This two day training is intended to prepare staff to safely prevent and manage dangerous behavior. Staff learns to intervene professionally and therapeutically using a safe, effective approach designed to prevent or reverse escalation of problem behavior and avoid the use of restraint. Safety Care de-escalation skills work with individuals who can communicate verbally and those who cannot. Safety Care is based on an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) model and focuses on removing/reducing environmental consequences that reinforce problem behavior.

Any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

Pennsylvania Code 4.11 cites that the purpose of public education is to prepare students for adult life. The employability skills that businesses value most take years to learn, practice and generalize. This process begins in kindergarten and continues through graduation.

Educators attending this training will learn how to explicitly teach employability "soft skills" to students with low incidence disabilities and complex support needs.

Employers seek workers with both "hard" and "soft skills". Hard skills are specific to a particular job. Soft skills are those that apply to all jobs in all industries. Examples include work habits, communication, and problem solving.

Morning Session:

- What skills do employers identify as most important? (A look at research and direct dialogue with local job coaches who support adults with disabilities in competitive employment)

- Explicit instruction and intentional reinforcement of employability skills at elementary, middle and secondary levels.

Afternoon Session:

- Establish classroom routines that provide guided practice in essential employability skills

- Employability Skills Portfolio

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the Frontline Education registration.

If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

In partnership with Allegheny Intermediate Unit's Center for Creativity, the Berks County Intermediate Unit will be offering a PASmart funded training cohort in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon's CMU CS Academy. This cohort is for educators implementing computer science instruction with a particular focus on equity and expanding opportunities for students with special needs.

CMU CS Academy is a project in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science that has the goal of developing a novel, world-class, online, interactive high school computer science curriculum that is entirely free.

Teacher's participating in the PA Smart grant-funded cohort

Will have access to CS academy curriculum and instructional materials at no cost.

Receive the two-day training at no cost. (Districts will receive a $400 stipend to offset travel and substitute teacher costs)

Will be provided with continuous support through a frequently monitored forum where questions will quickly be answered by Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Students.

Registration will begin at 8:30am.

Any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

Workshop Learning Objectives:





• Learn the rationale for using a threat assessment model.





• Learn and apply Threat Assessment Guidelines in schools.





• Become familiar with legal and mental health issues in threat assessment.





• Practice using the model to address cases of threats made by students.

Manual:





• One copy of the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines will be included with team registration.





• Additional manuals may be requested when registering and will be made available for teams at training, if preordered. Cost is $50.00 per additional manual.

DESCRIPTION:

ELSB and ERSB are research based reading programs designed for students with intellectual disabilities, autism, and multiple disabilities. Both programs provide lesson formats for students who are verbal, limited verbal and non-verbal. ELSB is for students who need to learn how to answer questions through beginning blending and segmenting. ERSB begins where ELSB leaves off and brings a student to a 2nd grade reading level. Phonemic awareness, decoding, site vocabulary, and comprehension are taught throughout both programs.

OBJECTIVES:

Participants will receive an overview of the components of the Early Literacy Skills Builder and Early Reading Skills Builder.

Participants will review student assessment in both programs.

Participants will learn how to complete a story lesson.

Participants will practice doing the word and sound building lessons.

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants.

Any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory, chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425

* Stay informed of the most current information from the PDE and professional organizations, and share that information with colleagues in their school or district

* Engage in collegial professional development activities for the purpose of building their own capacity to strengthen standards aligned systems at the classroom, building and district levels

* Serve as a collaborative resource for regional professional development activities

* Network and engage in collegial dialogue with other "job alike" professionals

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the My Learning Plan registration.

If you have any questions please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is pleased to announce a one-day 6-hour train-the-trainer boot camp (Act 48) designed to assist districts in meeting the statewide postsecondary attainment 2025 goal of 60 percent of Pennsylvanians with a postsecondary credential, certificate, or degree. Training will be provided by the Career Readiness State Training (CRST) team and will include the following:

Career Readiness and Workforce in PA (Career Education and Work Standards)

Industry-Based Learning

Stakeholder and Workforce Partnerships

Classroom and Workforce Alignment

Supporting Resources

District training teams should include a minimum of three and no more than ten K-12 educators. The lead team member should be a building principal or assistant principal. With an emphasis on classroom alignment to workforce needs, team composition should include teachers from both elementary and secondary.

The goal of this training is the development of an action plan that utilizes stakeholder and workforce partnerships to expand the classroom to career connections and build schoolwide momentum for career readiness. Team members will be poised to provide support in the implementation of the action plan.

*NOTE: Specialized training for counselors will be offered via Counselor Symposiums.

DESCRIPTION:

Developing effective communication skills is one of the primary goals for students receiving life skills support or multiple disabilities support. Classroom communication systems can provide common ground for teaching these skills to students whose skills differ greatly. Using daily routines as the basis for instruction in these systems allows for a consistent focus on developing communication.

This training includes a focus on the functions of language - "Why do we communicate" combined with core vocabulary and a long-range focus on communication skills needed as our students transition to adult life.

OBJECTIVES:

Review of core vocabulary

Presentation of framework pairing core vocabulary with functions of language

Introduction to applying of functions of language to daily routines and classroom procedures

Correlation of language functions to transition skills

Brainstorm core vocabulary associated with daily routines and special events

Practice modeling of vocabulary using visual supports

Develop plans to implement strategies to focus on communication in daily routines/procedures

Develop a classroom visual support to monitor core vocabulary instruction

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for PA districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the Frontline Education registration.

Any questions, please contact Mary Ann Reardon at marrea@berksiu.org or 610-987-8532.

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for PA districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the Frontline Education registration.

Additionally, participants will learn how to teach students to identify early signs of stress and anxiety so that they can intervene early and provide students with life skills to prevent behavioral challenges and become independent self-regulators.

OBJECTIVES:

-Participants will learn the principles for teaching students to become independent self-regulators.

-Participants will learn to use visual supports to help students identify and regulate behaviors.

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants.

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Ann Reardon at marrea@berksiu.org or 610-987-8532.

If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

Collaborative Conversations (2:10-3:30 PM) Description: During this session a PVAAS Statewide Team member will facilitate a conversation with school and/or district/LEA leaders from the local IU region. Leaders will share their experiences with using PVAAS and other data points to support their decision-making in a variety of situations. Time will be allotted for questions from participants and collaborative discussions among your peers.

Topics will include multiplication, division and fractions.

Registration will begin at 8:30am.

There is no charge for this workshop if you work in a Berks County School District.

Any questions, please contact Josh Hoyt at joshoy@berksiu.org

Description:

This training will provide participants with a method of teaching social and behavioral skills to students who are often labeled as defiant or difficult. Educators will be shown a method to teach these skills through both planned and incidental instructional moments.

Objectives:

-participants will learn how to provide explicit social skills instruction during planned instructional times.

-participants will learn how to help students to generalize social skills during unplanned instructional times.

-participants will learn how to manage student behaviors when social skills which were taught are demonstrated.

-participants will learn how to manage student behaviors when social skills which were taught are not demonstrated.

(PROFESSIONAL STAFF ONLY - SORRY, NO PARAS)

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants.

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Ann Reardon at marrea@berksiu.org or 610-987-8532.

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the My Learning Plan registration.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.

This one-day re-certification training is intended to refresh previously learned skills and maintain trainee compliance with Safety Care standards. Safety-Care training is intended to prepare staff to safely prevent and manage dangerous behavior. Staff learns to intervene professionally and therapeutically using a safe, effective approach designed to prevent or reverse escalation of problem behavior and avoid the use of restraint. Safety-Care de-escalation skills work with individuals who can communicate verbally and those who cannot. Safety-Care is based on an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) model and focuses on removing/reducing environmental consequences that reinforce problem behavior.

Among Special Education graduates, those with the most self-determination skills have the highest likelihood of attaining outcomes such as employment, independent living, financial independence, health insurance and other benefits. (Wehmeyer and Palmer, 2003; Periano, 1992; Halpern, 1990).

Self-determination includes a variety of complex and important skills. Sample self-determination skills are: informed decision-making; setting goals based upon understanding ones strengths, weaknesses and interests; evaluating ones own progress; developing a support system; advocating for oneself; and understanding the pros and cons of disclosing disability. These skills take years to learn, practice and generalize.

Participants in this workshop will learn how to explicitly teach self-determination skills needed for success after high school. They will learn to develop effective routines that provide guided practice for these skills in the elementary and secondary classroom.

Morning Session:

- Self-Determination Research

- Teaching Key Self-Determination Skills

- Decision-Making/Goal Setting/Action Planning

- Self Evaluation/Problem Solving

Afternoon Session:

-Guided Practice and Generalization

-Classroom Routines (practice opportunities)

-Disability Disclosure

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the Frontline registration.

If you have any questions, please contact Mary Ann Reardon at marrea@berksiu.org or 610-987-8532.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.

* Stay informed of the most current information from the PDE and professional organizations, and share that information with colleagues in their school or district

* Engage in collegial professional development activities for the purpose of building their own capacity to strengthen standards aligned systems at the classroom, building and district levels

* Serve as a collaborative resource for regional professional development activities

* Network and engage in collegial dialogue with other "job alike" professionals

SNOW DATE IS DECEMBER 17

Any questions regarding registration, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org

This two-day training will provide participants with information on changing student behavior through the use of research-based effective instructional practices. Participants will learn how to use effective instructional and classroom management techniques to prevent problem behaviors. By utilizing principles and strategies from both behavior and effective instruction research, school personnel can focus on preventing disruptive behavior that occurs in the classroom.

Topics will include:

- Basic Behavior Principles
- Organizing and structuring your classroom
- Designing and implementing explicit and fair classroom rules
- Assessing behavior
- Developing Behavior Intervention Plans
- Effective instructional strategies based upon the 10 Effective Teaching Principles
- Strategy instruction related to keeping students actively engaged with instruction including how to use response cards, error correction, group response, time trials, and guided notes

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for PA districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the Frontline Education registration.

Any questions, please contact Mary Ann Reardon at marrea@berksiu.org or 610-987-8532.

YOU MUST ATTEND BOTH DAYS TO RECEIVE CREDIT HOURS

If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

This meeting is only available to those who hold a valid school psychologist certification/credential and/or are currently enrolled in a school psychology training program.

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment will be modeled and discussed.

There is a $25.00 fee for this training if you work for a Berks County School District.

Registration begins at 8:30am.

Any questions, please contact Josh Hoyt at joshoy@berksiu.org

If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

This two day training is intended to prepare staff to safely prevent and manage dangerous behavior. Staff learns to intervene professionally and therapeutically using a safe, effective approach designed to prevent or reverse escalation of problem behavior and avoid the use of restraint. Safety Care de-escalation skills work with individuals who can communicate verbally and those who cannot. Safety Care is based on an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) model and focuses on removing/reducing environmental consequences that reinforce problem behavior.

Any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

Further, participants who take this course should be expected to see changes in student learning by being able to identify what the behaviors of a child who has experienced developmental trauma look like in the classroom setting, and being able to respond to those students' unique needs by having learned strategies to utilize within the classroom setting in order to mitigate significant behavioral and emotional manifestations that negatively impact educational performance and progress.

The required text for this course is "Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress" written by: Debbie Zacarian, Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, and Judie Haynes. Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4166-2460-8. PDF e-book ISBN: 978-1-4166-2462-2.

Any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at 610-987-8421 or lorger@berksiu.org.

This workshop will focus on teaching participants the science of behavior as well as the behavior assessment process. Participants will learn how and when to conduct informal and formal functional behavior assessments (FBA's).

It will also teach participants how to use behavior assessment information for the purpose of developing a specific behavior intervention plan with goals and specially-designed instruction.

Objectives:

- Participants will review the process of conducting Functional Behavior Assessments and informal assessments.
- Participants will review the process of utilizing behavior assessments to drive the development of effective Behavior Intervention Plans.
- Participants will review how to use data to make necessary adjustments to Behavior Plans.

Agenda:

- The Science of Behavior
- Conducting Behavior Assessments
- Data Collection
- Writing Measurable Behavior Goals
- Developing Behavior Intervention Plans

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the Frontline registration.

If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Gregory at chegre@berksiu.org or 610-987-8425.

This meeting is only available to those who hold a valid school psychologist certification/credential and/or are currently enrolled in a school psychology training program.

Professional development sessions are offered for Berks County Intermediate Unit member district staff and staff from organizations supporting students from Berks County member districts. Additionally, sessions are offered for Pennsylvania districts per contracted work that falls under the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Statewide System of Support services. Fees will apply to all other participants as listed in the My Learning Plan registration.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Gerber at lorger@berksiu.org or 610-987-8421.