Training for Educators

We offer a variety of trainings designed to help districts, schools, administrators, educators, and paraprofessionals take a scientific approach to improving the educational experience for students of all ages and abilities.

 

May Institute has experience training educators across the country. We are located near Boston, Mass., and are available to deliver trainings in-person locally and nationwide. As necessary, travel expenses will be included in training rates.

Remote professional development is also available via telehealth for some trainings.

The trainings below can be adapted for any audience or modified to meet your specific needs. We provide customized trainings on topics not listed below and can combine multiple trainings into full-day workshops or series. When applicable, we provide CEUs to BCBAs and School Psychologists. Rates vary based on type and quantity of trainings purchased as well as travel considerations.

Please contact us to discuss your needs: 781.437.1206 or dmartin@mayinstitute.org.

 

CATEGORIES (click to drop to each section)


CLASS-WIDE STRATEGIES

Classroom Management: General Strategies (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced)

This series provides a general overview of research-based strategies designed to improve student engagement in school. By incorporating several tools and an overview of available interventions, school staff will leave this training with improved skills for managing their classroom. Please see the additional trainings we offer for more in-depth training on the interventions reviewed in this series.
Suggested audience: Teachers, BCBA, Paraprofessionals (3-5 hours)

Getting our Kids Engaged: Increasing Opportunities to Respond (OTRs) in the Classroom    

Increasing students’ engagement in academic tasks helps to decrease problem behaviors and improve academic achievement. One way to improve engagement is to increase OTRs. Learn what OTRs are, why they are important, how they work, and practical and easy ways to increase the variety and number of OTRs in the classroom. This training addresses OTRs in both telehealth and in-person settings.   
Suggested audience: Teachers, BCBA, Paraprofessionals, School Psychologists   (1-2 hours)

Let’s Get Visual! Fun Ideas for Integrating Visual Cues into your Work at School

With a day full of activities, it can be tough for students to know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Visual cues help students successfully and independently navigate their school environment. Learn why we use visual supports in school, how to pick the right ones for an individual student or classroom, and new, fun ways to incorporate them into your classroom or clinical setting.    
Suggested audience: (for Teachers and Clinicians)    Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors)   (1-2 hours)

Let’s GROUP Together! Using a Whole-Class Intervention to Increase Academic Engagement and Decrease Problem Behavior

Sometimes it can be quite difficult to manage a classroom in which students are engaging in disruptive behaviors, do not have a sense of “social connection” with each other, and/or not working on their academic work. One way to help alleviate this is with an intervention that is delivered to the WHOLE classroom: group contingencies! Group contingencies are quick to set up, feasible for classroom staff, and FUN for kids! Learn the different types of group contingencies, examples of each, and how they can be incorporated into the school setting.   
Suggested audience: Teachers, BCBA, School Psychologists   (2 hours)

Multicultural Considerations: Holidays at School    

Holiday transitions can be tough, but even just talking about holidays can be tough. Learn practical considerations for discussing holidays with students and honoring holidays in culturally sensitive ways. This training provides school staff with culturally respectful language and ideas to incorporate when working with students before and after holidays.     
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, ABA staff, administrators   (1-2 hours)

Increasing Requests at School and Home     

Asking for what you want is the foundational component of communication. Learn how to create opportunities to increase student requesting in school settings. Also discuss how to support parents/caregivers with applying these strategies at home.
Suggested audience: Teachers, BCBA, ABA staff, School Psychologists   (1-2 hours)
 

 

STUDENT-SPECIFIC BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

School Refusal: What Every Educator Should Know    

School refusal is one of the toughest puzzles for educators and parents to solve. Learn the ins and outs of school refusal behavior, including definitions, its impact on students/staff/families, ways to identify it, and an overview of different ways it can be addressed.
Suggested audience: Teachers, School Psychologists, BCBA, administrators  (1-2 hours)

School Refusal: Assessment and Treatment

The reasons for school refusal and what it might look like vary for different students. Take a deeper look at the reasons for school refusal behavior, assessment measures, and intervention considerations. We recommend first attending School Refusal: What Every Educator Should Know.
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (1-2 hours)

“We’ve Tried Everything!” Finding What Works Using Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

We sometimes try to address what is happening without sufficiently understanding why it is happening. Functional behavior assessments (FBA) help us understand why a behavior is occurring so we can customize our intervention to address that reason. Learn methods and tools for conducting FBAs and how to use that information to develop better interventions and recommendations.
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (2-3+ hours)

Behavior Intervention Plans: Tools to Target Behavior

When you’ve figured out why a challenging behavior occurs, you can develop an effective plan to address that behavior. This can include reducing or eliminating that behavior as well as teaching appropriate behaviors to replace it. Learn how to take the information you obtained in your FBA and turn it into a function-based Behavior Intervention Plans. We recommend first attending “We’ve Tried Everything!” Finding What Works Using Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA).
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (1-2 hours)

“Is this Plan Working?” Procedural Integrity: What, Why, and How?     

Is your intervention working? If not, why? If things are getting better, how can you be confident it is really your plan working or something else? Procedural integrity is foundational to answering those questions. Learn how to assess whether or not an intervention is really being provided like it is supposed to be, what it means if it is or isn’t, and what to do in response. Practical tools will be provided, and you will learn how to develop additional tools to match your needs.
Suggested audience: BCBA, School Psychologists   (3+ hours)

Making it Work: Integrating Students with ASD into Inclusion Settings    

Successfully integrating a student into an inclusion setting can have a significant positive impact on their development. Conversely, integrating poorly or failing to integrate when the student is ready can have a negative impact on their progress and long-term development. Learn how to answer the following questions: How do you identify when a student is “ready” to transfer from a sub-separate setting to an inclusion setting? How do you help facilitate this transition? How do you troubleshoot common challenges? How do you monitor the student’s progress in their new setting? Practical tools and resources will be shared to support educators in creating successful transitions.
Suggested audience: School staff, BCBA, administrators   (3 hours; can be broken down into 2 parts)

Navigating Noncompliance: Ready-to-Use Strategies for Before, During, and After Noncompliance    

 “Noncompliance” can look different for different students. Learn preventative and teaching strategies to decrease the likelihood of noncompliance in its various forms. This training utilizes several case examples from pre-K through high school students.
Suggested audience: Teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, BCBA, ABA staff   (1-2 hours)

Selecting the Right Intervention

Interventions aren’t one size fits all. Learn to optimize student outcomes by developing individualized recommendations based on assessments and progress monitoring.
Suggested audience: BCBA, School Psychologist   (1-2 hours)

Collaboration: Mental Health and Behavior Staff

Many of our students have or need mental health supports while concurrently engaging in challenging behaviors requiring support from behavioral staff (e.g., BCBAs, ABA therapists). Learn how behavioral staff and mental health clinicians (e.g., School Psychologists, Counselors) can collaborate to meet students’ needs effectively and efficiently.     
Suggested audience: BCBAs, School Psychologists, Counselors, other mental health staff   (1-2 hours)

 

SCHOOL REFUSAL

School Refusal: What Every Educator Should Know    

School refusal is one of the toughest puzzles for educators and parents to solve. Learn the ins and outs of school refusal behavior, including definitions, its impact on students/staff/families, ways to identify it, and an overview of different ways it can be addressed.
Suggested audience: Teachers, School Psychologists, BCBA, administrators  (1-2 hours)

School Refusal: Assessment and Treatment

The reasons for school refusal and what it might look like vary for different students. Take a deeper look at the reasons for school refusal behavior, assessment measures, and intervention considerations. We recommend first attending School Refusal: What Every Educator Should Know.
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (1-2 hours)

 

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Welcome Back! Considerations for Students Returning to School after the School Closure or Holiday/Summer Breaks  

Make students’ transitions back to school – whether after a school closure, period of absence, or after a holiday break – as smooth as possible. Practical tips will make life easier for educators and students.
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, ABA staff, administrators  (1-2 hours)

Let’s Get Visual! Fun Ideas for Integrating Visual Cues into your Work at School

With a day full of activities, it can be tough for students to know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Visual cues help students successfully and independently navigate their school environment. Learn why we use visual supports in school, how to pick the right ones for an individual student or classroom, and new, fun ways to incorporate them into your classroom or clinical setting.    
Suggested audience: (for Teachers and Clinicians)    Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors)   (1-2 hours)

Making it Work: Integrating Students with ASD into Inclusion Settings    

Successfully integrating a student into an inclusion setting can have a significant positive impact on their development. Conversely, integrating poorly or failing to integrate when the student is ready can have a negative impact on their progress and long-term development. Learn how to answer the following questions: How do you identify when a student is “ready” to transfer from a sub-separate setting to an inclusion setting? How do you help facilitate this transition? How do you troubleshoot common challenges? How do you monitor the student’s progress in their new setting? Practical tools and resources will be shared to support educators in creating successful transitions.
Suggested audience: School staff, BCBA, administrators   (3 hours; can be broken down into 2 parts)

Multicultural Considerations: Holidays at School    

Holiday transitions can be tough, but even just talking about holidays can be tough. Learn practical considerations for discussing holidays with students and honoring holidays in culturally sensitive ways. This training provides school staff with culturally respectful language and ideas to incorporate when working with students before and after holidays.     
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, ABA staff, administrators   (1-2 hours)

 

STRENGTHENING RELATIONSHIPS WITH COLLEAGUES AND STUDENTS

Crucial Conversations: Changing Conversations from “Difficult” to “Successful”    

The only thing worse than having a difficult conversation with someone is not having it. Discuss the components of difficult and successful conversations and learn the key factors that increase the likelihood of a successful outcome in a crucial conversation.
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, administrators  (2 hours)

Welcome Back! Considerations for Students Returning to School after the School Closure or Holiday/Summer Breaks  

Make students’ transitions back to school – whether after a school closure, period of absence, or after a holiday break – as smooth as possible. Practical tips will make life easier for educators and students.
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, ABA staff, administrators  (1-2 hours)

Let’s Have Some Fun! Rapport Building In-Person and via Telehealth     

Experienced educators know the influence and impact they have on their students’ lives increases based on ongoing positive interactions. This rapport building starts the first time they meet a student and continues through the lifetime of the relationship. In fact, when a student-educator relationship starts (or continues) on the wrong foot, it can negatively impact future outcomes and progress on interventions. Using examples from pre-K through high school, learn why this pairing process matters and how to successfully build rapport with students in-person and via telehealth.
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors)   (1-2 hours)

Let’s Chat: Effective Communication with Students     

Effective communication is a critical feature of our everyday lives, especially in school settings. Learn strategies and tips to help you more effectively communicate with students. Discuss examples (and non-examples) of ways to improve communication with students to help them get – and stay! – on-track.    
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, administrators   (1 hour)

Consultation in Schools and via Telehealth: Ideas and Action Steps for Practitioners

Consultation in schools provides unique challenges and opportunities  (e.g., relationship-building, incorporating different perspectives, and co-developing action plans). Learn the key considerations for delivery of consultative support in schools while reviewing case examples and engaging in structured practice opportunities.  
Suggested Audience: BCBA, School Psychologists   (2-3 hours)

Multicultural Considerations: Holidays at School    

Holiday transitions can be tough, but even just talking about holidays can be tough. Learn practical considerations for discussing holidays with students and honoring holidays in culturally sensitive ways. This training provides school staff with culturally respectful language and ideas to incorporate when working with students before and after holidays.     
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors), BCBA, ABA staff, administrators   (1-2 hours)

Collaboration: Mental Health and Behavior Staff

Many of our students have or need mental health supports while concurrently engaging in challenging behaviors requiring support from behavioral staff (e.g., BCBAs, ABA therapists). Learn how behavioral staff and mental health clinicians (e.g., School Psychologists, Counselors) can collaborate to meet students’ needs effectively and efficiently.     
Suggested audience: BCBAs, School Psychologists, Counselors, other mental health staff   (1-2 hours)

Compassionate Care in Applied Behavior Analysis

How do our relationships with other caregivers impact outcomes for students? Discover how compassionate and empathic behaviors practiced by behavior analysts toward parents, educators, and students influence outcomes. Participants will learn and discuss ways to identify and support the development and maintenance of compassionate behavior(s). This training is based on Taylor, B. A., LeBlanc, L. A., & Nosik, M. R. (2019). Compassionate care in behavior analytic treatment: Can outcomes be enhanced by attending to relationships with caregivers? Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12, 654-666.    
Suggested audience: BCBA, ABA staff   (2 hours)

 

BCBA / APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS SPECIFIC

School Refusal: What Every Educator Should Know    

School refusal is one of the toughest puzzles for educators and parents to solve. Learn the ins and outs of school refusal behavior, including definitions, its impact on students/staff/families, ways to identify it, and an overview of different ways it can be addressed.
Suggested audience: Teachers, School Psychologists, BCBA, administrators  (1-2 hours)

School Refusal: Assessment and Treatment

The reasons for school refusal and what it might look like vary for different students. Take a deeper look at the reasons for school refusal behavior, assessment measures, and intervention considerations. We recommend first attending School Refusal: What Every Educator Should Know.
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (1-2 hours)

Consultation in Schools and via Telehealth: Ideas and Action Steps for Practitioners

Consultation in schools provides unique challenges and opportunities (e.g., relationship-building, incorporating different perspectives, and co-developing action plans). Learn the key considerations for delivery of consultative support in schools while reviewing case examples and engaging in structured practice opportunities.  
Suggested Audience: BCBA, School Psychologists   (2-3 hours)

Making it Work: Integrating Students with ASD into Inclusion Settings  

Successfully integrating a student into an inclusion setting can have a significant positive impact on their development. Conversely, integrating poorly or failing to integrate when the student is ready can have a negative impact on their progress and long-term development. Learn how to answer the following questions: How do you identify when a student is “ready” to transfer from a sub-separate setting to an inclusion setting? How do you help facilitate this transition? How do you troubleshoot common challenges? How do you monitor the student’s progress in their new setting? Practical tools and resources will be shared to support educators in creating successful transitions.
Suggested audience: School staff, BCBA, administrators   (3 hours; can be broken down into 2 parts)

“We’ve Tried Everything!” Finding What Works Using Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

We sometimes try to address what is happening without sufficiently understanding why it is happening. Functional behavior assessments (FBA) help us understand why a behavior is occurring so we can customize our intervention to address that reason. Learn methods and tools for conducting FBAs and how to use that information to develop better interventions and recommendations.
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (2-3+ hours)

Behavior Intervention Plans: Tools to Target Behavior

When you’ve figured out why a challenging behavior occurs, you can develop an effective plan to address that behavior. This can include reducing or eliminating that behavior as well as teaching appropriate behaviors to replace it. Learn how to take the information you obtained in your FBA and turn it into a function-based Behavior Intervention Plans. We recommend first attending “We’ve Tried Everything!” Finding What Works Using Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA).
Suggested audience: BCBA Only and/or School Psychologists with a background in ABA   (1-2 hours)

Selecting the Right Intervention

Interventions aren’t one size fits all. Learn to optimize student outcomes by developing individualized recommendations based on assessments and progress monitoring.
Suggested audience: BCBA, School Psychologist   (1-2 hours)

“Is this Plan Working?” Procedural Integrity: What, Why, and How?

Is your intervention working? If not, why? If things are getting better, how can you be confident it is really your plan working or something else? Procedural integrity is foundational to answering those questions. Learn how to assess whether or not an intervention is really being provided like it is supposed to be, what it means if it is or isn’t, and what to do in response. Practical tools will be provided, and you will learn how to develop additional tools to match your needs.
Suggested audience: BCBA, School Psychologists   (3+ hours)

Let’s Have Some Fun! Pairing In-Person and via Telehealth     

Experienced educators know the influence and impact they have on their students’ lives increases based on ongoing positive interactions. This rapport building starts the first time they meet a student and continues through the lifetime of the relationship. In fact, when a student-educator relationship starts (or continues) on the wrong foot, it can negatively impact future outcomes and progress on interventions. Using examples from pre-K through high school, learn why this pairing process matters and how to successfully build rapport with students in-person and via telehealth.
Suggested audience: Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors)   (1-2 hours)

Navigating Noncompliance: Ready-to-Use Strategies for Before, During, and After Noncompliance    

“Noncompliance” can look different for different students. Learn preventative and teaching strategies to decrease the likelihood of noncompliance in its various forms. This training utilizes several case examples from pre-K through high school students.
Suggested audience: Teachers, paraprofessionals, School Psychologists, BCBA, ABA staff   (1-2 hours)

Let’s Get Visual! Fun Ideas for Integrating Visual Cues into your Work at School

With a day full of activities, it can be tough for students to know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Visual cues help students successfully and independently navigate their school environment. Learn why we use visual supports in school, how to pick the right ones for an individual student or classroom, and new, fun ways to incorporate them into your classroom or clinical setting.    
Suggested audience: (for Teachers and Clinicians)    Educational staff (including teachers, School Psychologists, SLPs, Counselors)   (1-2 hours)

Let’s GROUP Together! Using a Whole-Class Intervention to Increase Academic Engagement and Decrease Problem Behavior

Sometimes it can be quite difficult to manage a classroom in which students are engaging in disruptive behaviors, do not have a sense of “social connection” with each other, and/or not working on their academic work. One way to help alleviate this is with an intervention that is delivered to the WHOLE classroom: group contingencies! Group contingencies are quick to set up, feasible for classroom staff, and FUN for kids! Learn the different types of group contingencies, examples of each, and how they can be incorporated into the school setting.   
Suggested audience: Teachers, BCBA, School Psychologists   (2 hours)

Increasing Requests/Mands at School and Home     

Asking for what you want is the foundational component of communication. Learn how to create opportunities to increase student requesting in school settings. Also discuss how to support parents/caregivers with applying these strategies at home.
Suggested audience: Teachers, BCBA, ABA staff, School Psychologists   (1-2 hours)

Compassionate Care in Applied Behavior Analysis

How do our relationships with other caregivers impact outcomes for students? Discover how compassionate and empathic behaviors practiced by behavior analysts toward parents, educators, and students influence outcomes. Participants will learn and discuss ways to identify and support the development and maintenance of compassionate behavior(s). This training is based on Taylor, B. A., LeBlanc, L. A., & Nosik, M. R. (2019). Compassionate care in behavior analytic treatment: Can outcomes be enhanced by attending to relationships with caregivers? Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12, 654-666.    
Suggested audience: BCBA, ABA staff   (2 hours)

A Guide for Supervising Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs)

If you want to change or influence the behavior of someone you supervise, you need to start by changing you own behavior. Review the key components to effective supervision of Direct/RBT staff and how to incorporate procedural fidelity into supervision sessions. Sample tools to support supervision will be provided.
Suggested audience: BCBA Only   (3+ hours)

Motivating Operations 101

Why are we motivated to do something one moment but not another? What is the actual motivation behind someone’s behavior? In Applied Behavior Analysis, motivating operations play a critical role in answering those questions. Review motivating operations, what they look like in the school setting, and how to incorporate them to improve the effectiveness of intervention plans.    
Suggested audience: BCBA only   (1 hour)

 

In addition to the professional development trainings:

Our School Consultation services empower school staff to address challenges commonly faced in urban, rural, suburban, and private school settings. Topics addressed in our School Consultation services include (but are not limited to): challenging behavior (including School Refusal), completing Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans, supporting complex cases (e.g., students with comorbid disabilities, students with emotional impairment, students with autism), and establishing systems for data collection and progress monitoring. May Institute prides itself on providing consultation to school staff of all areas of expertise and skill levels, including general education teachers, special education teachers, inclusion classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, school psychologists, and BCBAs. Learn more.

Our Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program helps schools and educators improve school-wide discipline procedures, classroom management practices, and individual behavior support plans. School districts across the country have discovered that implementing PBIS results in safer schools, more positive school climates, improved academic outcomes, more effective responses to students who display significant problem behaviors, and higher parent and community satisfaction. Learn more.

 

 Contact
Dr. Daniel Martin
781.437.1206 or dmartin@mayinstitute.org