Children with anxiety disorders are at risk for poor performance, diminished learning, and social/behavior problems in school. This workshop, intended for school psychologist who support students with anxiety, will explore anxiety’s role in learning and behavior and give participants a toolkit of practical, preventive strategies that, together with teaching underdeveloped skills, are key to reducing anxiety and promoting appropriate and adaptive behavior in students.

Learning objectives:

1. Describe why traditional behavior plans based on rewards and consequences often do not work for students with anxiety or oppositional behavior.

2. Identify the underdeveloped skills that contribute to inappropriate behavior in students with anxiety or oppositional behavior.

3. Describe the components of an effective behavior plan including helpful interventions for students with anxiety and oppositional behavior.

Program Code: AROB3
3 CE Credits
Fee: $65

Jessica Minahan, MEd, BCBA, is a board certified behavior analyst, special educator and a consultant to school’s nationwide (www.jessicaminahan.com). Jessica has over seventeen years of experience supporting students who exhibit challenging behavior in both urban and suburban school systems.  Her particular interest is to serve these students by combining behavioral interventions with a comprehensive knowledge of best practices for those with complex mental health profiles and learning needs.  She is an adjunct professor at Boston University, a blogger on The Huffington Post, as well as the author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students, with Nancy Rappaport (Harvard Education Press, 2012) and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors (Harvard Education Press, 2014).