Social Communication Skills for Students’ Academic and Community Success
Speaker: Sarah Howorth, Ph.D., BCBA-D & Deborah Rooks-Ellis, Ph.D.
Sessions begin at 9am and end by 3:30pm.
Sign-in begins at 8:30am. Lunch is the responsibility of participants.
Jeff’s Catering, Brewer
Register online at our secure registration site. Registration closes one week prior to each event, so register early!
Late registrations will be considered if space is available.
Session Description: Participants of this professional development will actively learn the top five ecologically valid skills needed for students’ academic and community success. Strategies for teaching students how to successfully navigate friendship building, awkward social situations and verbal bullying will be discussed. In addition, an introduction to video modeling will be provided, which gives a quick summary of important features of the practice, including what it is, who it can be used with, what skills it has been used with, settings for instruction, and its use in building social communication skills practice. Included is an introduction to and hands-on practice creating video models.
Contact hours are awarded free of charge. CEUs (.6) are available by contacting Deborah Rooks-Ellis at MAIER (deborah.l.rooks@maine.edu). A two week notice and $20 processing fee is required for CEUs.
Speaker Bios:
Sarah K. Howorth is an assistant professor of special education for the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development. She is a part of the Maine Autism Institute of Education and Research (MAIER), president of Maine State Council for Exceptional Children, and President-Elect of CEC’s Innovations in Special Education Technology (ISET) division. Her research interests include virtual rehearsal of social communication skills for students with autism, assistive technology, augmented reality, positive behavior interventions and supports and improving employment and transition outcomes for individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. Sarah is a board-certified behavior analyst and has 19 years of experience in special education. She has taught as a classroom teacher in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Shanghai (China). In 2015 she received the Herb Prehm Student Research Award from the Division of Autism and Developmental Disabilities.
Deborah L. Rooks-Ellis is currently an assistant professor of special education at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development as well as director of the Maine Autism Institute for Education and Research. Deborah began her career at UMaine in 2009 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona. She has extensive experience in the field of education. She has worked as a first-grade teacher and a third-grade teacher as well as an itinerant teacher of the visually impaired. Her scholarship now focuses on children with an austism spectrum disorder, as well as personnel preparation.
For more information about MAIER Professional Development Series click here
Register online at our secure registration site.