43rd Annual School Psychology, Counseling Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis Conference 
March 15, 2024

Hosted in-person at Temple University!
Howard Gittis Student Center, Rooms 200, 217, 220
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Attendees are invited to join us beginning at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast, sponsored by the CEHD Development and Alumni Relations office, and keynote speaker in HGSC 217.

Schedule of Events

Keynote: 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

The Secret Sauce of Therapeutic Solutions
John Murphy, PhD (he/him)
University of Central Arkansas (Emeritus)

This keynote session highlights the role of clients’ indigenous resources in co-constructing therapeutic solutions with children, adults, and families. Every client offers a unique set of resources that can help move forward from depression, anxiety, trauma, and other challenges. Drawing from the practical principles and practices of solution-focused counseling, Dr. Murphy will use client examples, real time and videotaped demonstrations, and short experiential exercises to describe how practitioners can partner with clients in culturally responsive ways that honor their resources and accelerate solutions.

The keynote presentation is available to psychologists, professional counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists for CE credit. It also meets ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 

Session 1:  10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

  • Melanie Pellecchia, PhD, BCBA, NCSP – Supporting Caregivers in Early Autism Intervention
  • Arpana Inman, PhD, ABPP – Tele-supervision: Essentials in in-person and video/virtual meetings

All Session 1 presentations are available to psychologists, professional counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists for CE credit. They also meet ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The session presented by Melanie Pellecchia is available for 2.0 Type 2 BCBA CEUs per the Behavior Analyst Certification Board requirements. The Temple University Department of Psychological Studies in Education is a BACB Approved Continuing Education provider (ACE Provider Number: OP-22-0333). 

Lunch/Posters: 12:45 - 1:45 p.m.

Session 2: 1:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

  • Shannon Ryan, PhD, LP – Keeping Focused and Staying on Track: Best Practices in ADHD Assessment and Intervention
  • Ashley Stewart, PhD – Ethical Considerations for Equity-Centered and Trauma-Informed Engagement

All Session 2 presentations are available to psychologists, professional counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists for CE credit. They also meet ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 
NOTE: Ashley Stewart's session has been designated as providing hours towards the ethics training CEUs required by psychologists.

Session 3: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

  • Perspectives from the Front Lines: Site Supervisor Panel

Session 3 meets ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 

 

Detailed Schedule of Events

Keynote: 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

The Secret Sauce of Therapeutic Solutions
John Murphy, PhD (he/him)
University of Central Arkansas (Emeritus)

This keynote session highlights the role of clients’ indigenous resources in co-constructing therapeutic solutions with children, adults, and families. Every client offers a unique set of resources that can help move forward from depression, anxiety, trauma, and other challenges. Drawing from the practical principles and practices of solution-focused counseling, Dr. Murphy will use client examples, real time and videotaped demonstrations, and short experiential exercises to describe how practitioners can partner with clients in culturally responsive ways that honor their resources and accelerate solutions.

Learning Objectives:

Participants in this session will obtain practical knowledge and skills to help them:

  • Identify clients' desired outcomes from counseling during the opening moments of contact.
  • Plan culturally responsive questions that elicit indigenous resources related to clients' hoped-for outcomes.
  • Devise ways to invite clients to use what they have (resources) to get what they want (desired outcomes)

 

Session 1: 10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

Supporting Caregivers in Early Autism Intervention
Melanie Pellecchia, PhD, BCBA, NCSP
University of Pennsylvania

Recent research has highlighted the importance of caregiver coaching and caregiver-mediated interventions for young children on the autism spectrum in improving long-term child and family outcomes. Yet, caregiver-mediated interventions are not implemented widely, especially in service systems which serve historically marginalized families. This presentation will provide an overview of the research supporting caregiver-mediated interventions, highlighting the research-to-practice gap in this area. An in-depth discussion of evidence-based caregiver coaching, with concrete strategies to support its implementation will also be provided.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session:

  • Participants will identify the latest research regarding the use of parent-mediated interventions for young children on the autism spectrum.
  • Participants will list the core components of evidence-based caregiver coaching.
  • Participants will identify strategies to support the implementation of caregiver coaching for families of young children with ASD receiving publicly-funded early intervention.

Tele-Supervision: Essentials in in-person and video/virtual meetings
Arpana G. Inman, PhD, ABPP
Rutgers University

Clinical supervision is a core competency area within the counseling fields and essential to the development of competent clinicians. Although face-to-face formats have been traditionally used in the provision of clinical supervision, advances in telecommunication and the changing nature of clinical practice have led to greater growth and support for the use of computer-based technologies in supervision. This webinar will focus on understanding how tele-supervision may be similar or different from face-to-face supervision, identify best practices in tele-supervision, and most importantly understand the ethical and cultural considerations in tele-supervision.

Learning Objectives:

As the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

  • Identify at least two strengths and challenges in tele-supervision.
  • List and evaluate best practices in tele-supervision.
  • Apply ethical and cultural considerations in tele-supervision.

 

Lunch/Posters: 12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

 

Session 2: 1:45 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Keeping Focused and Staying on Track:
Best Practices in ADHD Assessment and Intervention

Shannon Ryan, PhD, LP
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA

“So many ideas burst out of my brain at once!” “My mind can’t keep up with my body sometimes!” Phrases like these are commonly heard by educators and school psychologists who support children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a disorder categorized by impulsive, hyperactive and inattentive symptoms, which presents clinically significant impairment in home and school. It is important for school psychologists to know how to accurately assess ADHD and other impulse-control disorders in order to ensure strong child social, emotional and academic outcomes. In this presentation, you will learn best practices in assessment and diagnosis for ADHD. In addition, this presentation will provide an overview of recommended evidence-based interventions, such as behavioral training and Organizational Skills Training Tier 2 (OST-T2), to help kids stay focused and stay on track in the school setting.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, learners will be able to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge of standardized assessment methods for ADHD
  • Apply principles of behavioral psychology to identify effective interventions for the school setting
  • Demonstrate knowledge of Organizational Skills Training (OST) interventions as an evidence-based way to tackle executive functioning challenges

Ethical Considerations for Equity-Centered and Trauma-Informed Engagement
Ashley Stewart, PhD
College of Public Health, Temple University

The workshop analyzes the critical intersection of trust and trauma. Equity-centered engagement is critical in all settings, and it is important to give specific attention to the impact of systemic and structural oppression in organizational relationships. There is a need for an equity-centered focus in trauma-informed engagement, and there are unique ways that people who experience forms of identity-based oppression can experience trauma.

Conference attendees participating in this workshop will engage in skill-building and self-reflection to examine ways that trauma, systems and culture impact our leadership practices with or without our awareness. This course will help participants gain skills to create relationships based on a foundation of emotional safety, trust, authenticity, autonomy and collaboration.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, learners will be able to:

  • Identify techniques for holding space for compounding and intersectional oppression inside and outside the workplace.
  • Utilize skills to help individuals reduce the impact of secondary trauma.
  • Demonstrate how to promote organizational change through equity and a trauma-informed lens.
  • Identify race-based traumatic stress, acculturative stress, insidious trauma, and historical trauma in the context of trauma-informed engagement.
  • Identify what equity-centered trauma-informed engagement looks like in practice and why it is critical to organizational and individual wellness.
  • Assess our readiness to engage meaningfully in conversations around equity.
  • List common organizational pitfalls in implementing equitable practices.
  • Assess what transformative change looks like in action.

 

Session 3: 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Perspectives from the Frontlines: Site Supervisor Panel
Moderated by Heidi Hutman, PhD, LP
College of Education and Human Development, Temple University

This panel covers recent trends in supervision and training from the perspectives of licensed clinical supervisors with a focus on opportunities and challenges emerging in the aftermath of COVID. Participants will be introduced to strategies and resources to promote competency development for themselves and their trainees. It will be moderated by a faculty member and licensed psychologist who has published and presented nationally and internationally on this topic.

By the end of this panel, participants will be able to:

  • Describe at least one major change to training and supervision in the aftermath of COVID.
  • Identify two challenges that came out of training supervisees during COVID and post-pandemic.
  • Identify two opportunities emerging from training supervisees during COVID and post-pandemic.