Do you ever wonder why a student acts the way they do? Are there certain behaviors that are raising concerns? Behaviors in children have some function as to why they are happening. These can include communication breakdown, attention, seeking an item, escape, and behaviors that are automatically reinforcing for the child. This course will address the possible functions of behavior, how you can document it reliably, and discover ways to address the behavior and prevent it from happening in the future.

A colorful presentation by a feeding therapist on the development of feedings skills and how to navigate picky eating in toddlers and preschool aged children. Parents/Teachers/Caregivers will learn about the progression of feeding skills, the best and worst eating utensils on the market, and strategies to help children expand their food repertoire!

Are you struggling to find the right strategy for the students who need extra support? Is there a child in your classroom who needs to move and touch in order to calm down? Or maybe there is a child who needs directions repeated several times? What about those children who seek control or have aggressive behavior? We know that every child is different and with that knowledge, every child’s learning needs are different. Let us help you find the right strategy for helping these students be successful in school and beyond.

Handwriting has a number of skill components which are required in order for functional performance. This presentation will lead you through why handwriting is important, provide foundational pre-writing skills required for successful writing, give you activities to support handwriting skills, and provide suggestions to support the progression of letter learning. Red flags are also provided for concerns that would warrant additional help from an Occupational Therapist.

BDI Playhouse offers a wide variety to help support families and children in both academic and functional life skills provided by highly trained, skilled professionals. Physical therapists work to improve balance, strength, coordination, fitness, and movement skills. Speech-language therapists work to improve the child’s understanding of language, as well as functional communication, social skills, and feeding skills. Occupational therapists work to enhance the child’s skills of daily life including play, self-care (dressing, hygiene), school performance (handwriting, fine motor), and social interaction. Aquatic therapy is a fun way to develop all of the aforementioned skills within the unique environment of the water. BDI offers free screenings and consultations if you would like to learn more about what we provide. We are happy to help any family looking for additional support for their child.

What we take in through our senses greatly impacts how we look emotionally, what we can cope with, and our ability to learn. Our senses impact our nervous system which can trigger a fight, flight, or engagement response. This presentation will provide reasoning for behaviors, checklists to pinpoint areas of concern, descriptions of sensory systems, how to make sense of differences in sensory processing, signs of sensory processing problems, how you can pinpoint problems, in addition to providing strategies to help.

An engaging presentation provided by a Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist designed for the parent/teacher/caregiver to enhance speech and language development of the toddler and preschool aged child. This class will teach practical strategies to help children learn language naturally throughout the day.

Examples of some techniques will include, but will not be limited to:

• recognizing the child’s stage/style of communication while identifying motivators
• presentation of routines to help with turn-taking and assist interactions
• following the child’s lead for more confidence and to encourage communication
• ways to add language to interactions by adjusting play and book reading tasks and ways to speak to the child for language understanding and use

Does your child have difficulty with separation? Can they transition easily between environments or caregivers? How do they react when a routine is disrupted? Emotional wellness can be described as accepting and learning to cope with one’s own feelings in everyday situations. How we as adults react to children’s emotions can impact how they learn to cope. Join us for a discussion on how to support your child’s emotions with simple strategies you can try today.

Visual skills are vital for a child’s development and success in the classroom. Does your student have difficulty with puzzles? Is the child reversing numbers or letters? Does the child become distracted by colorful decorations or movement? Or does the child have difficulty keeping their belongings organized? These concerns may indicate a visual processing disorder. This presentation dives in depth to assess specific visual perception areas that may be affecting a child’s coloring, drawing, writing and reading. This presentation is aimed to help teachers identify these deficit areas and provide ideas on how to support each student’s vision so that they can be the most successful in the classroom.

Why Not Wait and See aims to provide the community with information regarding developmental red flags in children. By addressing these concerns as early as possible, we can provide the child and the caregivers with the necessary intervention and support in order to set them up for success in the future. Let us help you identify when a child may need additional screenings from a trained professional. This course is ideal for teachers, parents, caregivers, and medical professionals who work closely with children.