Schools 2012 Education Sessions

Instructional Level

Unless otherwise noted, all Schools Conference sessions are at the Intermediate level and assume general familiarity with the concepts, terminology, literature, and professional practice of the topic.

Friday, July 27

Opening Plenary Session (8:00 a.m.–9:30 a.m.)

PL01 Finding Your Voice for What Matters Most
Jennifer Abrams, MA

In our professional lives we encounter many potentially difficult conversations with administrators, classroom teachers, parents, and colleagues. Sometimes we find it hard to confront authority, express disagreement, make a judgment, ask for help, or admit an error. But the price of not addressing difficult issues is high. Having hard conversations is necessary if we are to be true to ourselves, do the best for the children we serve, and create environments that support learning and growth. This session helps you master the art of speaking with more clarity and courage when it matters most. We'll discuss the principles of clarity, crafting, and communication in order to have hard conversations that are authentic, humane, and growth-producing.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• identify why you hesitate to have hard conversations
• design questions to ask yourself before you choose to speak up
• articulate in professional language the challenges you are facing
• apply "quick script" tools and non-verbal tips to avoid triggers that put others on the defensive

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

CS01 Using Mobile Technologies: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and More
Samuel Sennott, MEd

Note: This session is repeated as CS09, Friday, 1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Are you excited about harnessing new mobile technologies to improve your services to students? Are you determined to use evidence-based practices? Then this intensive session is for you! We'll introduce a conceptual and practical framework for using new mobile technologies that focuses on identifying individual needs and matching key practices and features in an easy-to-use format. This fast-moving presentation gets past the hype, giving you a concise overview of new mobile technologies, apps, and interventions to promote a variety of skills for the individuals you serve.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe a conceptual and practical framework for considering and using new mobile technologies such as the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Android-based devices
• list concrete steps to obtaining, using, and maintaining new mobile technologies in your practice
• develop an action plan for implementing new mobile technologies in your practice

CS02 Integrating Common Core Standards Into School-Based Treatment
Perry Flynn, MEd, CCC-SLP and Lissa Power-deFur, PhD, CCC-SLP

Note:Note: This session is repeated as CS07, Friday, 1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

Common Core Standards are driving general education programs across the country. This session will help you understand the intent and purpose of the standards so you'll be equipped to identify opportunities to integrate speech-language services into the framework they provide. You'll also learn how to identify specific language and literacy expectations and then develop activities that build on them.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• explain the purpose and expectations of the Common Core Standards
• describe the language and linguistic expectations of the Common Core Standards
• integrate the Common Core Standards into speech-language services
• use the Common Core Standards to plan a speech-language activity that is based on a theme and the student's level of academic performance

CS03 Reevaluating Current Practices in Speech Sound Disorders
Gregory L. Lof, PhD, CCC-SLP

It may be time for SLPs who work with children who have speech sound disorders to take second look at current practices like using developmental speech sound norms for eligibility for services and treatment target selection; using nonspeech oral motor exercises to change speech sound productions; using phonological processes to determine phonological patterns; and the confusing diagnostic label "childhood apraxia of speech" (CAS). In this session we'll critically evaluate all these practices based on current research and consider suggestions for modifying their use.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• use speech sound norms appropriately
• critically appraise the use of nonspeech oral motor exercises
• determine patterns within phonological processes
• use established criteria to diagnosis CAS

CS04 Language Development and AAC: Using Strategically Adapted Storybooks to Improve Language
Jacquelyn R. Moore, PhD, CCC-SLP

Are the students who use AAC still communicating with missing articles, incorrect tenses, and nonstandard syntax on their telegraphic messages? This presentation focuses on an innovative intervention, strategically adapted storybooks (SAS), that has been shown to support the growth of language skills 80–100% above baseline. Based on children's language levels and not their chronological age, SAS enhances sentence production in the context of interactive reading. You'll come away knowing how to strategically adapt storybooks to meet the language needs of children who use AAC.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe asymmetry in language learning differences for children with complex communication needs
• explain the significance of determining the child's "zone of proximal development"
• identify two scaffolding strategies to improve the language abilities of students who use AAC
• describe how to strategically adapt storybooks to meet children's language needs

CS05 Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Skills, and Multicultural Populations
Catherine Crowley, JD, PhD, CCC-SLP

Too often after working diligently to "learn to read," students find that they cannot "read to learn." Research shows that limited vocabulary development is a key reason for reading comprehension problems, and this is especially true for bilingual students and students from lower income families. In this session, we'll examine why students in grades 4–8 may have problems with vocabulary, and we'll discuss how to address these problems, including some particularly effective strategies for bilingual students (including strongly English-dominant children). You'll learn proven approaches to improved reading comprehension and performance on grade-level reading tests, which you can apply to your caseload and implement more broadly in collaborative team-teaching situations, response to intervention programs, and initiatives to address disproportionate referral concerns.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• identify why bilingual students and students from lower socio-economic status tend to have lower vocabulary skills
• assess the importance of vocabulary in common diagnostic instruments and national achievement tests
• analyze videotapes to identify the effect of vocabulary skills on reading comprehension
• implement two different approaches to developing vocabulary with students (grades 4–8) with an emphasis on aspects that significantly benefit students from bilingual homes

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

CS06 Autism: Addressing Social Interaction Problems
Pamela Wiley, PhD, CCC-SLP

In this session, we focus on helping students aged 4–16 who are diagnosed with mild to moderate autism spectrum disorder (ASD) improve their social skills. We'll review social skills assessment tools and intervention strategies, and discuss how to start and implement social skills groups in public school settings. We'll also address IEP objectives, sample lessons for different age groups, and ways to promote parent participation.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• discuss the statistics, characteristics, and etiology of ASD
• describe current social skills assessment tools
• write long- and short-term objectives to target social skills deficits
• apply specific intervention techniques for social skills groups public school settings
• discuss social skills milestones and classroom expectations for children from elementary through middle school years

CS07 Integrating Common Core Standards Into School-Based Treatment
Perry Flynn, MEd, CCC-SLP and Lissa Power-deFur, PhD, CCC-SLP

Note: This session is a repeat of CS02, Friday, 9:45 a.m.–11:45 a.m.

Common Core Standards are driving general education programs across the country. This session will help you understand the intent and purpose of the standards so you'll be equipped to identify opportunities to integrate speech-language services into the framework they provide. You'll also learn how to identify specific language and literacy expectations and then develop activities that build on them.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• explain the purpose and expectations of the Common Core Standards
• describe the language and linguistic expectations of the Common Core Standards
• integrate the Common Core Standards into speech-language services
• use the Common Core Standards to plan a speech-language activity that is based on a theme and the student's level of academic performance

CS08 Update on Assessment and Treatment for Speech Sound Disorders
Gregory L. Lof, PhD, CCC-SLP

This presentation gives you a fast update on new developments in speech sound assessment and treatment, summarizing and interpreting findings from the current literature. We'll examine topics including trends in assessment, ways to determine severity and levels of intelligibility, efficient treatment target selection options, and efficient and effective treatment decisions, all with an emphasis on what works based on empirical evidence.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• compare your assessment practices with those of other SLPs
• use evidence-based procedures to determine severity and levels of intelligibility
• select alternative methods for choosing treatment targets
• select evidence-based treatment approaches for different types of SSDs

CS09 Using Mobile Technologies: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and More
Samuel Sennott, MEd

Note: This session is a repeat of CS01, Friday, 9:45–11:45 a.m.

Are you excited about harnessing new mobile technologies to improve your services to students? Are you determined to use evidence-based practices? Then this intensive session is for you! We'll introduce a conceptual and practical framework for using new mobile technologies that focuses on identifying individual needs and matching key practices and features in an easy-to-use format. This fast-moving presentation gets past the hype, giving you a concise overview of new mobile technologies, apps, and interventions to promote a variety of skills for the individuals you serve.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe a conceptual and practical framework for considering and using new mobile technologies such as the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Android-based devices
• list concrete steps to obtaining, using, and maintaining new mobile technologies in your practice
• develop an action plan for implementing new mobile technologies in your practice

CS10 Having Hard Conversations: Workshop
Jennifer Abrams, MA

Take the principles discussed in the opening plenary session to a deeper level, and discuss specific tools and skills for having difficult conversations that are humane, productive, and growth-producing. You'll have the chance to practice key scripting techniques, decode nonverbal signals, and discuss how chains of command and hierarchies affect your difficult conversations. You'll learn how to choose the most appropriate time and place for your conversation, and come away with a framework that supports productive talk.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• formulate the desired outcomes of a hard conversation in professional terms
• prepare to manage your emotions in a difficult conversation
• use scripting techniques to open your conversation successfully

Roundtable Discussions (4:15 p.m.–5:30 p.m.)

Discuss identified topics of interest with speakers and colleagues from around the country. You'll have the chance to participate in three different topic discussions. Have a topic you'd like to discuss? Note it on the registration form!

ASHA Foundation Fundraiser (6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.)

Lakeside Soiree at the Milwaukee Museum of Art

See information under Special Events.

Saturday, July 28

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

CS11 Cleft Palate and Resonance Disorders: Low Tech and "No-Tech" Assessment and Intervention
Ann W. Kummer, PhD, CCC-SLP

Even if you only occasionally see children with cleft palate, velopharyngeal dysfunction, or abnormal resonance, this session is for you. After reviewing normal resonance and velopharyngeal function, we'll look at the types and causes of velopharyngeal dysfunction and resonance disorders, with emphasis on simple low- and no-tech assessment procedures that you can use in a school setting. We'll discuss treatment options, including surgery and prosthetic devices, and review specific speech therapy techniques for this population (and other children with speech-sound disorders). You'll come away better able to evaluate children with resonance disorders or evidence of velopharyngeal insufficiency, make appropriate treatment recommendations, and use effective intervention strategies when appropriate. Short video clips illustrating techniques and strategies make this session informative, practical, and fun.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe normal resonance and the components of normal velopharyngeal function
• identify the various types and causes of velopharyngeal dysfunction
• recognize the types and causes of various resonance disorders
• apply appropriate "low tech" and "no tech" procedures for assessing resonance and velopharyngeal function
• use effective therapy techniques for misarticulations secondary to structural abnormalities

CS12 Selective Mutism and the DIR/Floortime™ Model
Joleen R. Fernald, MS, CCC-SLP

Assessing and treating children with selective mutism (SM) is challenging for even the most experienced SLP. Given the complexity of SM, a comprehensive treatment model such as DIR/Floortime is advantageous because it can address all facets of the disorder: social/emotional development, individual differences, motor and sensory processing, and relationships with others at home, school, and in the community. In this session, we'll review the components of the DIR/Floortime model, compare Section 504 plans with IEPs for children with SM, and discuss treatment strategies for each functional emotional developmental level.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe the components of the DIR/Floortime model
• identify the six emotional developmental levels of the DIR/Floortime model
• give reasons why a Section 504 Plan or an IEP is more appropriate for a child with SM
• write an IEP communication goal and objectives for a child diagnosed with SM
• discuss treatment strategies for each functional emotional developmental level

CS13 Enhancing Vocabulary Practices for Children: Promoting Academic Language in Clinical Interventions
Laura Justice, PhD, CCC-SLP

Many children served by SLPs require boosts to the breadth and depth of their vocabulary knowledge. The scientific literature on what words to target and how to do so effectively has increased substantially in recent years. This session updates you on word-selection practices, particularly with respect to academic language, and intervention techniques that are empirically validated.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• identify approaches for word selection that take into account goals for improving academic language
• describe empirically validated ways to improve students' word knowledge
• discuss recent trends in describing how children learn new words

CS14 Children With Feeding/Swallowing Problems in Schools
Joan C. Arvedson, PhD, CCC-SLP

Increasingly, SLPs in schools encounter children with a wide range of feeding and swallowing problems. In this session, we'll discuss how to promote safe and efficient feeding strategies in school settings with emphasis on developmentally appropriate strategies that are without stress for the child or caregiver. We'll examine selected health issues (e.g., airway, gastrointestinal, neurologic, and nutritional problems) and set the stage for discussing evaluation and intervention decision-making. We'll discuss roles of the members of school-based feeding/swallowing team in helping children with complex needs to be successful in school.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe roles for members of school-based feeding/swallowing teams in evaluation and intervention for children with dysphagia
• discuss how working with feeding/swallowing disorders in schools meets IDEA requirements
• list three strategies for advancing chewing skills in young children
• state three criteria for consideration of instrumental swallow evaluations in children at risk for aspiration and pulmonary complications
• list three underlying health factors that are crucial to safe oral feeding

CS15 Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Checklist for Evidence-Based Practice
Sue Caspari, MA, CCC-SLP

Evidence-based practice tells us that we are accountable for the efficacy of our treatment protocols. In the treatment of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), empirical evidence and clinical standards of practice are both limited so we have to look to the best available evidence and approaches supported by reasonable theoretical bases, along with our own clinical experience, to determine what to do and why. This session will help you organize your thinking about treatment factors and how to adjust them to facilitate children's progress. We'll review the principles of motor learning as a theoretical basis underlying treatment for CAS, and discuss a checklist that provides a framework for making treatment adjustments for children who are making limited progress. You'll see examples of how to use the checklist, working with materials you already have on hand, to integrate the principles of motor learning in your clinical thinking during treatment planning and when making treatment adjustments.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe three elements that characterize speech as a complex motor task
• list at least five principles of motor learning
• describe at least five ways that the principles of motor learning might guide treatment decisions for a child with CAS
• discuss how the principles of motor learning might be used as a framework for making adjustments in treatment for children with CAS who are making limited progress

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

CS16 Comprehensive Assessment and Treatment of School-Age Children Who Stutter
Craig E. Coleman, MA, CCC-SLP, BRS-FD

In this session, we'll discuss the assessment and treatment of students aged 7–18 years who stutter, focusing on a model that addresses the affective, behavioral, and cognitive components of stuttering in a contextual framework. We'll emphasize developing measurable treatment objectives with case studies providing a springboard for examining specific treatment objectives and activities.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe mechanisms for assessing the affective, behavioral, and cognitive components of stuttering in students aged 7–18 years
• develop measurable treatment objectives for school-age children who stutter
• describe therapy activities that target the affective, behavioral, and cognitive components of therapy
• discuss the medical and contextual models of assessment and treatment

CS17 Helping Adolescents Meet the Language Demands of Disciplinary Literacy
Barbara J. Ehren, EdD, CCC-SLP, BRS-CL

An important new trend in adolescent literacy is disciplinary literacy, which focuses on the specific literacy requirements of each academic discipline as opposed to generic components across subject areas. Disciplinary literacy is largely a language matter. Adolescents must understand and use unique discourse patterns for history, science, math, and literature to acquire secondary curriculum content. This requirement is more complex for students who struggle. In this session, we'll analyze the specific discourse patterns of core academic subjects and discuss ways to address this work to help students who struggle and their teachers.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• analyze discourse patterns of history, science, math, and literature
• predict areas of difficulty with discourse structures for adolescent students
• describe ways to address language demands with students who struggle
• describe ways to assist secondary teachers in promoting disciplinary literacy

CS18 How to Develop a School-Based Telespeech Program
Michael Campbell, MS, MBA, CCC-SLP

This session provides a comprehensive framework for developing and implementing a telespeech program in a public school setting. We'll discuss guidelines for providing telespeech services, legal and regulatory issues, the types of technology most often used, personnel and space needs, and what current research tells us about telepractice. We'll look at common barriers to telepractice and how they can be overcome. You'll come away with an overview of all the components of a telepractice program in a school setting, including best-practices for implementation.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• provide a basic historical overview of telespeech communication technologies
• describe current technology and applications needed for a telespeech program in a school setting
• discuss advantages and limitations of a school-based telespeech program
• discuss major legal and regulatory considerations in developing a telespeech program
• outline current barriers to telepractice and possible solutions for overcoming those barriers

CS19 Educationally Relevant Service Delivery Models: Tying SLP Services to Educational Standards
Perry Flynn, MEd, CCC-SLP
Instructional level: Introductory

This session focuses on helping you provide school based services in the least restrictive environment (LRE), integrating your services with curriculum and classroom teachers' plans to achieve functional, educationally relevant outcomes for students.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• identify a variety of service delivery options for students while considering the LRE for each student
• tie student goals to functional and educationally relevant academic standards
• plan a classroom-based therapy session in collaboration with teachers to target individual speech-language goals in the context of curriculum, classroom themes, and routines

CS20 Poverty, Homelessness, and Children's Language: Practical Implications for Service Delivery
Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin, PhD, CCC-SLP

As the U.S. economy has become more troubled, the number of students living in poverty and conditions of homelessness has increased sharply. The well-documented effects of poverty and homelessness on children's linguistic, cognitive, and academic development are especially prevalent today. This workshop describes those effects and presents research-based, inexpensive, easy-to-implement strategies for supporting students of low socioeconomic status to increase their language skills and academic achievement, and thus their chances for a productive future.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• list general factors that affect the linguistic and academic achievement of students in poverty
• explain the effects of poverty on low-income students' oral and literate language development
• list suggestions for supporting low-SES parents in increasing their children's language skills
• describe specific strategies for increasing the oral and written language skills of students in poverty
• describe possible executive functioning deficits in students in poverty and summarize strategies for remediation of these deficits

Posters: Research in Action (4:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m.)

Review research projects, case studies, and service delivery models submitted by practitioners, researchers, and students. Each poster carries 15 minutes of CEU/PDH credit. You may earn credit for up to six posters in this time period.

ASHA Member Forum (4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.)

Speak with members of ASHA's Board of Directors about the association's current priorities, issues, and initiatives. Give input, get answers to your questions, and find out more about ASHA's activities. (Note: this session is not offered for ASHA CEUs/PDHs.)

ASHA PAC Reception (6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.)

See information under Special Events.

Sunday, July 29

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

CS21 Internet Treasures for School-Based SLPs
Judith Maginnis Kuster, MS, CCC-SLP

Among the millions of pages available through your Web browser is a wealth of free material designed or easily adapted for providing speech-language services to a variety of clients. This session shows you how to use the Internet to find and create therapy materials you can use in school settings. We'll review general collections as well as many new reproducibles, interactive sites, electronic books, and therapy materials focusing on specific disorders. You'll come away with a treasure trove of suggestions, plus search strategies to locate additional materials and apps.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• locate materials on the Internet that can be used in clinical service delivery
• adapt Internet materials for specific clinical uses
• conduct searches for new therapy materials on the Internet

CS22 SLPs and Response to Intervention: Seizing Opportunities to Implement Important Roles
Barbara J. Ehren, EdD, CCC-SLP, BRS-CL

Whether or not your school district calls it "response to intervention" (RTI), chances are you're dealing with RTI approaches. As an SLP, you have much to offer your school in promoting the success of all students, pre-K–Grade 12. The key is to implement roles within RTI for which you are uniquely prepared. In this session, we'll evaluate specific activities across all RTI tiers from the perspective of roles defined by ASHA for SLPs working in schools (2010). An additional focus will be on evidence-based practices across tiers for students struggling with literacy.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• distinguish RTI myths from reality
• evaluate SLP roles in RTI that draw on an SLP's unique expertise
• analyze evidence-based practices for literacy instruction and intervention
• discuss local implementation of RTI in light of best practice

CS23 100 Treatment Techniques for Asperger's Syndrome and High Functioning Autism
Timothy P. Kowalski, MA, CCC-SLP

"But how do I get him to do it?" Now you'll be able to answer this question because this session gives you 100 treatment techniques useful in working with children and young adults diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome or high-functioning autism (HFA). With these students, SLPs typically focus on how to initiate, maintain, and terminate a conversation and use turn-taking skills. While these skills are important, there are many other aspects of social appropriateness. This session will give you tools to go beyond the basics and build some of the other skills necessary for social-pragmatic success.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe the range of skills necessary for social-pragmatic success
• explain how visual strategies enhance successful social-pragmatic intervention
• select appropriate treatment techniques from a list of 100 interventions

CS24 Identifying and Increasing Communication in Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities
Jane O'Regan Kleinert, PhD, CCC-SLP

Students with complex communication needs (CCN) and significant intellectual disabilities (students in the alternate assessment) are often placed in self-contained classes or even dropped from speech-language therapy due to "lack of progress." Their lack of clear communication is assumed (often wrongly) to reflect inability to participate with peers or progress to higher levels of communication. This session presents common communication characteristics of students with significant intellectual disabilities and, using video, gives you practice in recognizing and analyzing the communication levels of students with CCN. We'll discuss techniques for moving students who are pre-symbolic toward symbolic communication, emphasizing evidence-based interventions provided in students' classroom settings using the full school-based team.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• describe three major expressive and receptive communication characteristics and statuses of students with significant intellectual disabilities/CCN
• describe research that supports services to students with significant intellectual disabilities
• identify typical and idiosyncratic communication behaviors of students with significant intellectual disabilities
• identify at least three intervention techniques for students with significant intellectual disabilities using targets that align with the general curriculum

CS25 Hot Topics in Special Education Law
Julie J. Weatherly, Esq.

Discuss the top national legal issues that public school personnel are facing in special education under the IDEA and Section 504, including topics such as money damages and liability in special education cases; the use of restraint or seclusion in schools; programming for students with autism; service animals in schools; and disability harassment. You'll get updates on recent court decisions and any actions by Congress or the U.S. Department of Education that affect the provision of free, appropriate public education to students with disabilities. The emphasis is on helping you avoid procedural violations and other legal issues and disputes in your setting.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• list and discuss current legal issues in special education
• describe and use strategies for avoiding legal issues and disputes in special education
• identify potential areas of special-education legal concern in your setting

Closing Plenary Session (10:45 a.m.–11:45 a.m.)

PL02 Caught Between the Devil and the IEP: Ethics in School-based Practice
Shelly Chabon, PhD, CCC-SLP and Paul Rao, PhD, CCC-SLP

Clinical encounters are inherently complex, and in school settings layers of federal and state regulations add to the potential for ethical conflicts. This session analyzes some of the most common ethical challenges faced by SLPs in schools, and shows you how the ASHA Code of Ethics can be your compass for staying "on course" in your professional conduct. We will discuss the basic concepts that underlie professionalism, using case scenarios with attention to practical strategies you can use when faced with difficult situations. Next, we will analyze some problem areas, including issues related to caseload size, qualifying for services, Medicaid billing and other forms of reimbursement, and employer demands. Finally, we will discuss the complaint process and how the Board of Ethics adjudicates cases.

After completing this session, you'll be able to:

• List the top three ethical challenges faced by school based clinicians
• List the four principles of the ASHA 2010 Code of Ethics
• Apply principles and rules of the ASHA Code of Ethics to determine appropriate actions in problematic cases
• Outline steps to submit an ethics complaint to the ASHA Board of Ethics