Executive Function Conference
The Research Institute for Learning & Development (ResearchILD) announces our:
38th Annual Executive Function Conference
Executive Function, Motivation, and Engagement: Fostering Social-Emotional Learning and Positive Behavior in Students
Conference Founder and Chair: Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.
November 9-10, 2023
Special Price: $555 (until September 30, 2023)
Regular Price: $575
SMARTS Users always get the best rate: $499.
Volume discount pricing for 5+ attendees from the same school or district.
Contact us for details.
All packages include a digital binder with slides, articles, and more resources.
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Click on the image to see the complete agenda and faculty list.
This 38th Annual Executive Function and Learning Differences conference will address the close connections between Executive Function and Social-Emotional Learning and the importance of examining these processes for students from K-12 to college. Presentations will highlight the themes of neurodiversity, intersectionality, flexible thinking, motivation, self-understanding, self-regulation, and behavior, in the context of research, clinical practice, and teaching.
- How do we promote executive function and social-emotional learning to address students’ behavioral and academic struggles in the classroom?
- How do we build self-understanding, motivation, and flexible thinking so that we promote engagement and reduced stress in school?
- How do we use EF strategies to differentiate instruction and to address the needs of neurodiverse students with a broad range of abilities?
Who should attend?
This conference is designed for professionals in education, psychology, child development, speech and language pathology, school psychology, home-school education, and other related fields. This includes general and special-education teachers and principals across elementary and secondary grades, superintendents, curriculum directors, college-level administrators, and specialists in the field of social-emotional learning.
“I love having access to the latest research-based programming in EF and SEL from experts in the field. I am inspired and equipped to add new strategies and perspectives to my work with clients. The sessions were so relevant to my daily practice. The live sessions and the recorded concurrents explored so many topics and provided so many resources to use in the future.”
About Dr. Lynn Meltzer
Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D. is the Co-Founder and President of the Research Institute for Learning and Development (ResearchILD) in Lexington, MA. She is a Fellow and Past-President of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. She is the Founder and Program Chair of the Annual Executive Function Conference which she has chaired for 38 years. For 30 years, she was an Associate in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University. Her 40 years of clinical work, research, publications, and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention problems.
Her extensive publications include articles, chapters and books, most recently, Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (2018), Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom (2010) and The Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social Skills (2015), co-edited with Karen Harris. Together with her ResearchILD staff, she has developed SMARTS, an evidence-based Executive Function Curriculum for elementary, middle, and high school students (www.smarts-ef.org). She has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences, including the International Association for Cognitive Education conference in South Africa. She has been honored with a number of awards including the Council for Learning Disabilities Outstanding Research Award and the Innovative Program of the Year Award from CHADD (Children with Attention Deficit Disorders).
Featured Plenary Speakers
Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.
Conference Founder and Program Chair for 38 years, President and Director, Research Institute for Learning and Development (ResearchILD)
Unlocking Limitless Potential: Promoting Motivation, Flexible Thinking, and Stress Management in Students
Ellen Braaten, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Bright Kids Who Couldn’t Care Less: Rekindling Your Students’ Motivation
J. Stuart Ablon, Ph.D.
Founder and Director of Think:Kids in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital
Rethinking Challenging Behavior: Combining Neuroscience, Compassion, and Common Sense
Tommy Chang, Ed.D.
CEO, The New Teacher Center
The Elephant in the Classroom: Promoting Equity in School Systems
Michelle Garcia Winner, M.A., CCC-SLP
Founder & CEO, Social Thinking; Co-developer of the Social Thinking® Methodology
Motivation Station: Using Visual Scales to Help Students Think Beyond “Awesome” or “Awful”
John Ratey, M.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
Exercise: An Antidote to Stress for Challenging Times
Alfie Kohn, Ph.D.
Author and Lecturer
Beyond Bribes and Threats: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Discipline and Motivation
Concurrent Presentations
From Frenzied to Focused: Time Management and Organization Strategies for School and Home
Michael Greschler, M.Ed. and Mindy Scirri, Ph.D.
Executive Function and Social-Emotional Learning: Strategies for Perspective Taking and Self-Awareness
Shelly Levy, M.Ed. M.S. and Jessica Chiusolo, M.Ed.
Overcoming Math Anxiety with Executive Function Strategies
Joan Steinberg, M.Ed.
Resilient Preschools: Opening the Window for Learning in Early Childhood
Julie Dunstan, Ph.D., Susannah Cole, M.Ed. and Stephanie Guthman, Ph.D.
Students Can’t Organize What They Can’t See: Making Language Visible for Learning
Anthony Bashir, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Bonnie Singer, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
and Jessica Curtin, M.Ed.
Resilience in Students with Reading Challenges: The Intersection Between Neuroscience and Educational Practice
Joanna Christodoulou, Ed.D.
The Science of Reading Meets the Art of Instruction: Designing Instructional Practices for Students with LD
Josh Clark, M.Ed. & Adam Hickey, Ed.M., MSEd
Universal Design for Learning: What It Is and How It Promotes Students’ Agency
Ari Fleisher, M.Ed
Understanding the Cycles of Anxiety, Avoidance, and Accommodation
Arielle Gartenberg, Psy.D, NCSP and Leah Benjamin, Psy.D.
Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome: When Students Can’t Get Things Done
Peter Isquith, Ph.D.
Reading Comprehension: Strategies That Improve Accuracy and Reduce Reading Anxiety
Tami Katzir, Ph.D.
Panel Presentations
Executive Function and Social-Emotional Learning
Anthony Bashir, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Josh Clark, M.Ed., Ari Fleisher, M.Ed., Michael Greschler, M.Ed., Peter Isquith, Ph.D., Mindy Scirri, Ph.D.
EF Across the Grades — Success Stories from Administrators and Teachers
Polly Metz, MPS, M.A.Ed, Lynn Carpenter, M.S.Ed., M.A., Ebonia Williams, M.A., Kevin Mackey, M.A, M.Ed.
EF and Social-Emotional Learning: The Keys to Resilience
Julie Dunstan, Ph.D., Shelly Levy, M.S., M.Ed., Susannah Cole, M.Ed., Joan Steinberg, M.Ed., Joanna Christodoulou, Ed.D., Jessica Chiusolo, M.Ed., Leah Benjamin, Psy.D.
Optional Lunchtime Sessions
SMARTS: A Practical Approach for Teaching Executive Function Strategies Across the Curriculum
Thursday, November 9th
Optional Networking Sessions
Join ResearchILD staff and your colleagues from across the globe as we gather for an informal discussion on EF Strategies for academic success.
Friday, November 10th
“These courses have transformed not only my students lives but mine as well. As an educator, I cannot recommend these trainings enough.”