Sampling of Topics for presentation/workshops

Drawing on almost 30 years of teaching children with unique and special needs, Judi offers parents an opportunity to learn specific principles and teaching strategies that can be readily implemented into the home school setting.  Workshops offer specific help for individualizing instruction and addressing the student’s learning strengths and weaknesses.  Judi will share easy-to-apply strategies, study skills and teaching tools essential to effective learning for reading comprehension, writing, spelling and basic arithmetic skills.  She emphasizes teaching strategies and ideas that are easy to learn and require little planning! Judi will encourage you with these simple and powerful ways to improve the effectiveness of your teaching and the performance of your student.  

JUDI CAN PRESENT ANY OF THESE WORKSHOPS (1-2 hours each as needed)

Teaching Students with Communication Challenges  

There are many students who struggle with oral and written communication.  Among them are students with Asperger’s and high-functioning autism who present additional challenges for teachers. Language-based weaknesses may result from deficits in auditory or language processing, receptive and expressive language disabilities Parents need to understand how they impact the student’s ability to acquire, understand, use, and retrieve information --in school and in the home.

Judi will provide evidence-based strategies and instructional tools to support instruction and assessment. Participants will learn how to apply individual strategies and teaching recommendations. This is a practical workshop where parents can learn effective strategies and tools to support the struggling student. Parents do not need to purchase special books or spend time in advance lesson preparations!

 Choosing and Using Curriculum  

Parents will learn the essential guidelines for choosing curriculum that is most appropriate  for each child's needs.  Judi will teach parents how to assess the reading difficulty level of reading materials.  Participants will learn easy-to-use ways to utilize less-than-optimal curriculum to better support the needs of each learner. Participants will be better equipped to discern what characterizes effective educational software. Judi will also address challenges of using "whole-year" packages for children who learn differently.  Handouts will list helpful resources and websites.

Adapting Instruction -- Modifications and Accommodations

All learners will encounter difficulty at some time.  When they do, typical students merely need the teacher to make small adjustments to a presentation or assessment.  While such simple adjustments are sufficient for most, they are seldom adequate for the students with special needs. Accommodations or modifications are more intensive adjustments in either instruction or assessment.

In this workshop, parents will learn the difference between modifications and accommodations, as well as when and how to use them in instruction.   Parents will develop an understanding how appropriate accommodations can enhance every student’s achievement –not just a student with special needs.  Judi will teach parents how to incorporate easy-to-use accommodations for home school students that will support and enhance student performance in the learning environment.  .   

 Why Isn’t My Making Progress?  

When your child continues to struggle with academics, it is natural to question your own teaching skills.  Often, however, the real reason for the problem lies elsewhere.  The child may have a language or learning disability, or there may not be an appropriate match of the book to the child.  Students with special needs have little ability to compensate by themselves when difficulties arise, so the home educator needs to know what to do. 

n this workshop, Judi draws from the best of her 30 years of teaching special needs students to present easy-to-use strategies that really work.  Parents will learn the most significant warning signs that indicate a need for testing and special help. Parents will be learn to discern whether the child’s struggles are because of a learning disability, his learning style, individual motivation or from problems caused by the textbook.  She will describe why certain teaching techniques are more effective for a child’s needs.  Parents will leave this workshop feeling more equipped and educated about what works for their special needs student.

Writing an Individualized Student Education Plan for Your Home School Child

This practical workshop will help parents understand the essential components of a well-written, and useful SEP -- Student Educational Plan.  Completing the SEP helps parents to clarify their understanding of the strengths and weaknesses and the child's present learning needs.  Parents learn how to set priorities for significant weaknesses and to write annual goals that address those important needs.  Judi will show how to write goals that are measurable, observable, and that contain clear standards to measure success.  Appropriate SEP goals not only help the student but also help the parent to guide units of instructional planning and to monitor progress.  Modifications and adaptations will be briefly addressed.  Judi brings a common-sense perspective that will encourage struggling parent-educators.  Participants will receive a reproducible blank SEP document to create an educational plan for their own special student. 

 Additional topics may be available upon request.