Category Archives: Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Person seated in a brain with a handing reaching down

Promoting Mental Health in the Classroom

EF Conference, Mental Health, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

ResearchILD is fortunate to host Donna B. Pincus, Ph.D., at our 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, where she will present “Promoting Mental Health in the Classroom: Therapeutic Strategies for Reducing Stress and Anxiety and Enhancing Students’ Self Esteem,” drawing from her expertise as a clinical researcher in psychology and director of the Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program (CARD↗(link opens in new tab/window)) at Boston University.

About Dr. Pincus

Concurrent with her role as clinical researcher and director of the Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program, Dr. Pincus also serves as Feld Family Professor of Teaching Excellence at Boston University. Dr. Pincus’ research, teaching and practice↗(link opens in new tab/window) focus on the creation of novel approaches to treating child and adolescent anxiety across a variety of settings, including school and child care centers. She has published over a hundred articles on topics surrounding childhood anxiety and created usable tools for those experiencing or supporting someone with anxiety, including guides for therapists, workbooks for teenagers and picture books for children↗.(link opens in new tab/window)

Promoting Mental Health in the Classroom

Dr. Pincus’ decades of experience in addressing child and adolescent anxiety provides her with a wealth of knowledge on practical tools for educators looking to support their students’ mental health. Dr. Pincus will begin her talk by outlining the symptoms and nature of childhood anxiety and related psychopathology, and then share interventions and practices specific to the classroom that educators can implement right away.

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Pincus and her work:

  • Visit her personal webpage↗(link opens in new tab/window) and the Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program at Boston University’s website↗(link opens in new tab/window).
  • Explore her articles↗(link opens in new tab/window) on her Google Scholar profile and resources↗(link opens in new tab/window) for caregivers.
  • Attend ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference to hear Dr. Pincus speak about “Promoting Mental Health in the Classroom: Therapeutic Strategies for Reducing Stress and Anxiety and Enhancing Students’ Self Esteem.”

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Taylor McKenna, M.A., M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Teacher working with two students

Creating Sanctuary Classrooms

EF Conference, Recommendations, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are thrilled to feature George Scott, Ed.S., LMFT, who will share ways educators can create nurturing classrooms for students facing developmental trauma and toxic stressors in his presentation titled, “Creating Sanctuary Classrooms: The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Learners.”

About Mr. Scott

In addition to practicing as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) at the Center of Counseling Services LLC in New Jersey, Mr. Scott is certified in Post Traumatic Stress Management (PTSM) and serves as a state-wide Resource Coordinator for the Traumatic Loss Coalition for Youth Program and Rutgers University Behavior Health Care (UBHC). Mr. Scott’s accolades also include his roles as Adjunct Professor at the Counselor Education Department at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and Senior Presenter for his affiliate business practice Minding Our Children↗(link opens in new tab/window), which focuses on fostering understanding in adults regarding how to raise healthy and resilient children.

Creating Healing Classrooms

Mr. Scott has over 50 years of experience working in the field of special education and sharing his expertise in youth mental health with educators and administrators across the country. His philosophy that “all adults have the power within them to improve the lives of children” drives his belief in the power of educators to be effective and transformative “minders(link opens in new tab/window)”↗ of student well-being.

With decades of experience partnering with schools, Mr. Scott knows educators face intense demands in numerous aspects of their jobs. In his presentation at the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Mr. Scott will share with attendees practical ways educators can provide children spaces to heal and thrive.

Learn More

You can learn more about George Scott and his work:

  • Visit his personal webpage↗(link opens in new tab/window) and Minding Our Children’s website↗(link opens in new tab/window).
  • Watch his interview↗(link opens in new tab/window) with the New Jersey School Boards Association on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on students.
  • Attend ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference to hear Mr. Scott speak about “Creating Sanctuary Classrooms: The Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Learners.”

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Taylor McKenna, M.A., M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Student concentrating on a game

Smart but Stuck: Executive Function, Attention, and Emotion

ADHD, EF Conference, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are honored to feature a session on “Smart but Stuck: Executive Function, Attention, and Emotion” from Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., Director of Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, California, and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine.

About Dr. Brown

Dr. Brown is a clinical psychologist who received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He specializes in assessment and treatment of high-IQ children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD and related problems. He opened the Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, California, in June of 2017. In addition to presenting lectures and workshops, Dr. Brown has published more than 30 scientific articles in professional journals and is the author of the Brown Executive Function/Attention Rating Scales. He is also the author and editor of many books.

Emotions and ADHD

What role do emotions play in students with ADHD? Many students who are affected by ADHD-related executive function impairments enjoy a number of activities or hobbies where they do not display the same difficulty exercising certain executive function processes. Positive and negative emotions deeply affect a person’s ability to initiate tasks, sustain their attention, shift their interest, and engage their working memory processes.

At the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Dr. Brown will describe the critical role of emotions in ADHD and will provide information about assessment and interventions to help teachers and parents understand and effectively address these difficulties in students of all ages. 

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Brown and his work:

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Students reaching in to touch hands

Harnessing the Power of Micromoments

Cognitive Flexibility, EF Conference, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are honored to feature a session on “The Power of Micromoments in Our Lives and the Lives of Our Students” from Robert Brooks, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, faculty member of Harvard Medical School (part-time), and former Director of the Department of Psychology at McLean Hospital.

About Dr. Brooks

In addition to the appointments listed above, Dr. Brooks has lectured nationally and internationally and written extensively about motivation, resilience across the lifespan, psychotherapy, education, parenting, and a positive school and work environment. He is the author or co-author of 19 books including Raising Resilient Children, Raising Resilient Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Understanding and Managing Children’s Classroom Behavior: Creating Sustainable, Resilient Classrooms, and more.

The Magic of Micromoments

Over the years, Dr. Brooks has examined the importance of empathy as an essential element necessary to form positive interpersonal relationships. More recently, Dr. Brooks has investigated the impact that micromoments(link opens in new tab/window)↗ (microaffirmations and microaggressions), especially between teachers and students, can have on students’ well-being and the emotional culture of a classroom or school.

Sharing emotions and perspective taking are at the heart of receiving and offering expressions of empathy. At the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Dr. Brooks will discuss how brief moments in our everyday lives can communicate empathy and have a lifelong impact.

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Brooks and his work:

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Brain networks with words written on it.

The Stories Students Tell: Narrative Building to Shape Neural Networks

EF Conference, metacognition, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

At ResearchILD’s 37th Annual Executive Function Conference this November, we are honored to feature a session on “Building Meaning Builds Students’ Brains: Implications for Re-inventing Schools” from Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Ed.D, Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and Director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE).

About Dr. Immordino-Yang

Dr. Immordino-Yang studies the psychological and neurobiological development of emotion and self-awareness, and connections to social, cognitive and moral development in educational settings. She uses cross-cultural, interdisciplinary studies of narratives and feelings to uncover experience-dependent neural mechanisms contributing to identity, intrinsic motivation, deep learning, and generative, creative and abstract thought. Her work has a special focus on adolescents from low-SES communities, and she involves youths from these communities as junior scientists in her work.

Narratives that Shape Neural Networks

Dr. Immordino-Yang and her colleagues are investigating how patterns of thinking and feeling influence the growth of students’ brain networks(link opens in new tab/window)↗. Analyzing students’ narratives reveals their dispositions of mind. When students effortfully deliberate on their internal narratives and engage in deep thinking for themselves, their patterns of brain activity demonstrate developmental effects over time. These changes in their brain networks were driven by students making meaning of their lives in both concrete (here-and-now) and abstract (big picture, systems level) ways.

How can we recognize, model, and promote deep thinking? It is important to focus more on the way that students think instead of focusing on what they know as well as to empower adolescents to build strong relationships with their peers and teachers. At the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, Dr. Immordino-Yang will discuss these concepts and how we can reinvent schools by redefining what is relevant to our students.

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Immordino-Yang and her work:

Looking to build your executive function toolkit? Join us for the Executive Function Summer Summit (July 26, July 28, August 2, and August 4) and the SMARTS Executive Function Summer Workshop (August 9, August 11). All summer professional development opportunities are available online via Zoom and through recorded sessions.

  • Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Student reading with hands on head

Parent Perspective: Why Our Kids Say “Can’t”

Parents, Recommendations, Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

As a student with ADHD and dyslexia, my daughter started hearing about all the ways she was “bad” at a very young age. She was told she can’t sit still, can’t be quiet, can’t read, can’t write, can’t complete worksheets, can’t do grade-level work, and more. Every day in the classroom, she took in these negative messages and her reaction was expectedly negative. She developed anxiety and depression, and then was told she can’t control her emotions. 

She was punished and excluded at school. She was put in the corner, in isolation, in the hallway, in pull-out classes, and even suspended once in fourth grade. The message was clear: she can’t be included. 

Now in high school, it is difficult for her to have a growth mindset, and she is shamed for feeling pessimistic. She’s told she just shouldn’t say “I can’t”; she should say “I’ll keep trying!” Although most people can’t see it, she is trying, and trying really hard. 

Like my daughter, many students with learning differences have had negative experiences in school that have shaped their beliefs and attitudes about themselves and school. To undo this requires complicated, long-term hard work. She needs more than sound bites about grit and growth mindset; she needs real support for her differences, including her emotional differences.  

It’s been a challenging year for everyone. Modeling resilience for students can help them feel hopeful and like they “can.” 

  • Parent of LD High School Student

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org