benefit special education directors, principals, administrators,
superintendents teachers, board members, guidance counselors, social workers, and psychologists.

Seminar Sample Agenda

Agenda

I. Introduction and Overview

II. Understanding ODD

A. General Nature of ODD
B. Recent Developments

III. Distinguishing ODD From

Other Behavioral Condition

IV. Treating and Managing ODD

Behaviors

A. Focusing on the Child
B. Involving Parents and Other

Care-Givers

C. Strategies that do not work

and why

D. Medication issues

E. Reducing the disruption to

other Children Adolescents

F. Helping to improve social

success

V. Helping Ourselves Remain

Effective and Reducing Burnout

VI. Questions and Answers

This seminar will help you identify oppositional behavior and understand causes for the escalation of the behavior. Participants will leard how to write effective behavior plans/charts, and learn why regular strategies do not work and how to change them to succeed.

In addition it will teach you about oppositional behaviors caused by Attention Deficit Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Learning Disabilities, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, Depression, and other important factors. You will be given tools to design and implement intervention strategies to reduce passive aggressive, disruptive and violent behaviors.

As a result, you will be able to:

- Reduce the disruptive impact and risk to other children/adolescents in the classroom, family or group. Implement effective strategies with parents of these children including the cooperative and uncooperative ones.

-Avoid the anger and burnout of staff members often associated with those who work with these types of children., adolescents, and parents

-Stop giving 95% of your time to the 5% or difficult children and/or parents

Understanding effective uses of medications and the potentially common side effects

Social Skills for Building Social Competence

How to Design, Develop and Facilitate Successful Social Skills Groups

Come discover “cutting edge” social skills information and how to access some of the best up-to-date social skills material – some of which is free! Asperger’s Syndrome and High Functioning Autism are two of the fastest growing diagnoses in America. Parents are trying to find the “right” professionals to work with their children. School staff members are searching for effective interventions. Therapists are working diligently to provide the best care possible. Join us for this one day seminar by Jay Berk, Ph.D., an acclaimed professional in the field with over ten years of experience treating this population. What makes this seminar different is that not only does he teach about these children and adolescents, but he works with them and their families every day!

Attend this interactive one-day seminar and receive a wealth of effective interventions for all therapists, educators and mental health professionals that attend. Dr. Berk is an accomplished speaker rated time after time by attendees as an excellent speaker who exceeds their expectations. Participants will leave with behavioral techniques, assessment strategies and essential treatment tools that will allow them to analyze behaviors, identify consequences for behaviors, teach new skills, and develop a behavior plan for a multitude of behavior problems. Don’t miss this ‘one-of-a-kind’ seminar.

Earn your continuing professional education hours at this program. Usually 6 contact hours equivalent.

Topics included

Practical strategies that work
Lack of social skills can be masked
Deficits related to Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD & more
Issues unspoken rules create
iPad® Applications
Skill sets that help students make friends and keep them
Ethics of social skill acquisition

Who Should Attend

Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Case Workers
Group Home Staff
Social Workers
Counselors
Teacher/School-based Personnel
School Administrators Speech-Language Pathologists
Occupational Therapists
Nurses
Marriage & Family Therapists

You will learn:

Why most social skills group fail to have the child/adolescent implement the skills and how to correct this problem.
Ways to facilitate successful social skills groups including design and marketing assistance.
How to create a plan that is more successful than just teaching a social skill.
Successful strategies from a therapist who has facilitated over 15 social skills groups for 10 years
Marketing and successful strategies that prevent your groups from failing or being less effective
To identify the reasons that children and adolescents lack social skills and utilize this information to create intervention programs.
How certain disorders, such as Asperger’s, Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Language Disorders, Processing Disorders, Bipolar, Anxiety, Oppositional Defiant create/compound the lack of social skills and have their own particular deficits.
Ways to reduce passive-aggressive and acting-out behaviors due to the lack of social skills.
Practical strategies that you can use right away in families, classrooms, groups, intervention sessions, and a variety of other situations.
How poor social skills can create a cascade effect of behavioral issues.

Here are some of the seminars Dr. Berk has recently presented

Practical Strategies for Today’s Difficult Child/Adolescent

Social Skills for Building Social Competence