Clinical Assessment Canada

Presenter: Stephen N. Elliott, Ph.D.

Social emotional skills can play an influential role in the learning lives of all children, but especially elementary students who are developing cognitive and emotional skills needed to learn and solve academic and social problems. Thus, identifying and teaching early in the school year the SEL skills students need to be successful at school and in their communities is very important. This session will illustrate the value of the SSIS SEL screening assessments and Classwide Intervention Program for educators focused on realizing a triple positive impact – increased SEL skills, decreased problem behaviors, and increased achievement in reading -- for all elementary children school-wide.

Presenter:  Chris Huzinec, M.S.

This presentation expands the conceptualization of attentional deficits to include Executive Functions and illustrates how a systemic process that aligns identification, assessment, and intervention can positively impact clients. This presentation reviews a theoretical evidenced-based model that details the relationship between EF and chronic attentional and behavioral deficits, and prescribes methods for assessing EF domains (Brown, 2013). In addressing the components of the model, we will discuss assessing EF deficits associated with children, adolescents, and adults who exhibit attentional problems, as well as how to develop proactive EF skills. These skills include getting organized and started on tasks; focusing, shifting and sustaining attention; managing alertness; sustaining effort to complete tasks; processing and outputting information efficiently; managing emotions; using working memory; and monitoring one’s actions.