Presenter:

Liz Angoff, Ph.D., is a Licensed Educational Psychologist with a Diplomate in School Neuropsychology, providing assessment and consultation services to children and their families in the Bay Area, CA. She is the author of the Brain Building Books, tools for engaging children in understanding their learning and developmental differences as part of the assessment process.

Children with learning disabilities are at significantly greater risk for emotional challenges across their lifespan. This is in part due to feelings of rejection, shame, and isolation that can come with being “different,” as well as experiences of repeated failure in a world that does not support their way of learning (Livingston, et. al., 2018; Haft, et. al. 2016.) As a result, children often develop negative, harmful self-narratives that follow them into adulthood, especially when they were not aware of *why* they struggled (Hansson, et. al., 2015.) 

Educators and school psychologists are in a unique position to help children heal from these emotional wounds.  We can help students change their negative narratives into empowered, positive self-understanding, using neurodiversity affirmative language that captures children’s strengths while validating the very real struggles. 

Learning Objectives: After completing this workshop, participants will be able to: • Identify the 4 steps for talking to kids about their unique profile in an empowering and neurodiversity-affirming way • Demonstrate how the Brain Building Framework, an application of collaborative/therapeutic assessment to cognitive assessment with children, can be utilized to help children ask their own assessment questions • Create a personalized way of describing a child's diagnosis, collaboratively with the student.