Registration is now Open for LDACON63 in St. Louis! February 16-18, 2026.

Click Here to Find Out More & Register

LD Month Week 3: Defining Dysgraphia: Creating Understanding and Support

As part of Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, we’re sharing webinars from our Members-Only Webinar Archive for free each week. This week, enjoy “Defining Dysgraphia: Creating Understanding and Support” with Dr. Jennifer King.

To gain full access to our Members-Only Webinar Archive, become an LDA Member! Your membership directly supports our work and allows us to offer high-quality, evidence-based resources and programs.

Defining Dysgraphia: Creating Understanding and Support, with Dr. Jennifer King
Watch Defining Dysgraphia

LD Month Week 2: A Deep Dive into Dyscalculia

As part of Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, we’re sharing webinars from our Members-Only Webinar Archive for free each week. This week, enjoy “A Deep Dive into Dyscalculia” with Dr. Anneke Schreuder

To gain full access to our Members-Only Webinar Archive, become an LDA Member! Your membership directly supports our work and allows us to offer high-quality, evidence-based resources and programs.

A Deep Dive into Dyscalculia with Dr. Anneke Schreuder
Watch A Deep Dive into Dyscalculia

LD Month Week 1: Demystifying Dyslexia:

As part of Learning Disabilities Awareness Month, we’re sharing webinars from our Members-Only Webinar Archive for free each week. This week, enjoy “Demystifying Dyslexia” with Catherine Christo.

To gain full access to our Members-Only Webinar Archive, become an LDA Member! Your membership directly supports our work and allows us to offer high-quality, evidence-based resources and programs.

Demystifying Dyslexia, with Catherine Christo
Watch Demystifying Dyslexia

Executive Functioning Pre-Conference Sessions for LDACON62

We’re excited to share the sessions taking place at our all-day Executive Function Pre-Conference on February 26th in Orlando. Registration for the Pre-Conference is $99 and includes lunch. Registrants will be able to choose to attend the presentation by Dr. Peter Isquith, or the presentation by Dr. George McCloskey.

Schedule:

-9:30am-12:30pm Presentation

-12:30pm-1:30pm Lunch Break

-1:30pm-4:30pm Presentation Continues

The Evidence for Executive Function Assessment and Intervention

Presenter: Dr. Peter Isquith

Executive Functioning Pre-Conference, February 26, 2025. The Evidence for Execuive Function Assessment and Intervention. Presented by: Dr. Peter Isquith. Visit ldacon.org

Session Description:

Self-regulation, the observable everyday outcome of executive function, plays a guiding role throughout our lives, beginning in infancy and following a protracted developmental course. Numerous environmental, economic, and health risk and resilience factors can alter our ability to initiate, sustain, and inhibit thinking, emotions, and behavior. They may interfere with our ability to adapt to change, to develop, select, and hold goals in working memory, and to plan, organize, and monitor progress toward our goals. 

Problems with self-regulation alter the trajectory of individuals’ educational, social, vocational, financial, and health with more negative outcomes. Enhancing self-regulation beginning in early childhood serves to increase the likelihood of more positive functioning both proximally and in the long term. The goal of this full day workshop is to increase knowledge about students’ self-regulation development, risk and resilience factors, methods of assessment, and approaches to improving executive functioning/self-regulation in the everyday world.

In this presentation, we will review the most widely accepted model of self-regulation, or executive function, in the context of other abilities, identify risk and resilience factors that may impact development of self-regulation and long-term outcomes, discuss approaches to assessment in detail, identify successful approaches to enhancing students’ self-regulation with a goal of improving their everyday lives now and into the future, and review cases in common conditions that demonstrate conceptualization, assessment, and intervention recommendations.

APA Credits for Dr. Isquith’s Session Coming Soon!

Learning Objectives:

As a result of attending this training, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the most widely used model of everyday executive function/self-regulation
  • Identify major risk factors for problems with executive functions
  • Describe long and short term outcomes of reduced executive function
  • Explain pros and cons of performance and rating scale measures of executive function
  • Identify specific intervention programs or methods with demonstrated efficacy

Dr. Peter Isquith Bio:

Peter K. Isquith, Ph.D., is a Licensed Psychologist with specialty in developmental neuropsychology who practices in schools across Vermont and New Hampshire and was a Senior Attending Neuropsychologist with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. His primary area of research is the development and disorders of self-regulation across the lifespan and he is author of several works on the topic and co-author of several measures including the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) family of instruments, and the PostConcussion Executive Inventory.

Helping Students Overcome EF Difficulties that Impact Reading, Writing, and Math

Presenter: Dr. George McCloskey

Executive Functioning Pre-Confence. February 26, 2025. Helping Students Overcome EF Difficulties that Impact Reading, Writing, and Math. Presented by Dr. George McCloskey. Visit ldacon.org

Session Description:

This workshop offers an in-depth exploration of executive functions and their crucial role in learning and using reading, writing, and math skills. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how motivation influences the development of these skills and learn to identify specific challenges in reading, writing, and math that stem from executive function deficits.

The session will also cover practical interventions and strategies to help students strengthen their executive functions, ultimately boosting their academic proficiency. Whether you are a teacher, school psychologist, or educational specialist, this workshop will equip you with the tools to better support students in overcoming executive function difficulties and achieving their full academic potential.

Learning Objectives:

  • Explain the role of executive functions in reading, writing, and doing math
  • Describe how executive function difficulties impact reading, writing, and math production
  • Apply assessment techniques to determine how executive function difficulties impact reading, writing, and math proficiency
  • Apply instructional techniques that address reading, writing, and math problems releated to executive function difficulties

Dr. George McCloskey Bio:

George McCloskey, Ph.D., is a professor and Director of School Psychology Research in the School of Professional and Applied Psychology of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and holds Diplomate status with the American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology. Dr. McCloskey has accumulated 45 years of experience in test development, teaching, research, and assessment and intervention work with children, adolescents, and adults. He has authored two books on executive functions, and the McCloskey Executive Functions Scales, and with his wife, Laurie McCloskey, is co-author of the SILAS/McCloskey Executive Functions Curriculum and the children’s book The Day Frankie Left His Frontal Lobes at Home.

Learn More & Register for LDACON

Announcing Our Keynote Sessions for LDACON62!

February 27th, 2025:

LDACON Keynote Panel Presentation: Are we empowering students with learning disabilities to thrive in a rigorous general education curriculum? February 27, 2025. Featuring Dr. David Allsopp, Dr. Elsa Cardenas-Hagan, Jesse Steif, Dr. Eric Tridas, Dr. Sarah van Ingen Lauer

Are we Empowering Students with Learning Disabilities to Thrive in a Rigorous General Education Curriculum?

The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress data for students with specific learning disabilities who received special education services, suggests the answer to this question is a resounding, “No!” This keynote panel of experts will share the most current academic outcome data for students with SLD and discuss what we must do better. The backdrop for this discussion is LDA’s SLD Evaluation Principles and Standards which outline the factors that must be attended to if students with SLD are to reach their fullest potential.

Featuring: Dr. David Allsopp, Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, Jesse Steif, Dr. Eric Tridas, and Dr. Sarah van Ingen Lauer

February 28th, 2025:

LDACON62 Keynote Presentation: Harnessing Life Ignition Tools (LIT) to Empower Learning Differences. Featuring: Dr. Jeff Karp: Distinguished Chair at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT

Harnessing Life Ignition Tools (LIT) to Empower Learning Differences

Dr. Jeff Karp, Distinguished Chair at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT, is renowned for accelerating medical innovation through his groundbreaking work in drug delivery, stem cell therapies, and medical devices. He has published over 165 papers with over 35,000 citations, delivered 400 invited lectures, holds over 100 patents, and has co-founded 13 companies. 

Jeff leads a research lab focused on harnessing lessons from nature with notable innovations including tissue glue for sealing holes in a beating heart, targeted therapies for osteoarthritis and Crohn’s disease, smart needles, a nasal spray that neutralizes pathogens, and immunotherapy approaches for cancer.

He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Society of Canada, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Growing up in rural Canada, Dr. Karp’s journey with learning disabilities became a personal laboratory, where he experimented and developed the transformative strategies now known as ‘Life Ignition Tools’ (LIT), detailed in his Harper Collins-published book. These tools, forged through his own challenges, have evolved into a powerful method for personal and professional innovation, benefiting not only Dr. Karp but countless others he has inspired. Dr. Karp is also Head of Innovation at Geoversity, Nature’s University, a rainforest bio-leadership training conservancy located in one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world. Jeff lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his family and two Cavalier King Charles spaniels.

Learn More & Register for LDACON62!

Back-to-School: A Parent’s Take on Kids with Anxiety and Learning Disabilities

As the school year kicks off, many parents are juggling a mix of excitement and nerves. For those of us with kids who deal with anxiety and learning disabilities, the start of school can bring its own set of challenges. Here’s how we can help our kids navigate this transition smoothly and set them up for a successful year.

What to Watch For:

Kids with anxiety and learning disabilities can face extra hurdles when heading back to school. Anxiety might show up as nervousness, trouble concentrating, or even physical issues like headaches. On top of that, having a learning disability can make schoolwork more challenging and more stressful.

Characteristics of Anxiety: 

  • Students with anxiety may have difficulty processing information because they are preoccupied with worries and fears. They may not be attending to what is being said to them or what they are seeing. 
  • They may have difficulty regulating their emotions and may have problems with executive function because they are overwhelmed by the worries surrounding them.  
  • Students may experience or complain of health issues such as stomachaches and headaches.

Getting Ready for the School Year

Preparation is vital to making the school transition a bit smoother. Here are a few tips that might help:

  1. Talk It Out: Have an open conversation with your child about their worries and what they’re looking forward to. Let them know it’s okay to feel anxious and you’re there to help.
  2. Team up with Teachers: Before school starts, contact your child’s teachers and school counselors and discuss any specific needs your child might have. Early and open communication with educators can help ensure that a child with learning disabilities receives the necessary support and resources to succeed academically.
  3. Set Up Routines: Consistent daily routines can help reduce anxiety. Try to create a schedule that includes time for schoolwork, relaxation, and fun activities. Having a routine can make things feel more predictable and less stressful.
  4. Create a Calm Study Space: Set up a quiet, organized study area at home. Ensure it’s free from distractions and has everything your child needs to focus.
  5. Encourage Self-Advocacy: Help your student learn to speak up about their needs. This might mean talking to teachers about what helps them learn best or finding ways to manage their anxiety. Teaching them to advocate for themselves can boost their confidence and independence.
  6. Consider Professional Help: If your child’s anxiety or learning challenges seem overwhelming, it might be worth consulting a mental health professional or a learning specialist. Getting help early can make a big difference.

The back-to-school season can be a time of significant stress for parents and children with anxiety and learning disabilities. By preparing in advance, maintaining open communication, and utilizing available resources, families can help their children face these challenges with confidence. With the proper support, these students can thrive academically and emotionally, making the school year a positive experience. 

Further Resources:

Join LDA’s Board of Directors!

Since 1964, Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDAA) has provided support to people with learning disabilities, their parents, teachers and other professionals with cutting edge information on learning disabilities, practical solutions, and a comprehensive network of resources nationwide. These services make LDAA the leading resource for information on learning disabilities. LDAA’s mission is to create opportunities for success for all individuals affected by learning disabilities through support, education, and advocacy.  

LDA of America  is seeking to expand its Board of Directors by bringing on a diverse group of new members from across the nation. Nominations will enhance the strengths, expertise, business acumen, and demographics of our current board of directors. New board members will join an already committed, dedicated and professional governing board. The Board of Directors is responsible for supporting the mission of LDAA of America, setting policy, providing leadership and is accountable for fiscal and strategic oversight.  

LDAA’s Nominating Committee is seeking applicants who are able to serve a 3-year term from 2025 through 2028.  Specific areas of expertise and experiences desired in nominees include:

  • A passion for the work and mission of LDAA of America
  • Strategic business development and organizational capacity building
  • Financial acumen, including strategic financial management skills
  • Legal expertise
  • Experience with fundraising and working with individual and/or institutional funders
  • Diverse individuals such as:
    • Racially/ethnically and culturally 
    • Geographically
    • Young Professionals
    • Neurodiverse

To apply, please complete the Board of Directors Application by August 30, 2024. Applicants will be interviewed in September 2024 and notified about their application status in December 2024, prior to board elections in February 2025. Nominees must attend the 2025 LDA Annual International Conference from February 27 – March 1, 2025.

Complete the Board of Directors Application

Help, He’s Having a Meltdown: Coping with Stress

Bev Johns

As a parent or educator, you may be making this plea. A child is upset, and you are not sure why, but his behavior tells you there is a problem, and he just can’t cope. He may be yelling, screaming, throwing objects, pacing, etc. There may be a number of reasons children get upset. He may be tired and hungry, there is just too much stimulation, a task he doesn’t want to do, and the list keeps going. Children can become easily frustrated if they don’t have the coping skills to calm themselves down. 

Most adults have learned how to regulate their emotions, but some children struggle. Let’s talk about what a parent or educator can do to help and the coping strategies we need to teach children so they learn to regulate themselves when an adult is not around to calm them.

Prevention

What’s a parent or educator to do?  Parents and educators can engage in preventive strategies before a full-blown meltdown occurs. Preventive strategies are a must. We can look for triggers that might set the child off, like certain words or certain environments. Once we know those triggers, we can prepare the child for them. Let’s say we know that the child is easily upset when there is a lot of noise, too much light, or they are expected to do a task they don’t want to do. When we know those are likely occurrences, we can give the child headphones, reduce the light, examine the task level we expect the child to do, break the task down into small steps, and more. The more we can prevent, the better. We often have to be detectives about what may be precipitating the behavior. 

Maybe you have done these things, but you missed something that upset the child, and you noticed the child was getting frustrated; in that case, try to redirect the child so he switches gears and focuses his energies on something else.  

Meltdown

When a child is in a meltdown, stay calm and quiet, speak in a soothing voice, and say as little as possible. Stay at least 12 ½-3 feet away (Johns, 2018). Never get too close to the child, and stand at an angle. Do not touch the child. Arguing and pleading will get you nowhere. You can’t allow another child to get hurt, so it is important to remove the other child or children or try to get the child to move with you to another location. 

You might say, 

“Can we take a walk,” 

 “How about we get a drink of water?” 

“What do you need right now?” 

“I want to help you but can’t until you’re calm. “ 

“Is there anyone I can get for you to talk to?”

Anytime you can redirect the child and focus on something else, it is desired. 

Suppose the child is having a meltdown in a public place. In that case, it is important to attempt to get the child-directed to another location so he is not getting embarrassed or getting attention for negative behavior.

Teaching Coping Skills

Children need to be taught skills for emotional regulation. Given the pressures some of our children face, it is critical that we teach them how to manage their emotions in a number of different ways. First and foremost, we need to model how we handle situations when we are upset. Do we take deep breaths, move away quietly, or yell at another person? We have to engage in strategies that show children that we stay calm.

Here are some activities to consider.

  1. Teach deep breathing techniques. There are various breathing techniques, like five-finger breathing, that you can teach young children through college students.
  1. Give children an outlet for their emotions. When upset, can they draw something or write a poem or story? What is something soothing to them? Look for cathartic experiences that the children can have to relieve their stress.
  1. Experience nature by taking a walk when someone is upset. This can be very calming. 
  1. Listen to soothing music.
  1. Establish a quiet area where a child can go when they are upset. That area could have bean bag chairs, rocking chairs, or an indoor swing. The motions of rocking and swinging can be very calming. The area might also have soft music and fidget toys that can calm the child. 

Meltdowns will occur unless we teach children coping strategies designed to assist them in regulating their emotions. This is a life-long skill that will serve children well into adulthood. 

Johns, Beverly. Techniques for Managing Verbally and Physically Aggressive Students. Pro Ed, 2018.

Bev Johns is currently a Learning and Behavior Consultant having worked in the public schools with students with significant behavioral and emotional disabilities as well as students with learning disabilities for well over 30 years.  She was the administrator and founder of an Alternative School and also was responsible for staff development for the Four Rivers Special Education District. She served as a Professional Fellow at MacMurray College until its closing.

Bev is the author or co-author of over 26 non-fiction books, including the textbook on Learning Disabilities, fiction books, and numerous other articles.

She is the current President of the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois, served on its board, and is a past president of Delta Kappa Gamma, Illinois State Organization. The Council for Exceptional Children awarded Bev the 2000 Outstanding Leadership Award. In 2024, she received the Division for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award and the President’s Award from LDA of America.