Our February meeting is right around the corner! It is our hope that the content will provide helpful strategies as we all continue to balance the realities of a pandemic with the educational and developmental needs of our students. Please feel free to invite others to join this timely presentation.  (Please email sepac@doversherborn for Zoom link information.)

Parent-Friendly Tips for Managing Behavior in a COVID-19 World
Presented by Lisa Gurdin, MS, BCBA, LABA
Thursday, February 11, 2021
9:00 a.m. (note earlier start time)

Since last March, families have had to deal with so many unexpected challenges due to COVID-19. With children now home for over five months, any demands and unknown situations can cause behavioral outbursts that are disruptive and frustrating. And, with what seems like constantly changing variables related to school reopening, the anxiety and stress for both parents and children only seems to be rising. Given this reality, it is integral that parents have the tools they need to anticipate and plan for transitions, new expectations, and unusual school experiences and social interactions. In this workshop, we will discuss parent-friendly proactive strategies to prevent and manage challenging behaviors and encourage the development of important life skills, such as self-advocacy, independence, and coping skills.  

Ms. Gurdin has been working with students, families, and school-based professionals as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Licensed Applied Behavior Analyst in Massachusetts since 2001. She currently consults with school teams on behavioral interventions and evaluations for students with special needs and provides parent training. Ms. Gurdin is also a Part-Time Lecturer at Northeastern University and the ACE Coordinator for the BCBA Roundtable at EDCO Collaborative. In her role as ACE Coordinator, she coordinates and presents continuing education workshops for local school-based behavior analysts. For several years, Ms. Gurdin worked as the Clinical Coordinator for LABBB Collaborative. In this role, she supervised a team of BCBAs, provided clinical oversight, managed home-based programming, consulted with school teams on complex cases in LABBB member districts, conducted staff trainings, and provided ongoing consultation to classrooms across the collaborative.