The WVSPA Fall 2020 Conference will be held virtually due to the pandemic.  As part of the conference lineup, several webinars have been planned!  The first webinar will be held on October 16, 2020 from 1:00-4:00 p.m.!  For this webinar, WVSPA is pleased to host John B. Comegno, II, Attorney at Law for an ethics presentation titled "The Legal and Ethical Implications of HIPAA and FERPA".  School psychologists daily face novel questions regarding FERPA and HIPAA’s application to education records and student confidentiality.  Is there a difference between FERPA and HIPAA in school? Is all information collected during evaluations and IEP implementation protected from disclosure by federal law? Do these laws apply equally? How does dual-licensure affect application? Remote service delivery and data collection during the COVID-19 school closures raised new questions – are there additional consent requirements? How do school psychologists stay safe during synchronous and asynchronous remote instruction and service delivery?  This informative and entertaining session, delivered by nationally-known attorney and speaker John Comegno, Esq., will answer these questions and more.  

Participants will earn 3 CE hours for this presentation! THIS SESSION COUNTS FOR ETHICS.  

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER BY OCTOBER 9TH!  

Webinar Brochure:

Fall Conference - Ethics Brochure.pdf

The WVSPA Fall 2020 Conference will be held virtually due to the pandemic.  As part of the conference lineup, several webinars have been planned!  The second pre-recorded webinar will be held on October 19, 2020 from 1:00-4:00 p.m.!  For this webinar, WVSPA is pleased to partner with Kids, Inc. to host Dr. Steven Feifer for a presentation titled "Neuropsychology of Trauma: How to Develop a Trauma Informed School".  

This workshop will explore the neural underpinnings of stress, trauma, and emotional dysfunction in children and its relative impact upon learning.   Environmental deprivation, poverty, childhood abuse, witnessing violence, and now pandemics can impact both cognitive and social-emotional development in children.  There will be a discussion on five steps that schools can take to become “trauma-informed”, in order to better meet the diverse needs of all learners.   Schools can enhance emotional wellness through early prevention efforts, appropriate assessment and screening techniques, and an improved school climate to foster emotional growth for all children.  Targeted assessment strategies, specific classroom accommodations, and detailed school-based interventions will be presented for at-risk students.  Learning objectives include: 

1. Discuss the prevalence of trauma and stress for school aged children, as well as the various sources from which trauma can occur.
2. Explore key brain regions that are impacted when students experience trauma, and the subsequent effect on academic and social skills’ development. 
3. Review five essential steps toward the development of a “trauma informed” school.  
4. Review various trauma screening tools and specific assessment techniques in order to conduct a “trauma-informed” evaluation.   
5. Discuss specific classroom accommodations along with school-wide interventions, and key coping strategies to induce a more positive school climate for all students.

Participants will earn 3 CE hours for this presentation!  As an added bonus, a live Q&A session will be held on November 10, 2020 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. where you will be able to interact and ask Dr. Feifer any questions you may have regarding the training!  

If you are not able to join the webinar on the first day, no worries!  You have three months to watch the webinar and complete the post-test/evaluation to receive the CE documentation!     

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER BY OCTOBER 16TH AT NOON!  

Webinar Brochure: 

Fall Conference - Trauma Webinar.pdf

The WVSPA Fall 2020 Conference will be held virtually due to the pandemic.  As part of the conference lineup, several webinars have been planned!  The third pre-recorded webinar will be held on October 26, 2020 from 1:00-4:00 p.m.!  For this webinar, WVSPA is pleased to partner with Kids, Inc. to host Dr. Steven Feifer for a presentation titled "The Neuropsychology of Written Language Disorders: An Introduction to the FAW".

This presentation will explore the neuropsychological underpinnings of the written language process.   For years, educators have struggled to cultivate more effective writing skills in their students, as well as remediate written language disorders.  The ability to generate and produce written language requires multiple linguistic skills involving both phonological and orthographical  functioning (the elementary components of language), efficient word retrieval skills, executive functioning skills to organize and plan our inner thoughts and ideas, and working memory to hold our thoughts in mind long enough for effective motor skills output. A breakdown in these fundamental cognitive, linguistic, or motoric processes can result in various subtypes of written language disorders.  The primary objectives of this presentation will include:

1. Discuss national trends in written language, and explore gender differences in writing performances between boys and girls. 
2. Discuss the neural architecture responsible for written language development in children and learn key brain regions responsible for the organization and production of writing skills.
3. Discuss three specific subtypes of writing disorders, with particular emphasis on how“frontal lobe” processes such as working memory and executive functioning impact each subtype.
4. Introduce the Feifer Assessment of Writing as a more effective diagnostic tool to determine subtypes of dysgraphia in children, as well as to provide targeted intervention strategies.  

Participants will earn 3 CE hours for this presentation!  As an added bonus, a live Q&A session will be held on November 12, 2020 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. where you will be able to interact and ask Dr. Feifer any questions you may have regarding the training!  

If you are not able to join the webinar on the first day, no worries!  You have three months to watch the webinar and complete the post-test/evaluation to receive the CE documentation!     

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER BY OCTOBER 23RD AT NOON!  

Webinar Brochure:

Fall Conference - FAW Webinar.pdf

PREPaRE Workshop 2, Third Edition - Mental Health Crisis Interventions: Responding to an Acute Traumatic Stressor in Schools – Two-Day Virtual Training

In partnership with the West Virginia School Psychologists’ Association (WVSPA), and through ReClaimWV funding, the West Virginia Department of Education is providing opportunities for WV professional support personnel (school psychologists, school counselors, school nurses, social workers, and administrators) to participate in PREPaRE Workshop 2 training, “Mental Health Crisis Interventions: Responding to an Acute Traumatic Stressor in Schools.” This training is appropriate for any individual filling the role of a crisis intervention specialist. The training develops the knowledge and skill required to provide immediate mental health crisis interventions to the students, staff, and school community members who have been simultaneously exposed to an acute traumatic stressor. This training will consist of two full days of virtual training with no cost to the county or participant. Individuals should not register if they cannot complete both days.  Seating is limited.  To be eligible to register you MUST be a K12 employee.  

PLEASE NOTE: This two-day workshop is being offered in August, November, and January.  Through the registration process, you will be select your first, second, and third choice for training windows.  All registrants will be placed on a wait list and then you will receive an email confirmation for the training window that are enrolled in.  This is to ensure that all professionals from the different disciplines have an equal chance to join and allow for collaboration in the training sessions.  

This workshop will help participants:

1. Report reduced anxiety and fear associated with the provision of school mental health crisis interventions;
2. Report increased knowledge and confidence associated with the provision of school mental health crisis interventions;
3. Identify variables that help to estimate the number of individuals traumatized by a crisis;
4. Recognize the difference between common crisis reactions and mental illness;
5. Identify the elements of school crisis preparedness specified by the PREPaRE acronym;
6. Recognize risk factors that predict psychological trauma;
7. Identify the warning signs that indicate psychological trauma;
8. Place PREPaRE mental health crisis interventions on a multi-tiered continuum ranging from least to most restrictive; and
9. Match the degree of psychological trauma risk to the appropriate school crisis interventions.

CPD CREDITS

This 2-day workshop offers 13 credit hours of document NASP- Approved CPD.  YOU MUST PARTICIPATE IN BOTH DAYS TO GET CREDIT!!  If you do not complete the both days of the training, the copyrighted materials must be returned at your cost.