Martin L. Kutscher, M.D. is board certified in Pediatrics and in Neurology, with Special Qualifications in Child Neurology. He lectures internationally, and is author of three recent books, including Kids in the Syndrome Mix of ADHD, LD, Asperger’s, Tourette’s, Bipolar and More:  The one stop guide for parents, teachers, and other professionals and the ADHD Book: Living Right Now! A graduate of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, he completed his pediatrics at Temple University’s St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and a pediatric neurology fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  Dr. Kutscher is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and of Neurology at the New York Medical College. Dr. Kutscher’s medical practice is limited to pediatric behavioral neurology.

Dr. Kutscher's presentation will discuss the problems with the syndrome mix, the treatments of the syndrome mix, and medication treatment.

Michelle LaRocque, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University

Suzy Gerard-Ruttenberg, Parent

Project PEER: Parents and Educators Engaging in Real Collaboration

This session will begin with an overview of a pilot program developed and implemented by parents and professionals.  This inclusive model program was conducted in a private preschool and provided services to children with and without disabilities and their families.  Presenters will then share the strategies used for promoting true collaboration and honoring family’s choices and preferences.  Methods will also be provided for using good working relationships as the medium for effective intervention.  Additionally, methods will be discussed for designing interventions based on clinical research that have applications for practitioners, theorists and families, so that effective linkages between theory to practice can be made. 

The implications for both parents and practitioners are great.  The promotion of effective professional-parent partnerships will increase knowledge, understanding and strategies for improving the services for children with disabilities and provide parents with the opportunity to acquire the skills and vocabulary necessary to effectively collaborate and communicate their knowledge. This presentation has a strong relationship to recommended practices as it delineates how families and educators can work together to improve social competence, independence and problem solving of children.  

Rationale: When working as equals, parents and teachers have more opportunities to express understanding of each others’ knowledge, learn about the other’s perspective, and become allies in making improvements in the school.  Many of our social institutions reflect a hierarchical rather than participatory approach to solving problems.  By including families, a more collaborative approach is achieved.  Many past approaches to dealing with student’s learning and communication issues viewed families as either part of the problem or another client.  This presentation will demonstrate how parents can serve a full and functional role on the educational team.

Pragmatics: A Little Understood Critical Life Skill

Children with a variety of learning and communication disorders present with differences in the area of pragmatic language.  Pragmatic language is defined as the social use of language.  It affects both the understanding and expression of language.  Deficits in this area may be identified as early as 6-9 months of age, long before speech is expected to develop.  Pragmatic language continues to be affected in many individuals into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

 This presentation will present information about the early development of pragmatics and what some of the earliest functions of communication look like in typically developing, as well as non-typically developing children.  These pragmatic serve the functions of behavioral regulation, quasi-social, and social needs.  Video examples of these functions will be used to illustrate the content.  Pragmatic language deficits in older children will also be described.

Intervention techniques that address some of the challenges presented by young children will be presented.  These intervention techniques include the use of communication temptations, incidental language teaching, pivotal response training, and responsive interactions.  Interventions for older children, who may have continuing differences in this area, will also be shared.

Sensory Integration: Connectedness Through Our Ability to Listen

This information session will include the basics regarding sensory integration. It will discuss, on a parent friendly level, the history, terminology, neurology and methodology of this dynamic approach to what is becoming a diagnosis of epidemic proportions. This session will also include some of the interventions that emphasize a child’s ability to be connected with his/her outside world through their ability to listen and focus on the appropriate sounds/frequencies of human language.

My solid understanding of the diagnosis and intervention helps me present a lecture series that is informational and interactive allowing parents and professionals to walk away feeling that they have learned something that they can use right away to help their children.

Emotional Intelligent Parenting

Integrating Therapeutic Approaches-How to Facilitate Communication, Socialization, and Biomedical Improvements in Children with Developmental Delays

Assisting children with Developmental Delays can often times leave families confused and frustrated as an overwhelming amount of information is thrown at them, often times from professionals whose recommendations seem contradictory to each other.  Interventions for special needs children are thankfully continuously evolving, but it requires that families remain educated about what is available, how is it helpful, and how can it be integrated into a complete program that takes into account the complete and individually developing child.

 This presentation will provide an overview of various therapeutic interventions as well as a discussion of the strengths and potential benefits of each. Therapeutic approaches to be discussed include ABA/Verbal Behavior, DIR/Floortime, Relation Development Intervention, Speech/Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Sensory Integration, Auditory Integration, and Social Skills Development. Emphasis will be placed on the necessity to integrate therapeutic approaches in order to maximize their potential impact on children. Additionally, biomedical information regarding medical resources, special diets and supplementation often recommended especially for children on the Autistic Spectrum, will be provided so that families might further investigate possible avenues of support. Resources for additional information and parent networking opportunities will be provided. Information for the presentation will derive from both researched and established means of assisting children with Developmental Delays, as well as from personal experiences both as a mother of a child considered recovered from a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum, and from experiences garnered from numerous families who have benefited from integrated services.

Taking control back from the child without being confrontational or punitive

Living or working with a child/loved one diagnosed with ADD/HD, Aspergers or related disorders presents a myriad of challenges.  The relationship can become stressful and affect the entire family/classroom.  When this happens, the child has taken control of their environment.  At this stage, the child may become Oppositional Defiant (ODD) as well.  Learning to take back and maintain control, without being confrontational or punitive is essential.  Differentiating between manipulative and deficit based behaviors, understanding the motivating factors behind the child’s behavior, following the child’s thought process, and retraining the child’s brain are critical steps to success. 

Defining and recognizing the line between deficit behaviors (when the child does not know any better or is missing the skill) and manipulative based behaviors (when the child knows right from wrong or has the skill but makes the wrong choice) is crucial.  Complicating these boundaries is the fact that many times the child’s deficit is the inability to make good choices (due to processing or other cognitive deficits such as coding, sequencing, part whole relationships, etc.) 

In an effort to compensate for these deficits, the child develops an inadequate coping skill set or kit.  This sequence of events sets the child up for failure in the social, academic, and/or home environments.  These failures, in many instances, lead to the child developing hyper anxiety, compounding the problems. 

In an effort to help; parents educators, and caregivers tend to overcompensate for these deficits; resulting in stunting the child’s independent, social, emotional, and academic growth.  Lowered expectations leads to lower self-esteem, which culminates with lowered performance and achievement. 

The keys to success are:

1.      Give the child the proper tools for their coping kit (proper coping skills)

2.      Train the child to use these tools effectively

3.      Educate the child to identify their areas of need and to use the appropriate tool 

This presentation will cover the methodologies and techniques necessary to prepare a child for life.  These methods and techniques have developed over 30 years of working with at risk children in a day school, residential, overnight summer camp program.   

Working so closely in all areas with these children, the examples and strategies used are easily transferable into the home, classroom, or social arenas.  The use of real life examples and relevant data comes from working with this population on a day to day basis and will result in the listener identifying and connecting with strategies that are easily implemented and successful – rather than being confrontational and punitive.  The process is successful as the child learns accountability and responsibility for themselves and the resulting effects of their choices.

Identifying Students Who Learn Differently, Understanding Other Co-existing Conditions and Strategies to Improve Learning, Attention and Family Dynamics

Many students with learning and communication challenges are visual-experiential learners.  These students often have attention, self-control, visual motor integration, communication and/or self-esteem issues.  We will share our strategies where we:

-                     Assess the child with a combination of the Structure of Intellect Assessment ® (that assesses learning style, learning strengths and challenges and auditory and vision challenges), the Interactive Metronome ® to assess attention, and a Visagraph ® that shows vision tracking issues.  We will share 3 assessments that can be used for pre-K and kindergarten students, students in grades 1 to 3 or students in grades 4 and above

-                     Assess for learning differences, attention and visual perception issues through an on-line assessment

-                     Help students become calmer, more confident and better focused with Brain Gym Exercises ® that improve left and right brain integration, The Interactive Metronome ® -- we have helped a number of very young students in the spectrum as well as over 600 other students – many with complex pathologies, Freeze Framer Biofeedback ® from Heart Math – a system that helps students, parent and teachers, Primal Reflexes to reduce inappropriate behaviors

-                      Improve visual perception issues through Visual Motor Integration exercises that are part of our IPP Lab – a program designed by SOI

-                     Improve spelling, vocabulary and pattern recognition through a hands-on program using clay modeling

-                     Help students who learn differently to master math and spelling through a hands-on program

-                     Teach the meaning of critical communication words (e.g. control, out-of-control, sequence, consequence, responsibility)

Parents and professionals will have the opportunity to see and experience many of the activities and understand why we assess for certain situations and how we adjust the training based on the child’s strengths and challenges.  Parents will have the opportunity to try some of the exercises, see the risks of intimidating versus positive communication and see how hands-on teaching and parenting can help their child.  We will share strategies we have used for both students in the spectrum and ESE students to facilitate program to school collaboration focusing on the right placement, accommodations and parent to school communication.

Judith Aronson-Ramos, M.D.

Jonathon Hoffman, Ph.D.

Integration of Medical and Psychological Therapies for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Addressing many of the complex and varied issues faced by children with neurodevelopmental differences is challenging for parents and professionals. Some of these issues include perseverations, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and tics, sensitivities of taste, touch, sound, anxiety, depression, and global difficulties with social interactions. 

Balancing the practical needs of everyday life, and implementing effective intervention strategies can present many different problems for families and the treating professionals.  For example, is it better to get a child to school by finding them the “correct” pair of socks or implement a strategy that in the long-term will reduce this behavior but may make them late?  Should a child be given earplugs to muffle distressing noises or learn how to cope with noise despite their distress?  When should a parent respond to or ignore their child’s upset for their child’s developmental needs? How do we create therapeutic interventions that are sufficiently effective and flexible enough to promote long term gains? What role may medication play in fostering positive development and eliminating undesirable behaviors?

This presentation will examine these and other issues from the perspectives of a developmental pediatrician and a clinical psychologist who work extensively with children with neurodevelopmental disorders.  Common and uncommon problems will be outlined.  The various theories regarding the etiology and functionality of these problems will be discussed.  Practical medical and psychological treatment strategies will be given.  The complexities of generalizing improvements across treatment, home, social, and school environments will also be addressed.

The presentation will give participants the opportunity to ask questions and share their own experiences and perspectives.