Finding the Magic in Middle School
author: chris balme
October 2023: author and acclaimed educator Chris Balme shows how to tap into the positive potential of middle school. It begins with understanding what's going on inside the middle school brain. Balme introduces three key developmental needs for middle schoolers, offering practical tips to support them at each step of the way. Drawing on his experience as a middle school founder and principal, as well as the latest neuroscience, he offers a fresh and uplifting take on the transformative years of middle school. This talk is based on Balme's book, Finding the Magic in Middle School, which was published in 2022 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller for adolescent psychology. Renowned adolescent psychologist and author Madeline Levine called it "a must-read for anyone who has a tween or works with tweens." This evening community gathering is intended to support the wellbeing and growth of parents, adolescents, educators and mental health professionals. Cascades Academy and Seven Peaks Schools are providing generous sponsorship. Organized by Interconnected Diversity.
Workplace Neurodiversity Rising
author: lyric rivera
Lyric Rivera, Educator, Consultant, and Author of the best-selling business ethic’s book, Workplace Neurodiversity Rising.
Lyric also is the owner of NeuroDivergent Consulting, and runs the internationally recognized NeuroDivergent Rebel blog.
This book was written, specifically for organizations who want to be more inclusive of NeuroDivergent People, but I’ve tried to write this guide in a way so that it will be universally applicable in many scenarios.
Workplace NeuroDiversity Rising is intended to be a tool that can help ANYONE who wants to make the world, or the spaces around them more inclusive for NeuroDivergent (and all) People, in organizations, communities, schools, and beyond.
I’ve been working with organizations for years, but I’m only one person, and there is a LOT of work that needs to be done to fix the world, and our workplaces. I hope this easy to read, affordable, guide will be a valuable tool, offering clear guidance, that can help those who read it start making immediate changes to the spaces around them.
Neurodiversity Affirming Schools
authors: mily Kircher-Morris and Amanda Morin
Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools is a guide for K-12 educators to better understand neurodivergence and help neurodivergent students thrive. Inside, you’ll find the background information and concrete practices you need to create a school or classroom culture where neurodivergent students feel safe, valued, and understood. You’ll also find clear explanations of behaviors common in neurodivergent learners, such as masking, rejection sensitivity, and novelty seeking. Then, discover specific practices that you can use right away.
This accessible book is designed to help you take action. By the end of each chapter, you’ll understand how the key takeaways apply to your particular situation and how you can meet neurodivergent students’ needs in ways appropriate to their unique cognition. Written by two experts on neurodiversity education, this book teaches you how to:
- Use established practices like strengths-based instruction in neurodiversity-affirming ways
- Prevent neurodivergent students from checking out and becoming burnt out
- Identify the unique ways that neurodivergent children express their needs and difficulties
- Emphasize and model emotional regulation skills at the classroom level
- Create more effective, strengths-based IEPs and 504 Plans
This book also provides real-world examples in the form of vignettes of neurodivergent students and the educators that support them. These features contextualize what you’ve learned to help you feel confident as you implement change. You’ll also get access to a study guide to facilitate using this book with professional learning communities. Neurodiversity-Affirming Schools is your practical and comprehensive guide to creating opportunities for neurodivergent learners to succeed.
Workplace Neurodiversity Rising
author: mona delahooke, phd
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
From a leading child psychologist comes this groundbreaking new understanding of children’s behavior, offering insight and strategies to support both parents and children. Nominated for Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel H. Pink's Next Big Idea Club
Over her decades as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Delahooke has routinely counseled distraught parents who struggle to manage their children’s challenging, sometimes oppositional behaviors. These families are understandably focused on correcting or improving a child’s lack of compliance, emotional outbursts, tantrums, and other “out of control” behavior. But, as she has shared with these families, a perspective shift is needed. Behavior, no matter how challenging, is not the problem but a symptom; a clue about what is happening in a child’s unique physiologic makeup.
In Brain-Body Parenting, Dr. Delahooke offers a radical new approach to parenting based on her clinical experience as well as the most recent research in neuroscience and child psychology. Instead of a “top-down” approach to behavior that focuses on the thinking brain, she calls for a “bottom-up” approach that considers the essential role of the entire nervous system, which produces children’s feelings and behaviors.
When we begin to understand the biology beneath the behavior, suggests Dr. Delahooke, we give our children the resources they need to grow and thrive—and we give ourselves the gift of a happier, more connected relationship with them. Brain-Body Parenting empowers parents with tools to help their children develop self-regulation skills while also encouraging parental self-care, which is crucial for parents to have the capacity to provide the essential “co-regulation” children need. When parents shift from trying to secure compliance to supporting connection and balance in the body and mind, they unlock a deeper understanding of their child, encouraging calmer behavior, more harmonious family dynamics, and increased resilience.