Description

Students identified as having a serious emotional disturbance are the least likely among all students with disabilities to graduate high school. Nearly 50% drop-out or are disciplined-out of school, often after years of frustration for them, their families, and their teachers. How schools manage these vulnerable students matter, and utilizing traditional school discipline approaches has not worked. School Social Workers have the tools and the orientation to challenge and transform school culture so that schools can respond to the needs of al students, and especially to those most at risk.

This daylong workshop is designed to prepare practicing social workers to have a greater impact on how schools support and discipline challenging students. Participants will work with case-studies on a variety of topics to develop facility with new approaches that can be instituted on an individual, classroom and school-wide basis. Examples include: collaborative problem-solving and the School Disciplinary Code; bullying prevention and intervention; helping traumatized children learn; group work and the Responsive Classroom model; using community policing and juvenile probation services to support students success. Strategies to institute change with the buy-in of school leadership will be discussed.