ASHA Schools Conference

Schools 2013 Education Sessions

Instructional Level

Unless otherwise noted, the instructional level for all sessions is intermediate, and assumes familiarity with foundational professional knowledge and terminology.

Opening Plenary

PL01 - Recharge, Re-energize, Refocus: Changing Lives—One Story at a Time!
Murray Banks

Jump start the new school year with this inspiring session that's sure to recharge, re-energize, and refocus you. Attend this session to get a new perspective on your work in schools and how you can make a difference—one story at a time!

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• connect and adjust your facilitating style to each student's needs
• discuss the science and relevance of your personal wellbeing and its impact on your career
• focus on outcomes to overcome obstacles

Concurrent Sessions

Friday, July 12

Concurrent Sessions CS01-CS05 (9:45 a.m.–11:45 a.m.)

CS01 - Clinical Management of Speech Sound Disorders: Beyond GIT-R-DONE
Wayne A. Secord, PhD, CCC-SLP

Effective clinical management of speech sound disorders means paying attention to the most important things, and doing a few things extremely well. In this session, we'll examine the nature of clinical excellence and describe a number of GIT-R-DONE ideas and strategies that can produce change in children with speech sound disorders. You'll see how to proceed from science to practice to identify the key components of the phonological system, use a practical, 10-step assessment and interpretation process, choose realistic treatment targets, and use a variety of techniques and strategies for eliciting new sound behaviors (especially for /r/ and /s/). Finally, you'll learn when to dismiss a client from treatment.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• identify the 10 most important intervention targets for treating speech sound disorders
• use a 10-step process for evaluating children with speech sound disorders
• design effective treatment plans (IEPs) containing measurable goals and objectives
• identify a number of techniques for eliciting problematic speech sounds
• list the top 10 intervention strategies for treating speech sound disorders in children

CS02 - Avoiding Legal Blind Spots: Professional, Administrative, and Regulatory Demands
Barbara J. Moore, EdD, CCC-SLP
Beth A. Nishida, MA
Ricardo R. Silva, Esq.

Don't be blindsided by a legal challenge! You're trying to use evidence-based practices, follow ASHA's Code of Ethics, meet the legal requirements of IDEA, respect your school's service delivery patterns, and balance other workplace pressures. Add parent demands to the mix, and you can feel ambushed. Come to this session to learn strategies and resources for dealing with some of the hot issues in special education law, including assessment, eligibility, and service delivery models.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• discuss current trends in litigation pertaining to speech-language services in schools
• identify professional, legal, and administrative strategies for dealing with legal challenges
• describe methods for legally defensible documentation, assessment, and service delivery
• find "win-win" solutions for dealing with legal challenges in a school setting

CS03 - Executive Function in Children With Autism: Challenges in Schools
Sylvia Diehl, PhD, CCC-SLP

Every day, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience challenges in communication with probable connections to executive function. As an SLP, you are faced with addressing these issues in the school context. We'll discuss the possible impact of executive functioning on oral and written communication and share strategies and supports that address these issues.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe the possible effects of executive functioning challenges on communication
• use a variety of methods to support the flexibility required in oral and written discourse

CS04 - Students With Severe Disabilities: Know Their Stories to Improve Their Lives
Patricia Prelock, PhD, CCC-SLP

How can you best support students with severe disabilities in inclusive educational settings? This session explores how to focus and integrate the services of an interdisciplinary school-based team by "knowing the story" of each student and family. You'll discuss how to harness the hopes, dreams, talents, and strengths of each child and family to promote communication, language, and learning.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• identify the steps to create an integrated team to support the communication needs of children with severe disabilities across settings
• create a functional communication plan for a child with severe disabilities that integrates with the natural environment and addresses key goals of child and family
• describe a process for including children with severe disabilities in a mainstream classroom

CS05 - We Can Do This! Practical, Powerful Strategies for Closing Literacy Gaps Using the Response to Intervention Model
Nancy Alemian Telian, MS, CCC-SLP

Attend this session for practical, research-to-classroom information that will help you screen for, assess, prevent, quickly treat, and provide teacher training in the predictive skill areas that most directly interfere with children's learning to read and spell. You'll see video demonstrations of techniques and have the chance to practice some in short activities. To help address time constraints and large caseloads, you'll be shown logistical strategies for contributing to the response to intervention (RTI) literacy team. You'll come away with many tools and resources to work effectively at all tiers of the RTI model.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• use clinically proven strategies for training difficult letter sound associations using a combination of prompting systems with application in various tiers of RTI
• implement strategies for preventing production errors while decoding words with consonant blends in various positions with application in various tiers of RTI
• describe how to instruct students in the application of mnemonic syllable division rules for decoding and encoding multisyllable words of increasing length with application in the various tiers of RTI

Concurrent Sessions CS06-CS10 (1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.)

CS06 - Through the Leadership Lens: 101 Ways to Help Children Communicate and Learn
Wayne A. Secord, PhD, CCC-SLP

Why are some clinicians so successful? What do they do that works so well? This session examines the nature of clinical excellence and describes ideas and strategies you can use to produce change in the clients and students you serve. We'll discuss what you can do to assume a leadership role in your school, identify key collaborative consultation and coaching skills used by instructional leaders, and examine 28 common classroom problems and how clinicians and teachers can address them. In total, we'll discuss 101 ways SLPs can team with other educators and parents to improve student performance in school. You'll gain new perspectives on clinical excellence and leave feeling connected and inspired.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe the nature of clinical excellence in speech-language pathology
• identify key behaviors and practice patterns used by outstanding clinicians
• describe how instructional leaders apply collaborative consultation skills to coach and empower others
• describe 101 ways clinicians and teachers can collaborate to help students communicate and learn

CS07 - Lend Me Your Ears! Auditory Teaching Strategies for Young Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Teresa H. Caraway, PhD, CCC-SLP

Learn specific auditory-verbal strategies to help you facilitate the development of language, pre-literacy, and conversational skills in young children (0–6 years) who are deaf or hard of hearing (HOH). You'll learn how to integrate these techniques into children's home, play, and social routines, and look specifically at ways to use books to develop a child's conversational and pre-literacy skills.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• detail at least five auditory-verbal teaching strategies and techniques to maximize auditory potential for children who are deaf or hard of hearing from the detection level in the auditory skill hierarchy to the conversational level
• describe at least five ways to integrate auditory-verbal teaching strategies into the child's home, play, and social routines
• describe at least five ways to integrate auditory-verbal strategies when sharing books with a child to facilitate his or her conversational and pre-literacy skills

CS08 - The Trouble With the Future Is That It's Not What It Used to Be!
Murray Banks

The best school-based SLPs are those who are agile, adaptable, and imaginative. They love creating new methods and strategies to help students excel, and they continually challenge their colleagues to stay out of the comfort zone! In this session, you'll learn about Banks' "Lava Lamp Philosophy" for continuous change in schools, enjoy his hilarious images and quotes to share with any "change-resistant" colleagues, and get tips on avoiding the dreaded disease of "psychosclerosis!"

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• integrate a higher level of innovation, imagination, and problem-solving into your work
• find solutions to organizational challenges and each student's special needs
• avoid the common affliction of "psychosclerosis"
• implement tools to be more flexible, imaginative, and innovative

CS09 - Shift to the Common Core: Standards to Best Practice
Judy Rudebusch, EdD, CCC-SLP

This session will help you align your services to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). You'll learn to infuse the CCSS into Individualized Education Program (IEP) language for goals and objectives, and develop educationally relevant therapy activities that work across content areas, focusing on grade-level academic language and functional communication skills. We'll use a specific tool to write the present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) statement, identify the power standards for language by grade level, and set priority on instructional targets based on the PLAAFP statement.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• write a standards-based goal or objective that includes a statement of present levels tied to grade level expectations and instructional targets
• analyze CCSS in English, language arts, and reading, compare them to a student's present language level, and determine priority instructional language targets
• use three strategies to increase educational relevance of therapy activities working on academic language and the CCSS

CS10 - Out of the Box: Apps Through a Language Lens
Sean Sweeney, MS, MEd, CCC-SLP

Using iPad apps in speech and language therapy can increase interactivity and student engagement. But, once you venture beyond "dedicated apps" for SLPs, how can you identify appropriate apps for therapy? In this session you'll learn to use the FIVES criteria (fairly priced, interactive, visual, educationally relevant, "speechie") to place apps in the context of activities to address specific objectives. You'll also get helpful resources for finding apps to integrate into your therapy.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• analyze apps and use task analyses to isolate speech and language objectives in context
• access app information resources and apply criteria to evaluate apps for clinical use
• design therapy sessions using apps, with pre- or post-activities targeting speech and language objectives in context

Saturday, July 13

Concurrent Sessions CS11-CS15 (8:00 a.m.–11:15 a.m.)

CS11 - Instructional Strategies for Academic Writing for Students With Language Learning Disorders
Bonnie Singer, PhD, CCC-SLP

Do your students with language learning disorders (LLD) give you a blank stare when faced with an academic writing assignment? Students with LLD often lack the basic skills for success with writing. This session gives you a series of instructional strategies you can use in classroom, small group, or individual settings to support the development of academic writing. You'll learn to design curriculum-relevant interventions that target a set of metalinguistic skills not often addressed by other educators. The result: you make a unique contribution in supporting the development of written language in children with LLD.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• explain the roles of executive functions, self-regulation, and reading comprehension in written expression
• design written language interventions that incorporate strategic instructional approaches
• provide a unique contribution to written language instruction and intervention within a school system

CS12 - Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Children and Adolescents Who Stutter
Vivian Sisskin, MS, CCC-SLP

Have you experienced fluency strategies that work in the therapy room, but don't transfer to functional communicative contexts? Often, it's because these strategies require vigilance to control speech. In this session, you'll explore treatment methods that don't require children to use "tools" to control or eliminate stuttering. Instead, children reduce struggle and learn to tolerate comfortable disfluency in spontaneous speech for more efficient and confident communication.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• identify specific behaviors that lead to struggle in your student/client's disfluent speech
• implement three strategies to improve efficiency in disfluent speech
• use three strategies to reduce fear and avoidance of speaking for school-age children who stutter

CS13 - Enhancing Phonological and Metaphonological Systems of Children With Highly Unintelligible Speech: An Update
Barbara W. Hodson, PhD, CCC-SLP

This session gives you a framework for identifying and enhancing optimal phonological and metaphonological patterns in toddlers with severe speech or language delays, and in children whose speech is very difficult to understand. You'll learn to expedite children's intelligibility gains and enhance their metaphonological skills to help them develop the communication and literacy skills needed for academic success.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• identify children's phonological and metaphonological deficiencies
• systematically enhance phonological and metaphonological skills
• expedite intelligibility gains and document progress for evidence-based practice

CS14 - Vocabulary Strategies to Reach the Common Core State Standards
Judy Montgomery, PhD, CCC-SLP

Comprehending content-area information is critical for any student to achieve the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and can be especially challenging for students with communication disabilities. Vocabulary development is a key to a student's ability to access the curriculum. This session shows you how to analyze the requirements of the CCSS, how to design efficient intervention strategies for direct services targeting vocabulary development, and how to consult effectively with K–12 classroom teachers to move toward the same goal.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• recognize four types of vocabulary and their direct relationship to the CCSS
• identify the key attributes of "word learning" in narrative and expository texts
• conduct effective interventions and measure student progress in vocabulary development

CS15 - Developing Student AAC Performance Profiles to Direct Intervention
Tracy Kovach, PhD, CCC-SLP

Learn to develop and use a dynamic "performance profile" describing the strengths and needs of each student who uses AAC. The profile becomes a tool for ongoing assessment and intervention planning, and helps coordinate the services and supports a student receives at school, home, and from private therapists. It can define roles and responsibilities, guide the identification of best learning environments, and enhance the student's overall communicative competence using AAC.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• assess a student's performance in four areas used to define communicative competence using AAC
• formulate intervention goals that result in the development of communicative competence
• identify roles, responsibilities, and learning environments in which intervention may result in the best outcomes for the student using AAC

Concurrent Sessions CS16-CS20 (1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.)

CS16 - Intervention for English-Language–Learning Preschoolers With Language Disorders
Vera F. Gutiérrez-Clellen, PhD, CCC-SLP

Learn to develop a vocabulary and oral language intervention that focuses on the needs of preschoolers with language disorders whose first language is not English. You'll acquire a variety of strategies for working in the preschool curriculum and context. We'll discuss how to determine the appropriate language of intervention based on each child's skills, how to select effective intervention strategies, and how to choose the best implementation model for a specific setting.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• develop a vocabulary and oral language intervention for English language learners within a preschool curriculum
• determine the language of intervention based on the child's language skills
• select an implementation model that will be most effective within the preschool context

CS17 - Social Perspective and Literacy in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
Sylvia Diehl, PhD, CCC-SLP

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) face challenges with reading comprehension that are influenced by their social perspective abilities. This session examines the links between social perspective issues and literacy, with emphasis on scaffolding techniques to develop both areas. Research and methods from multiple disciplines will be addressed.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• identify the role of social perspective challenges in reading comprehension
• use a variety of methods to increase reading comprehension and social perspective

CS18 - One Digital Story at a Time: Apps to Target Narrative and Expository Language
Sean Sweeney, MS, MEd, CCC-SLP

Discourse is extremely challenging for students with speech and language disabilities. The length and complexity of narrative and expository language can cause students to "tune out" when they encounter discourse-level requirements. This session illustrates how easy-to-use creation tools using animation, images, audio, and video can make storytelling and exposition more visual, supporting students through higher levels of discourse and engaging them in product creation. You'll see a variety of mobile apps that align with various intervention approaches in narrative and expository text.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• analyze mobile creation tools to identify speech and language contexts for their use
• identify intervention approaches that align with digital storytelling tools
• construct a lesson plan incorporating creation tools for specific therapy objectives

CS19 - Treatment Decision Dilemmas and Strategies for Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
Gail J. Richard, PhD, CCC-SLP

When an audiologist diagnoses a student with APD, how do you interpret the recommendations and provide effective treatment? This session gives you a model for approaching this complex disorder. We'll discuss strengths and weaknesses of current options for treatment, analyze case examples of interpreting assessment results, and practice developing goals to address specific deficits.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• differentiate aspects of auditory processing deficits
• focus treatment goals on specific deficits
• incorporate games and various treatment techniques into therapy to address aspects of APD

CS20 - Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Sports-Related Concussion in Schools
Anthony P. Salvatore, PhD, CCC-SLP

SLPs in schools have immediate and long-term access to a population of brain-injured individuals: the millions of students who suffer sports-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) each year. Come to this session to learn more about the short- and long-term consequences of concussion and mild TBI (mTBI) on young people, and to examine the SLP's role in the care of these students, both before and after injury.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe the pathophysiology and signs/symptoms of sports-related mTBI
• discuss treatment approaches for sports-related mTBI in school settings
• describe the role of the SLP in the care of students and student-athletes

Sunday, July 14

Concurrent Sessions CS21-CS25 (8:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m.)

CS21 - Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Therapy Strategies That Make a Difference
David Hammer, MA, CCC-SLP

Children age 3–8 who are diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech need repetitive practice to establish sound precision, sound/word sequencing skills, and connected speech clarity. But how can you maintain their interest and motivation? This session gives you practical, motivating strategies to elicit multiple repetitions for speech-motor practice and home carryover.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• use a multi-sensory approach to treating children with apraxia that includes touch cues, visual prompts, and sign language
• use sound names that include placement and manner cues
• elicit multiple repetitions for speech-motor practice and home carryover using a variety of highly motivating activities

CS22 - Environmental Toxins and Healthy Schools
Anastasia Antoniadis, MA, MPH, CCC-SLP

How healthy is the environment in your school? Ample evidence exists that environmental toxins can cause or exacerbate health problems. The effects of toxic exposure can be cumulative, and may contribute to learning disabilities or cause health problems that lead to lost instructional time. In this session, you'll get an overview of the classes of toxins that may be present in your school's indoor air, cleaning solutions, lawns and athletic fields, or even in therapy materials. You'll learn what is known about toxic exposures and disabilities and discuss what you can do to make positive changes in your school's environment.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe effects of various classes of toxins on children's development
• identify the most common sources of toxic exposures in schools
• assess the credibility of information about environmental toxins and health
• advocate effectively for eliminating or mitigating potential toxins in your school

CS23 - Language Requirements of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Grades 6–12
Vicky Zygouris-Coe, PhD

In this session, we focus on language requirements of the CCSS for middle- and high-school students, with attention to instructional shifts to meet students' needs and the role of the SLP in an era of new educational standards. We'll examine the role of language and literacy in each discipline, emphasizing collaboration between SLPs and teachers.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• discuss the importance of language and literacy within each content area
• provide assistance with language, speaking, listening, and vocabulary to students and teachers
• collaborate with teachers to provide effective vocabulary instruction and create a classroom environment that will support development of language and literacy skills of all students

CS24 - Supervising Support Personnel: What They Didn't Teach You in School
Kathy J. Wheat, PhD, CCC-SLP

Can you direct the practice of a speech-language pathology assistant (SLPA) with confidence that your instructions will be followed correctly and completely, with appropriate documentation? When necessary, can you have difficult conversations that bring about changes in behavior while preserving professional relationships? Do the support personnel you supervise feel respected, competent, and secure in understanding their role? Come to this session for a toolkit of supervisory skills and tried-and-true practices that will help you collaborate effectively with support personnel to increase student achievement.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• use communication styles that promote clarity and respect, and diminish frustration and conflict in supervisory relationships
• apply effective conflict management techniques in relationships with support personnel and other school colleagues
• implement supervisory practices that maximize therapeutic services for students while maintaining appropriate role definition

CS25 - Autism + Behavior = Communication
Catherine B. Zenko, MS, CCC-SLP

Does the behavior of your students with autism get in the way of your interventions? Come to this session and learn to interpret challenging behaviors through the eyes of your students on the spectrum. Understanding how autism affects each student's learning style and behavior will help you turn problem behaviors into more meaningful and socially appropriate communication.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• interpret challenging behaviors from the perspective of your students on the autism spectrum
• analyze how your behavior positively or negatively affects student behaviors and adapt accordingly
• teach meaningful communication-based replacement behaviors that address the underlying autism spectrum learning style differences

Closing Plenary

PL02 - The Magic of Stories: Learning to Make a Difference
Patricia Prelock, PhD, CCC-SLP

In the closing plenary, we'll discuss the magic of individual stories and how knowing them can help you individualize the learning opportunities for the children with whom you work. We'll also discuss strategies that capitalize on the strengths, interests, and needs of the child and family, and how these strategies can improve the child's communication and active participation at home, school, and in the community.

After completing this session, you will be able to:

• describe the value of knowing and sharing a child's and family's stories to develop an educational plan that leads to valued outcomes
• identify three strategies that can be integrated into the program plan for at least one child you work with