Resilience in an Uncertain Time: Supporting Students and Families During the Pandemic and Beyond
Nancy Rappaport, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Harvard Medical School

During the pandemic, adults who work with children and families have risen to the challenge of finding new ways to connect, offering practical strategies for coping and thriving, and providing comfort and consistency – all while trying to care for themselves and their own families. Dr. Rappaport will share practical concepts and tools that participants can use to continue this work: maintaining connections, finding contributory activities, communicating in age-appropriate ways, validating questions and worries, balancing structure and rigidity, and supporting those with a history of trauma and challenging home lives. Her suggestions will be based on her many years of clinical experience and experience translating psychiatric concepts into easy actionable steps for educators and families. She will also discuss how taking care of ourselves and building our own resilience allows us to better continue to support children and families and allows us to boost our, and their, capacity to endure and perhaps even thrive during uncertain and challenging times.

Continue learning with Dr. Rappaport and discover a win-win intervention plan (a FAIR plan) that is easily implemented in a busy classroom with multiple demands. Take a look at The Behavior Code, a book by Jessica Minahan and Dr. Nancy Rappaport, that reveals their systematic approach for deciphering causes and patterns of difficult behaviors and how to match them with proven strategies for getting students back on track to learn.

Resilience Through the Lens of the Social Thinking® Methodology
Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP; Founder and CEO of Social Thinking & Pamela Crooke, PhD, CCC-SLP; Chief Curriculum Officer

Resilience requires goal-oriented thinking, which engages one’s executive functions. In this keynote we will explore how working toward one’s social goals requires more than just a plan. Both rallying one’s motivation and managing one’s feelings are needed to meet the goal(s). In addition to defining executive functions, we will explore additional connections to the Social Thinking® Methodology, including:

1. Hope, motivation, and the cognitive push toward a positive mindset.
2. The importance of flexibility in thoughts and feelings.
3. How our brains engage in mental time travel to navigate in the here and now.
4. Recognizing the role of subtle feelings in moving us toward how we want to feel and celebrate what we want to accomplish.
5. Feeling proud: celebrating one’s own success.

Who Should Attend

The Social Thinking Methodology is used by a wide variety of professionals; including speech-language pathologists, special and general education teachers, social workers, counselors, clinical and school psychologists, occupational therapists, behavior specialists, and school administrators to name a few. It’s also used by family members and caregivers across settings.

Objectives for Resilience in an Uncertain Time: Supporting Students and Families During the Pandemic and Beyond

Participants will be able to:

1. Describe strategies for connecting with and supporting students, including those with trauma histories and those who are neurodiverse, during the pandemic.
2. List strategies for building long-term resilience.
3. Describe techniques for addressing children’s worries and anxieties and communicating in age-appropriate ways.

Objectives for Resilience Through the Lens of the Social Thinking® Methodology

Participants will be able to:

1. Describe what it means to give your brain a “cognitive push.”
2. Explain the power of subtle emotions in accomplishing one’s goals using the visual support: Basic Feelings & Emotions Scale.
3. Explain two ways to encourage social learners to work toward their goals when feeling unhappy or frustrated.

Agenda

10 minutes Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP; Founder and CEO of Social Thinking
Dr. Pamela Crooke, PhD, CCC-SLP; Co-developer of the Social Thinking® Methodology and Social Thinking Chief Curriculum Officer
Welcome and introduce Dr. Nancy Rappaport

1 hour Dr. Nancy Rappaport, MD; Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Harvard Medical School
Resilience in an Uncertain Time: Supporting Students and Families During the Pandemic and Beyond

10-minute Break

1 hour and 55 minutes Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP; Founder and CEO of Social Thinking
Dr. Pamela Crooke, PhD, CCC-SLP; Co-developer of the Social Thinking® Methodology and Social Thinking Chief Curriculum Officer
Resilience Through the Lens of the Social Thinking® Methodology

30 minutes Previously Recorded Question and Answer panel with Dr. Nancy Rappaport, Michelle Garcia Winner, Moderator: Dr. Pamela Crooke