Michael Sedler

Trauma and loss are constant companions for many children today. Whether from divorce, death of a loved one, abandonment, abuse, rejection, or another difficult scenario, educators benefit by understanding the impact of these losses. Strategies to help the grieving child and interventions to  assist their academic progress will be provided. Appropriate for P-12 including administrators, counselors, and other support service individuals.

Why does one K-12 student get argumentative and another becomes withdrawn? What does it mean when a child makes negative comments about assignments? This course explores the motivation of these behaviors and helps you understand their function. You will increase motivation, reduce power struggles, encourage positive relationships while evaluating various stages of behavior, development, and interventions to support change.

Children accomplish at a higher rate and with greater effectiveness when they are excited about learning. This course will investigate strategies to increase enthusiasm in students.  Each educator will read and view inspiring stories of success within the classroom and community. 

There are many students who appear to lack social understanding, have difficulties with communication and with basic learning skills.  The general term of “Autism” is often thrown about and quickly attached to these types of children.  What is Autism? What are the causes?  ...

How do we set boundaries and guidelines without it turning into a power struggle? Is the way we set up rules at the beginning of a year that important? Is there a way to help children understand parameters without getting them frustrated?

Understand and deal more effectively with a range of student disorders, such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Attachment Disorders, and Self Injurious Behaviors. You'll learn signs and recognition aspects as well as effective strategies for helping children to be successful at school.

This class will help P-12 educators develop proactive strategies to minimize and prevent bullying and teasing behaviors. We will discuss victims, rescuers, bystanders, and bullies and how they are intertwined in life.

Help children move from complacency to compassion and social responsibility in their interactions with other people. Too often, children miss opportunities to support, encourage, and help those around them.

This course addresses the vital topic of childhood and adult stress, providing strategies to help children to direct their stress through coping skills into positive avenues. Peer relations, chaotic family structures, generalized feelings of anxiety, failure and negative thought processes, as well as many other topics will be covered.

Throughout each day, educators are expected to balance academic demands with the personal aspects of each child. The purpose of this course is to help educators to become more organized in their preparation time and in their teaching style.

Investigate the many aspects of high needs people and their behaviors. Gain a greater understanding of how to interact with student and adult explosive behavior, dependent behavior, poor listener behavior and more.

This course will help each person to better understand specific characteristics and interventions for individual students, within the classroom, and throughout the whole school.  The manual is broken down into sections for easy identification of each area.  

Based on classroom observations as well as the research of many psychologists, we know self-esteem is important to student achievement. Too often schools see children whose low self esteem interferes with their learning and too often we fail to relate to troubled students in an affirming way.

Poor social skills are the leading reason why people lose jobs, according to Labor and Industry research. While educators know the importance of social skills, schools do not provide adequate training in this area.

How can we help aggressive, out-of-control students and not simply spend time on tiresome control tactics? This course starts with a review of the social, emotional and environmental factors underlying childhood verbal and physical aggression then provides specific strategies for de-escalation.

You don't have to be a counselor to apply some basic counseling skills. You will find the techniques this course provides invaluable in working with a wide variety of K-12 student situations. You will read and practice the kind of interview and listening skills which will help you to achieve greater understanding...

Suicide continues to claim the lives of many individuals each year. Suicidal behavior and youth suicides are one of the leading causes of death among those age 15 to 24. Depression is common during this period and when prolonged it becomes a serious risk of suicidal behavior.

Research and teacher experience has demonstrated the importance of positive family involvement to student achievement. How can we create relationships and a climate where all families are allies and not adversaries of education?