+ Adding Performance Based Activities To Your Current Curriculum

Preschool and kindergarten children are matriculating into school with fewer “learning readiness” skills than ever before. Many highly capable and talented preschool and kindergarten aged children are demonstrating difficulty tolerating the classroom environment, difficulty with self control/regulation, difficulty with body awareness and control, and decreased fine and gross motor coordination. Many social trends including the “Back to Sleep” initiative, car seats, and the introduction of television and computers to toddlers have contributed to these issues. Regardless of the cause, these difficulties and deficits are presenting new challenges for classroom teachers. Classroom teachers must now, not only determine effective teaching strategies and appropriate modifications to the current curriculum, but they also must develop children’s performance skills while teaching the current curriculum.

It can feel like a daunting task to effectively add performance based activities to an existing curriculum. This process must occur without adding extra work to the teaching demands of the classroom teacher and without taking anything away from the existing curriculum.

During this workshop, this “daunting task” will be tackled methodically and strategically, with creativity. Participants will actively plan, problem solve, and develop classroom strategies that will allow them to teach the current curriculum while developing performance skills (specifically visual motor, fine/gross motor, and sensory motor skills). In this workshop, this process will be facilitated and guided by an Occupational Therapist.

+ Building The Foundation For Learning Readiness (For Teachers)

In this presentation, the participants will learn about the different definitions of learning readiness. Modern environmental and lifestyle influences that are negatively impacting learning readiness in children will be discussed. Guidelines on how to recognize the “symptoms” of these influences will be reviewed. Easy-to-implement strategies will be provided for teachers to use in the classroom to enhance learning readiness and ensure that children are ready for the challenges of the classroom. When you leave this presentation, you will be well-equipped to develop the foundation of learning readiness in your preschool and school aged children.

+ Ready or Not! The Secret to School Readiness

In this presentation, the participants will learn about the different definitions of learning readiness, and modern environmental and lifestyle influences that are negatively impacting learning readiness in children will be discussed. Guidelines on how to recognize the “symptoms” of these influences will be reviewed. Easy-to-implement strategies will be provided for teachers to use in the classroom to enhance learning readiness and ensure that children are ready for the challenges of the classroom. When you leave this presentation, you will be well-equipped to develop the foundation of learning readiness in your preschool and school aged children.

+ Occupational Therapy In The Independent School

Are you interested in adding Occupational Therapy Services into your independent school, but are uncertain about how to do so, what that support might look like, what the billing structure might be, and where to start. This seminar tackles the many challenges of initiating the provision of Occupational Therapy services to your students, as well as, how to customize the OT services and support to meet your school’s unique needs.

+ Talking to Parents When It Is Not Academics

Talking to parents about a learning concern, like math or reading, can sometimes be easier than bringing up topics like social skills, learning readiness, the performance/potential gap, physical abilities, or sleep/diet concerns. This seminar gives you straightforward, transparent techniques and strategies to use when talking about non-academic classroom concerns.

+ Sensory Issues and Learning Readiness: Making Sense of It All

In today’s world, we commonly hear terms like Sensory Processing Disorder, Sensory Integration, and sensory issues. We all have a sensory system, so why is the concept of sensory processing so hard to understand? Why are there so many different definitions of it? How can a child who can’t tolerate tags in his shirt and the child who can’t sit in circle time have the same diagnosis? Consider this seminar to be your Sensory 101 course. You will learn easy to understand information that will make your sensory system,...make sense!

+ Handwriting: What’s Important and What’s Not

We have been writing since the beginning of time, so how can handwriting still be one of the more challenging skills to teach, learn, and become proficient in. The handwriting curriculum in each school varies from teaching print only, teaching cursive only, teaching print, cursive, and keyboarding, and not teaching handwriting at all. The state of North Carolina currently has a law requiring the instruction of cursive in public schools.

A more pressing question to answer is: Is it even important to teach handwriting anymore, with the current trends toward keyboarding? In this seminar, that question will be answered as it relates to child development, motor skills, and written expression. In teaching handwriting, developmental appropriateness and understanding how to teach handwriting are two key components for successful learning. Both will be discussed and strategies will be given on how to establish and implement a writing/keyboarding curriculum that best works for your school.