Welcome from the South Carolina Department of Education, Office of Special Education Services

SC Teacher of the Year, Sarah Gams

Key Note Address

 Lucille Eber (Midwest PBIS Network, Illinois)

Mental Health in Schools: All Hands on Deck!

BASC Approved

Leaders in the fields of School Mental Health and School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) have been coalescing around the goal of strengthening their collaborative efforts in order to improve overall outcomes for students. As a national and international leader of this work, Lucille Eber will discuss the importance of an Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) and how state and local leaders can successfully install ISF in the local education agency. ISF is a structure and process to establish a single system of delivery across education and mental health, with active family and youth involvement.

Breakout 1A

Assessing and Integrating Family-School Collaboration Practices within Tiered Systems of Support

Andy Garbacz (University of Wisconsin-Madison) & Devon Minch (University of North Carolina)

The purpose of this session is to review research-supported and practical strategies for supporting family-school collaboration within tiered systems of support. Participants will learn research support for family-school collaboration, as well as practical guidance for implementing family-school collaboration at their sites. This session will review school-wide, Tier 1 approaches to family-school collaboration, as well as strategies at Tier 2 and Tier 3 for students and families who would benefit from targeted or individualized support at home and school.

Breakout 1B

Developing Effective Strategies and Interventions for At-Risk K-5 Students

BASC Approved

Kimberly Suber (Transformative Educational Solutions, South Carolina) & Robert Smalls (Transformative Educational Solutions, South Carolina)

In this session participants will learn strategies for K-5 students who need additional support at Tiers 2 and 3 related to emotional/behavioral challenges.  We will take a look into the R.E.S.E.T. program and their best practices.  Participants will receive information on how to develop a predictable environment, brain strategies, intensive therapy and integrated social-emotional learning, all focused on reducing student behavior problems, removing barriers to their learning, and enhancing school success.

Breakout 1C: Virtual Session

This session can be viewed on the Conference Virtual Attendee Hub Website

Trauma Sensitive School Practices: Critical Components of Core Social Emotional Learning within a Multi-Tiered System of Support

BASC Approved

Shanon Martin (Buncombe County Schools, North Carolina), Elizabeth Massey (Buncombe County Schools, North Carolina) & Denise M. Smith (Buncombe County Schools, North Carolina)

Educators may often feel overwhelmed by the number of programs they are expected to implement. Rather than launching yet another initiative that may soon lose momentum, using Multi-Tiered Systems of Support is an effective way to train and implement trauma sensitive and resiliency focused strategies within a school system. By purposefully incorporating evidence based or evidence informed interventions as a part of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Social Emotional Learning, trauma sensitive practices become embedded in school culture.

Keynote Address

Mike Veny (Mike Veny, INC., New York)

Transforming Stigma® in the Classroom

BASC Approved

This educational, energetic, entertaining keynote has been a source of motivation and provides timely information about suicide prevention and instruction for teachers across the country. The keynote will include an abundance of simple and practical steps (with colorful examples) that teachers can take to immediately change self-destructive behavior. This presentation will provide concepts and tools for teachers who work with students and who are struggling with mental health challenges, behavioral health challenges, and self-destructive behavior.  The presentation, while informative will be presented in an entertaining style.

1:55pm-2:55pm

Breakout 2A

Building Best Practices for Engaging Families in Trauma-Responsive School Communities to Reduce the Impact of Trauma for All Students

BASC Approved

Lorelai Swanson (Carolina Family Engagement Center, University of South Carolina and South Carolina Department of Education) & Julia Beaty (Carolina Family Engagement Center, University of South Carolina and South Carolina Department of Education)

This workshop addresses the impact of both single event and multiple and repeated Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on student learning and behavior. It focuses on the importance of developing skills for all school staff to create a culture of sensitivity to encourage student resilience. Family engagement is essential in building resiliency in youth to promote change and break the cycle of trauma. A best practices framework for working with families to promote equity and reduce the impact of trauma will be presented.

Breakout 2B

The Promise and Practice of Community-University Partnerships to Build Capacity for High Quality and Effective School Behavioral Health Programs

Paul Flaspohler (Miami University, Ohio) & Kate Wargel (Miami University, Ohio)

In this presentation we will describe how university-community partnerships are and can be developed in support of implementation of school mental health services. We will include discussion of potential challenges and pitfalls that might disrupt progress of a community-university partnership and provide practical recommendations from the literature, offering advice for practitioners, university personnel, and school staff interested in pursuing a community-university partnership.

Breakout 2C: Virtual Session

This session can be viewed on the Conference Virtual Attendee Hub Website

RESPECT Small Group Social Skills Intervention for Middle School Students

BASC Approved

Esther D McCartney (University of South Carolina) & Genee Glascoe (University of South Carolina)

In the United States, an estimated five percent of students receive special education services for an emotional behavioral disturbance in the 2014-2015 academic year (U.S. Department of Education, USDOE, 2018). Even with special education services, students with an EB disorder have lower graduation rates, low academic outcomes, and increased risk for substance use (USDOE, 2014). Of the adolescents who do receive mental health treatment, an estimated 70% of them receive services through their schools (Farmer, Burns, Phillips, Angold, & Costello, 2003). The RESPECT intervention is a 7-week REBT social skills small group to help middle school students with EB disorders identify irrational beliefs they have towards authority figures and peers, develop new rational beliefs to learn how to respond differently in other situations, and provide a place for group members to practice new social skills.

Breakout 3A

First Steps of Social Emotional Learning and Restorative Practices Implementation in the Middle Grades

BASC Approved

Tobias Kilgore (Knox County Schools, Tennessee)

This session will examine the first steps of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Restorative Practices implementation in middle school.  The session will explain how to align these programs with Trauma Informed Practices and PBIS.  This session will model a Morning Meeting which is used to begin each day to build community and teach Standards and Competencies from the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL).  This session will also offer opportunities for collaboration between attendees on successful program implementation and alignment in other schools.

Breakout 3B

Countering the effects of Covid-19 on Children’s Mental Health- Universal Screening and the Use of Data

BASC Approved

Jim McDougal (State University of New York at Oswego)

The fear, uncertainty, isolation, and devastation associated with the current pandemic has wreaked havoc on public health. The toll associated with this pandemic has also intensely effected children’s mental health, underscoring the need for systematic screening within schools’ multi-tiered systems of support. This presentation will highlight the need for universal screening procedures in the schools and the promise they hold for improved student health. The presenter is the primary author of the Behavior Intervention Monitoring and Assessment System (BIMAS) a brief, repeatable, on-line measure developed and standardized for universal screening and progress monitoring with school aged youth. The presentation will review universal screening procedures for use in the schools and the characteristics of measures suitable for behavioral screening and progress monitoring.

Breakout 3C: Virtual Session

This session can be viewed on the Conference Virtual Attendee Hub Website

Responding to Teacher Burnout: Supporting Wellness for K-12 Teachers and Students

BASC Approved

Angela R Staton (James Madison University, Virginia), Joe LeBlanc (James Madison University, Virginia), Michele L Kielty (James Madison University, Virginia) &Tammy Gilligan (James Madison University, Virginia)

“Most of these kids have big holes in their lives. Their families are falling apart; they are taking serious medications. I have so many kids that have incarcerated parents. It’s a tough situation for kids and teachers.” This comment from a middle-school teacher exemplifies the experiences and perceptions of many teachers working with students who are living with chronic stressors. The resulting impact on teachers who are working to create supportive classrooms and establish high standards can lead to professional burnout, characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and deficits in competence (Taylor & Millear, 2016). Unfortunately, burnout can be common among teachers, from PK to 12 (Herman, Hickmon-Rosa, & Reinke, 2017), and can significantly limit teachers’ ability to respond effectively to their students’ academic and emotional needs.

Welcome from the South Carolina Department of Mental Health

Director, Ken Rogers

Key Note Address

 Elizabeth Mellin (Binghamton University – State University of New York)

Relationship-centered schools: Three ideas for addressing the longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on a generation of students

BASC Approved

As schools prepare to fully reopen in the fall (with many already reopened), they will be faced with the combined challenges of addressing learning losses and substantial student mental health needs. Relationship-centered schools provide a framework for integrating social and emotional learning with the academic curriculum and igniting new possibilities for how schools might support students as they face the very real and lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Centering relationships in schools also creates new ideas and opportunities for building more anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive learning environments. In this presentation, three ideas for centering relationships in schools are offered.

Breakout 4A

Supporting Military-Connected Youth: Increasing Awareness of Needs in Military Families and Resources for Prevention and Treatment

John Terry (Charleston Veterans Administration, South Carolina)

Military families and military-connected youth experience stressors generated by the unique characteristics of the military lifestyle such as deployment, impacts of war-related trauma or physical disability, fear of a military family member being killed or injured, reintegration, frequent transitions, and changing household dynamics. Military families transition frequently between multiple systems of care and into notably different geographic areas. Frequent transitions create additional risk for adverse outcomes with each move due to disrupted care, difficulty accessing care, and the increased possibility of transitioning to an area without the resources required to address the needs of a family member. The presenter will describe research and resources for the prevention and treatment of mental health concerns in military-connected youth and military families impacted by trauma. Programmatic examples as well as initiatives through the University of South Carolina Military Family Forum will be discussed to increase the support for military families, with special emphasis on the role of school behavioral health programs.

Breakout 4B

A Culture of Connectedness: Activating Protective Factors to Reduce Negative Mental Health Outcomes in Youth

BASC Approved

Taylor Davis (Behavioral Alliance of South Carolina, University of South Carolina, Department. of Psychology)

Increased School Connectedness has positive implications on behavioral health outcomes as well as academic achievement among youth. “A Culture of Connectedness'” serves to inform participants of the importance of a supportive and informed environment, which includes families, peers, staff/faculty, and administration in the reduction of stigma associated with issues of mental health as well as supporting the safety of those youth with lived experience of suicide. Working towards increasing awareness, a brief review of demographic information related to increased risk for issues of mental health and suicide will be provided along with signs/”invitations” associated with a need for increased connectedness. The primary focus will be on increasing protective factors for at risk youth through highlighting the construct of “School Connectedness”, a critical subset of the broader Connectedness Framework. Participants will explore comprehensive strategies to increase connectedness in their homes, schools, and communities at large.

Breakout 4C: Virtual Session

This session can be viewed on the Conference Virtual Attendee Hub Website

Mining for Health

BASC Approved

Kraig Howell (Griffin-Spalding County Schools, Georgia)

As a Project AWARE district, the Griffin-Spalding County School System, in Griffin GA, has been assessing students’ mental health status for the past five years. This presentation illustrates how GSCS is leveraging that data, in addition to attendance, discipline, achievement, parent contacts and nurse visits data, contained within the district’s student information system (SIS) to develop appropriate supports and interventions across tiers. This presentation will look at lessons learned from our Project AWARE grant, as well as how others can utilize those lessons to offer more effective and efficient supports for struggling students.

Breakout 5A

Crisis Prevention and Intervention and De-escalation Strategies

BASC Approved

Bob Stevens (Southeastern School Behavioral Health Community), Katie Ocheltree (Education Innovations Southeast, LLC) & Erin Scherder (Behavioral Alliance of South Carolina, University of South Carolina, Department of Psychology)

Effective Implementation of Non-violent Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI) strategies require emphasis on de-escalation, but those strategies must be managed using data to ensure team effectiveness and integration into schools’ multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS).  Appropriate and adequate professional development for school personnel will be reviewed.  Team intervention strategies and requirements will be discussed for both verbal de-escalation and physical intervention requirements, along with ways to effectively integrate this programming into schools’ MTSS.

Breakout 5B

From 7 to 1100 schools: Impact of State Funding and Policy Initiatives to Expand and Sustain School Mental Health

Mark Sander (Hennepin County and Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota)

Will discuss the impact of funding and policy initiatives to grow a state-wide school mental health program from 7 schools in 2005 to over 1100 schools in 2021. Will give examples of how stakeholders came together to help advocate for a state grant program that started at $4.7 million per year and is at $13 million per year. Will highlight the importance of data, advocacy and coalition building and how stakeholders in MN over 10 years developed funding and policy recommendations that helped expand school mental health. Finally, will close with discussing the next round of initiatives to disseminate the National School Mental Health Curriculum and the SHAPE System (see www.schoolmentalhealth.org).

Breakout 5C: Virtual Session

This session can be viewed on the Conference Virtual Attendee Hub Website

10 Strategies for Building a More Trauma-Informed Classroom Right Now

BASC Approved

Alisa Kaczorowski (AK Educational Consulting)

Traumatic experiences profoundly impact the brain and, as a result, learning. Unfortunately, more and more students are entering classrooms with the added baggage of at least one adverse childhood experience (or ACE). These experiences may manifest themselves as attention-seeking behaviors, poor focus, inattention or low academic growth. Oftentimes, teachers mistake these characteristics for ADD, ADHD, ODD or simply a poorly-behaved student and refer them to administrators for disciplinary issues. These students are often sent out of the classroom, or worse, out of the school on a regular basis, but nothing changes in their behavior.

Keynote Address

Are We Missing Signs of Suicidality in Black Youth?

BASC Approved

Michael Lindsey (McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, New York University, New York)

Black youth suicide and suicidal behavior rates are rising, defying historic trends of lower suicidality in this population. Placed in the context of an overall rise in U.S. suicide rates, we see the gap narrowing between black and white youth for completed suicides. Yet the warning signs of suicide in black children and adolescents are often overlooked, misinterpreted, or not well understood. Furthermore, stigma, disproportionate poverty and structural inequities can all create barriers to access. Learn what we know about suicide in this population and what is needed to reverse the trend.

Breakout 6A

Exclusionary Discipline, Does it Work with Today’s Students?

Kim Bone (Horry County Education Center, South Carolina)

Expulsions and suspensions don’t address the root of behavior problems in schools. It aids in avoiding it and could even make it worse. This is the lazy way to deal with problem behaviors in school because it is easy to put kids out of school. Pushing students out onto the streets is also risky. In addition, Zero-tolerance policies are not fair and equitable either, nor do they work. Students of color, in particular black and Latino students, make up 29% of the student population in the United States. Seventy percent of in-school arrests or referrals to law enforcement are black or Latino. The presentation will focus on reducing exclusionary discipline generally, and for students of color.

Breakout 6B

Implicit Bias in the Classroom: Understanding Its Role in Disproportionate Discipline and How a Teacher-Focused Training Can Help

BASC Approved

Nina Spinelli (University of South Carolina and Solicitor’s Office – 2nd Circuit – Juvenile Arbitration Program) & Stacey Bryant (South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice)

South Carolina’s Child Well-Being Coalition works to alleviate the effects of poverty and improve outcomes for all children in SC. A key issue is education and reducing missed learning days to due suspension and expulsion. SC ranks 42nd in educational outcomes; over 70% of children fail to meet reading and math standards. Instructional time is a key factor in learning outcomes, but many students are excluded from the classroom because of disciplinary actions. Black students bear the brunt of these disciplinary actions: across SC elementary schools, Black students are over 3.5 times more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension than their White peers. The impact of school discipline on youth is devastating and can be linked to reduced educational outcomes and increased risk of juvenile justice involvement. This presentation will provide ideas for address this critically important societal issue.

Breakout 6C: Virtual Session

This session can be viewed on the Conference Virtual Attendee Hub Website

Tools for Your PBIS Toolbox

BASC Approved

Susan S. Thomas (South Carolina Association of Positive Behavior Network) & June Jenkins (Clemson University, South Carolina)

The implementation of schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) serves as the foundational support for the successful integration and implementation of school behavioral health (Eiber, et. al, 2017). The purpose of this presentation will be to provide participants with the necessary tools and resources to ensure sustainable implementation of PBIS within a multi-tiered system of support with fidelity. The presentation will include an overview of the essential components and resources to build a strong Tier One foundation based on the Missouri model of implementation (https://pbismissouri.org/ ).