Workshop Topics

Building the Eight Pillars of Capable Young Minds

What is the common thread of disability for special needs children, and what can we do about it? This seminar will explain the concept of executive control, describing how it helps children to navigate important developmental hurdles, both social and academic. Special emphasis is placed on the role of working memory, self-monitoring, and cognitive flexibility, particularly as they contribute to helping someone become productive and efficient. These important skills also enable problem-solving, goal-directed action, and adjustment in many areas of a child's life, ultimately leading to increased feelings of self-confidence. Strategies for building and coaching these skills are presented and amply illustrated with examples.

Helping Boys to Communicate and Connect

Drawing on his book, Boys of Few Words: Raising Our Sons to Communicate and Connect, Dr. Cox discusses the challenges so many boys face in learning how to be effective communicators. The obstacles faced by diverse groups of boys, including those who are anxious or shy, angry or resistant, or struggling with neurodevelopmental challenges, are covered in depth. This presentation helps clarify which kinds of communication obstacles grow from a boy's temperament, and which ones may be related to problems with learning or attention. In all cases, participants are given practical suggestions for reaching out to withdrawn boys or those bound by walls of silence.

Mighty Good Kids:
The Essentials of Teaching Social Skills

How can you set-up an effective social skills program within your own school or community setting? This half-day workshop provides information about structuring dynamic, fun social skills groups. Participants learn about age-appropriate topics, intervention strategies, handling complex group interaction, and talking to parents about group goals. An overview of a 10-week group curriculum is provided along with suggestions about customizing groups for children with learning or attention challenges.

Seven New Faces of Student Excellence

Students of great promise surround us but may be difficult to identify if we don’t have the right lens for viewing their achievement and future contributions. The abilities of these young people are often missed by standardized tests, even though our daily observations and interaction with these students suggest that they are exceptional achievers in significant ways. This workshop presents a framework for identifying seven distinct types of excellence that have indispensable societal relevance. New strategies for parenting and teaching these students are presented, with an emphasis on understanding how these forms of excellence appear at different stages in a child’s life. Participants will be introduced to a cast of seven types of rising stars: Navigators, Sparkplugs, Magicians, Locomotives, Translators, Rangers, and Conductors

Twelve Natural Laws for the Compassionate, Practical Improvement of Behavior

As families and schools search for strategies to reduce or eliminate unwanted child and adolescent behavior, there is a reactive tendency to do two things: 1.) implement major restrictions, reducing a child’s freedom 2.) consider medication. Although these interventions may be necessary for some, most kids can make remarkable strides with interventions that build a strategic alliance between adult and child, emphasizing the redirection of a person’s energy rather than its containment. This workshop provides a useful template for families, schools, and human service workers. The strategies are highlighted do not involve great expense or access to resources beyond what can be found in most schools and communities. This presentation is highlighted by stories of remarkable adults who have devised unique approaches to mentoring and helping difficult kids.

Exceptional Learners, Extraordinary Challenges I:
Orchestrating the Transition to Middle School with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities

Until middle school begins, most students have little idea of the new road ahead. Many are under-prepared for changing expectations and increased responsibility. Additionally, the intense self-consciousness of middle schoolers warrants the need for help that is less conspicuous than what they might have welcomed in earlier years. This workshop explains the role of executive skills in middle school – highlighting the two most critical keys to a smooth transition – organization and planning. Guidance is provided on how to practically assist with these skills, including how to engage students in thinking creatively about the components of good study habits. Special attention is given to the dynamic interaction between identity and academic achievement – and how to circumvent the unfortunate atmosphere of academic disinterest and low expectations that can affect middle school students. (This workshop emphasizes the unique developmental challenges of students diagnosed with learning differences and/or attention deficits, but can be customized to assist more general learners.)

Exceptional Learners, Extraordinary Challenges II:
Orchestrating the Transition to High School with ADHD and/or Learning Disabilities

High school is an enormous cognitive and social leap for all students, but especially so for exceptional learners. Students of this age group are required to be more self-directed, and to assume more responsibility for their own academic success. Three critical keys to successful transition are explored, and participants learn a variety of techniques for identifying and preventing potential difficulties. This workshop emphasizes the unique developmental challenges of students diagnosed with learning differences and/or attention deficits, but can be customized to assist more general learners. An overview of neurodevelopmental research related to the emerging executive skills of the adolescent brain will be presented, along with guidance on how to establish reasonable expectations of student performance for exceptional learners. Additionally, the inextricable link between academic and social development in the lives of exceptional learners is highlighted.

Executive Thinking Skills:
Foundation for College Success

What does being ready for college really mean from a cognitive perspective? How independent does a student have to be to succeed in college – and are there different standards for different fields of study? This workshop helps professionals and families to understand the eight pillars of cognitive success for college students. Seeing student performance through the lens of the eight pillars of executive control helps to pinpoint the kind of academic support a young person will need to work up to his or her own potential. Even the most competitive colleges and universities now provide learning support for students with executive thinking challenges. This program will outline the most helpful instructional strategies and accommodations for college level students. Participants will learn how college success is contingent upon knowing what questions to ask, what type(s) of help to seek, and having a plan for assessing progress early in a student’s college career. This program is helpful to seniors in secondary school and college students, as well as parents and learning support professionals.

Why’s That Kid Acting So Weird?:
Making the Distinction Between Cultural Differences and Cognitive Deficits

As our communities and schools become increasingly multicultural, how should we determine whether young people are exhibiting behavior which reflects their culture of origin, or is symptomatic of problem that needs intervention? This distinction is particularly relevant to understanding social assimilation, which relies heavily on cognitive-perceptual skills. This program presents an overview of how to approach cross-cultural assessment of children and teens whose social development appears stalled. Participants will learn how to distinguish between verbal and nonverbal social difficulties, including a template for how to conduct productive interviews with students who do not belong to a community’s, or school’s, majority culture. Although assimilation has been a historically difficult task for youth, science has helped to identify those cognitive-behavioral factors which can lessen a child or adolescent’s stress.

CE / CME Programs:

Community-based Intervention for Conduct Disordered Boys

What can communities practically do to cope with the disturbance created by boys whose behavior threatens to unravel the coherence and collegiality that underlie a sense of civic wellbeing? The answer begins with an understanding that it takes far more energy to control boys than to work with their natural energy and momentum. Unfortunately, most behavior modification and juvenile justice programs emphasize restriction – an approach that may yield short-term gains, but typically requires more resources than a community can reasonably afford. This workshop identifies alternative approaches to meeting the emotional and social needs of boys, explaining the proven steps for transforming problematic kids into prospective leaders.

Beyond ADHD:
A Primer on Executive Dysfunction

Although the diagnosis of ADHD is increasingly common, much less is understood about the eight pillars of executive function that enable the prefrontal cortex to do its job. This workshop blends cutting-edge science with a practical, illustrated overview of each of the eight pillars of executive function. It is an ideal program for counselors, psychologists, family physicians, and pediatricians. Learning to see children and adolescents through the lens of executive function helps to inform an accurate diagnosis, and to recommend treatments that target specific clusters of symptomatic behaviors. This program is particularly helpful in clarifying the distinction between executive skills that respond favorably to medication, and those that are more receptive to family or school intervention.

Neurodevelopmental Differences Affecting the Social Communication of Boys

The rapid advancement of neuroscience highlights important gender differences that impact social skills development. This presentation illustrates those differences, explaining both the neuropsychology of social awareness, and why so many males are vulnerable to social delay. Discussion includes a review of diagnostic indicators of communication deficits, and special emphasis is given to procedures for enhancing hemispheric lateralization in the social cognitive processes of boys and young men. This workshop concludes with an overview of an effective multidisciplinary treatment protocol for verbally and socially challenged school-age boys.

** Please note that workshops can be combined to create half-day or full-day programs. Please call for more information about workshop content or to read detailed outlines of workshops and seminars click here (pdf). We are happy to talk with you about presentation details and how programs can meet the needs of your group - 401-816-5895.