10 West Edge Drive
Suite 101
Durham, NH 03824

Phone: 603.862.4320
Fax: 603.862.0555

E-mail

Introductory Training for Facilitated Communication

Description

This workshop will provide participants with a general overview of facilitated communication (FC), a method of augmentative and alternative communication used by people with limited speaking abilities. Topics covered will include the history of FC, basic elements of the FC technique, determining candidacy for FC, and a review of current research and best practices. Examples and demonstrations of the use of FC with both school age individuals and adults will be given. This workshop will provide information to people who are interested in gaining basic understanding of FC. It is also a prerequisite for people who will become facilitators for individuals who use FC.

Workshop Agenda:

• History of FC
• What is FC and who is it for?  Definitions and candidacy                        
• Basic elements of the technique including the role of physical support
• Overview of training process for FC
• Best practice guidelines for the use of FC
• Overview of research on FC
• Achieving Independence and determining success with FC

Presenter: Pascal Cheng, M.Ed., C.A.S.

Pascal Cheng has a M.Ed. and a C.A.S. in Special Education from the University of Vermont. He currently is an educational and communication specialist for Howard Community Services in Burlington, Vermont, providing training and technical assistance for communication and literacy in both school and community settings. He has been doing training and consultation in facilitated communication for over ten years. He serves as a member of the Vermont Communication Task Force, a group that works to improve communication supports and services for individuals with developmental disabilities in the state of Vermont.

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Whose Decision is it Anyway?

New & Expanded Full-Day Training on Legal Issues for Those Who Work with Seniors

Description

Description:
As people age, concerns can arise about some individuals' ability to make their own decisions. This workshop will help those who work with seniors to understand the rules and laws around decision-making. Participants will be able to describe who can and cannot make their own decisions, as well as the legal documents that are required to give others decision-making authority.

Agenda:
This workshop's morning session will provide an overview of guardianship, including types of guardianship, the role of the guardian, and individual rights. Additionally, the presenter will provide an overview of Advance Directives, including Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and Living Wills, as well as a discussion of the role of agents in implementing Advance Directives.
In the afternoon, the presenter will examine the decision-making process, including discussions on capacity, informed decisions, and ethical issues. Case studies will be used.

Topics to be Covered Include:

• Guardianship
• Power of Attorney
• Advance Directives
• Capacity and Incapacity
• Accountability
• Ethical Issues

This workshop has been approved by the NASW for five (5) Category I Continuing Education Credits in Ethics. Call 603.228.2084 for more information.

Presenter: Mary McGuire, Esq.

Mary McGuire is currently a staff attorney with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services. Ms. McGuire has extensive experience in the nexus of law and social services. She has worked for the NH DHHS for the past twelve years in the areas of child welfare, mental health, and most recently, elderly and adult services. She is well versed in the legal and ethical dilemmas faced by individuals who work directly with older adults in the community.

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Real Choice Systems Transformation Conference

Cultivating Real Choice for All: Partnerships for Inclusive Communities

Description

This one day conference will share new learning and practices in efforts to expand and enhance a person-centered, community-based system of long term care for older adults and adults with disabilities in the Granite State. The keynote presentation on “Civic Leadership: Building Social Capital Within Communities” given by Lew Feldstein, President of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, will be enhanced by twelve workshops on building supports and connections at the personal and community levels.

During registration and breaks, you will have ample time to explore exhibits and meet community vendors interested in partnering with your community. Lunch will offer you an opportunity to connect with other professionals and advocates.

For complete conference information, including a conference schedule and descriptions of workshops, please download the Real Choice Conference Brochure.

Conference Contributors:

• CMS Real Choice Systems Transformation Grants
• Granite State Independent Living
• National Alliance on Mental Illness NH
• Northern New England Geriatric Education Center
• NH Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Community Based Care Services
  • Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services
  • Bureau of Behavioral Health
  • Bureau of Developmental Services
• Real Choice Advisory Council
• University of New Hampshire
  • Institute on Disability
  • Institute for Health Policy and Practice

An application for Continuing Education Units has been submitted to the NH NASW. For more information, call 603.228.2084.

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APEX Training

Using Functional Behavior Assessment and Positive Behavior Support Strategies to Prevent and Remediate Challenging Behavior for Students in Middle School and High School

Description

Supporting students with challenging behavior has been identified as one of the most significant and demanding problems in our schools today, and it is clear that educators and families alike need an effective and efficient approach that can be used across all settings to prevent and remediate problems. In this training, participants will learn to create and nurture a problem-solving team of professionals who are responsible for developing evidence-based strategies for improving the behavior and academic achievement of students for whom school-wide approaches have been insufficient. Using a case study approach, topics to be explored will include:

• Using naturalistic Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBA) to identify variables that contribute to and support both challenging behaviors and more appropriate pro-social behaviors
• Positive interventions that address the functions of behavior and teach and support alternative skill development
• Creating behavior support plans aimed at reducing problem behavior and increasing pro-social behavior and academic achievement
• Designing and implementing targeted group interventions
• Using data-based decision-making for improving practice

Presenter: Cathy Apfel, M.Ed.

Cathy Apfel, M.Ed., has spent the last 34 years as a teacher, administrator, and consultant in the field of special education. She currently works for the UNH Institute on Disability providing training and technical assistance to schools to enhance their ability to provide successful experiences for children with disabilities. Specific areas of expertise include Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Autism Spectrum Disorders, and strategies for supporting children with emotional and behavioral challenges. She is also an adjunct instructor at Rivier College and Plymouth State University.

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Alzheimer's Inside and Out

A Practicum for Professionals Working with Families

Description

This interactive workshop will focus on looking through the eyes of Alzheimer’s disease and understanding the experience of the individual, connecting with the individual’s frustration, anger, and fear. Practical tips, tools, and techniques will be presented on various issues such as communication and addressing challenging behaviors. A brief overview of the nature of the disease, the diagnostic process, related disorders, and stages of progression will be provided, along with interactive exercises, discussion, and resource materials.

Who Should Attend:
Case managers, social workers, nurses, home health aides, long-term care specialists, clinicians, and others involved in working with older adults.

Presenter: Susan Antkowiak

Susan Antkowiak is the Manager of the Alzheimer’s Association’s New Hampshire office. She presents educational programs and training for professionals and families as well as those living with Alzheimer’s disease and related forms of dementia. Susan also provides care consultation for families affected by Alzheimer’s disease throughout the state of New Hampshire. Prior to her work with the Alzheimer’s Association, she has over twenty years experience in the assisted living and skilled nursing facilities industries, in social work, in marketing, and in administration. She has extensive experience working with a variety of issues related to Alzheimer’s disease and has facilitated support groups for over 20 years.

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The Paraeducator's Toolbox - Middle School & High School

Practical Strategies to Support Academic Achievement for Students with Learning and Behavioral Challenges

Description

Over the past five years, we have made a transition from perceiving situations in which a student exhibits challenging behaviors as a problem with the student to perceiving these situations as a problem with the environment (context). We no longer respond to these situations in ways that attempt to manage students, but in ways that identify and modify environmental variables to improve a student's quality of life through meaningful participation in both academic and social activities.

This training was specifically designed to provide paraeducators that work with students in middle school and high school settings with effective approaches to meet the very specific and complex needs of adolescents with social, emotional, learning, and behavioral challenges. Come explore the nature and needs of adolescents along with practical strategies for managing problem behavior, promoting student engagement in the learning process, and developing social competence.

Workshop Agenda:

• The nature and needs of adolescents
• The adolescent brain
• Learning styles, instruction, and student engagement: Strategies for success
• Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS): How it has changed our approach to supporting students with challenging behaviors
• Meeting basic needs and building relationships
• Understanding “function”
• The conflict cycle
• Troubled and troubling students: Supporting youth with social difficulties
  
• Supporting social competence

Presenter: Cathy Apfel, M.Ed.

Cathy Apfel, M.Ed., has spent the last 34 years as a teacher, administrator, and consultant in the field of special education. She currently works for the UNH Institute on Disability providing training and technical assistance to schools to enhance their ability to provide successful experiences for children with disabilities. Specific areas of expertise include Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Autism Spectrum Disorders, and strategies for supporting children with emotional and behavioral challenges. She is also an adjunct instructor at Rivier College and Plymouth State University.

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Person-Centered Planning for Older Adults

Facilitation Skills Training in Consumer-Directed Life Planning

Description

Person-centered planning is a unique, individually-focused approach to planning for persons who are in need of services and supports. This workshop offers an introduction to person-centered planning, including an overview of a person-centered system of care. Information on how to facilitate person-centered planning meetings and tools to use in the planning process, specifically focused on planning with older adults, will also be presented.

Who Should Attend:
Case managers, social workers, nurses, long term care specialists, clinicians, family members, and others involved in planning with older adults.

Agenda:
8:30 - Registration, Coffee & Muffins
9:00 - Challenges and Opportunities in a Person-Centered System
10:00 - Tools for Person-Centered Planning
12:00 - Lunch
1:00 - Tools (continued)
2:30 - Break
2:45 - Group Activity
3:45 - Wrap-up and Evaluation

This workshop is supported in part through a Person-Centered Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: CFDA 93.779.

Presenters: Susan Fox, M.Ed., MA & Patty Cotton, M.Ed.

Susan Fox, M.Ed., MA, is currently a project director at the UNH Institute on Disability leading NH’s work to prevent unnecessary institutionalization and to support all citizens to live within their home communities through the Real Choice System Transformation Grant in collaboration with the NH Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services. Prior to this, she served for five years as the State Director of the Division of Developmental Services. Including her years working in special education and community services management, she has been active in regional and statewide initiatives involving persons with disabilities for over 30 years.

Patty Cotton, M.Ed., is the director of Innovation Facilitators (IF), a network of experienced trainers and facilitators who have organized to support the evolution of person-centered planning. Patty works jointly with the Institute on Disability and the Browne Center for experiential learning at UNH to establish IF as a centralized resource for people with disabilities, older adults, and families to hire an “independent” facilitator to guide them through person-centered planning. Patty has coordinated numerous federally funded projects with a particular focus on model demonstration and system-change in adult services. She has extensive background in process facilitation, service brokering, and the development of natural support strategies.

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The Paraeducator's Toolbox - Preschool & Elementary School

Practical Strategies to Support Academic Achievement for Students with Learning and Behavioral Challenges

Description

Over the past five years, we have made a transition from perceiving situations in which a child exhibits challenging behaviors as a problem with the child to perceiving these situations as a problem with the environment (context). We no longer respond to these situations in ways that attempt to manage children, but in ways that identify and modify environmental variables to improve a child’s quality of life through meaningful participation in both academic and social activities.

This workshop has been specifically designed for staff that work with preschool through elementary aged children and will explore a variety of proactive approaches that promote successful academic outcomes, social competency, independence, and resiliency. We will examine the role that “context” plays in children’s behavior and will explore the various components of Positive Behavior Supports including meeting children’s basic needs and modifying environments to better meet the social, emotional and learning needs of children.

Workshop Agenda:

• Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports: How it has changed our approach to supporting students with challenging behaviors
• Meeting basic needs and building relationships
• Understanding “function” and the meaning of behavior
• Choices, teaching alternatives, and acknowledging the positive
• Providing instructional accommodations that help students access the general education curriculum
• Promoting independence
• Supporting social competencies

Presenter: Cathy Apfel, M.Ed.

Cathy Apfel, M.Ed., has spent the last 34 years as a teacher, administrator, and consultant in the field of special education. She currently works for the UNH Institute on Disability providing training and technical assistance to schools to enhance their ability to provide successful experiences for children with disabilities. Specific areas of expertise include Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Autism Spectrum Disorders, and strategies for supporting children with emotional and behavioral challenges. She is also an adjunct instructor at Rivier College and Plymouth State University.

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