Professional Development Workshops

On Site Workshops for Private and Public Schools and Preschools
Some schools prefer to purchase the online course and use it as a training tool. Others want in person workshops, tailored to their facilities.
The workshop can be organized as a full day workshop or shortened to a half day workshop that provides an overview.
Below is a sample curriculum of a full day workshop that can be fully customized to meet your unique needs. Please reach out to Ellen directly at [email protected] to discuss pricing and setting up a workshop for the Fall 2024/Winter 2025 academic year.

Full Day:

9:00 – 9:20 – Introduction with short video- why movement/dance may be the treatment of choice for children with Autism and other neurological challenges.

9:20 – 9:40 – Introduction of the “Movement Evaluation Continuum” (MEC) – a method to assess a child's ability to move functionally.

9:40 – 11:00 - Interactive experience of a movement session

How to use the MEC, how to target a challenge, how to create a short movement/dance to target a challenge, how one movement/dance can target more than one challenge, how a structured movement program positively impacts social skills and learning. How to integrate new knowledge into a treatment plan or special education class.

11:00 – 11:20 – A 20-minute video of 18 children with Autism and other neurological challenges in a movement class. The video illustrates and illuminates key concepts taught in the workshop.

11:20 – 11:30 – Break

11:30 – 12:10 – Informed, Fun Movement Activities for Your Toolbox -Targeting diminished sense of space, time and energy, body awareness, body image, self-esteem, spatial relation, spatial awareness, spatial orientation, postural alignment, right- left discrimination, external and internal timing, relatedness, social skills, locomotion, eye tracking, perception, inhibition, attention, motor skills, and motor planning.

Visual Supports /Using Props/ Timing/ Music/ Using shapes to represent feelings and ideas, Making a Phrase/ Authentic Movement /Auditory Rhythmic Cueing
The Interplay between Space, Time and Energy

12:10 – 12:15 – Sharing Each Other’s Language - Occupational Therapies 20 most used terms to describe symptoms and “underlying skills” that negatively affect motor control and functional movement in children with special needs. Recognizing symptoms.

12:15 – 12:35 – Assignment #1 - 6 short studies/assignments designed to help participants further understand and integrate new knowledge into existing knowledge. Choose one.

12:35 – 12:55 – Participants show assignments. Discussion

12:55 – l:00 – Q & A

1:00 – 2:00 – Lunch

2:00 – 2:30 – New research in the field of movement; why dance and movement have now become an evidence-based field, the treatment of choice for children who learn differently.
2:30 – 3:30 -Introduce the Case Studies and read Assignment #2 – More involved assignments using actual case studies similar to what participants experience in the school environment. Encourage participants to demonstrate a deeper understanding of a child’s disability. Explore new ways to collaborate and synergize efforts with your colleagues. Work on Assignment #2

3:30 – 3:40 - Break
3:40 - 4:40 - Show Assignments with discussion from the group.
4:40 – 5:00 -Closing thoughts and Q/A- the value of informed movement verses a hit and miss approach, group verses individual sessions, breaking from traditional roles, merging the disciplines, funding, diversity. Areas of Caution: Touch policies in the school, Safety. IEP Mandates