Agenda: Day 2
Sensory Solutions in the Classroom
Speaker Bio:
Cecilia Cruse received her BS degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Florida, and her Master's degree in Education from Georgia State University. She is SIPT certified and has over 25 years experience in pediatrics with school-based services, acute care and outpatient pediatric settings including the Medical College of GA in Augusta, GA and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. Ms. Cruse has experience as a consultant, author and lecturer including TV appearances, such as CNN's Health Watch and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. She has authored several articles for professional periodicals and magazines and has served as a trainer/consultant and service provider in several school systems. Cecilia is currently the Education Manager for the School Specialty family of Special Needs Catalogs and lectures nationwide on sensory integration. She is "energetic" and "entertaining" and insists on a fun learning experience.
Brief Workshop Description:
Children with learning differences, attention issues, along the autism spectrum and/or developmental disabilities often face multiple challenges in the classroom with the sometimes overwhelming demands on their sensory systems. Have a child that just won't sit still? Having difficulty getting that one student to stay on task? Wondering why that child has a meltdown every day? Come along on this journey and review the basics of sensory integration and how it impacts development and learning. Great teachers and therapists know that learning doesn't just start from the chin up. We need our bodies and our senses to process and learn, and collaborating with classroom teachers to come up with sensory diet solutions is imperative to many students' success. This workshop will identify typical problems and behaviors of children with Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD) as well as provide suggestions to promote good sensory integration for all children. Practical solutions for common classroom problems will be addressed such as staying on task, sitting solutions, transition strategies, handwriting and more. Teachers, school and even clinic therapists who work with children with SPD will find this enlightening course informative, fun and classroom changing! (Approx 90min-2hrs; a 3-4 hour version is also available)
Learning Objectives for Participants
- Be able to state a working definition of Sensory Integration
- Identify basic characteristics of children with Sensory Processing Disorders
- Modify variables to maximize learning and function in the classroom and a variety of settings
- Identify at least one new strategy for dealing with common classroom problems related to sensory processing
- Be familiar with other references for additional information
