BrainSTEPS New Team Lead BOOTCAMP
Session Dates
Friday November 20, 2026 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM - Nittany Lion Inn
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This event is by invitation only. You must have a registration key in order to register.
This training prepares new and incoming BrainSTEPS Team Leaders to confidently manage a BrainSTEPS student case from referral through follow-up, monitoring, and closure. Participants will learn to manage and document cases in ORBS; triage referrals and identify needed information; distinguish a student’s pre-injury functioning from current functioning across multiple sources and domains; determine what has changed following brain injury; and evaluate whether apparent academic performance reflects true recovery or may mask ongoing difficulties. Team Leaders will learn to connect documented symptoms and functional changes to specific educational supports through a clear chain of reasoning, conduct effective BrainSTEPS consultations with families and schools, navigate complicated or ambiguous cases, and monitor students longitudinally. Particular attention will be given to recognizing that the effects of pediatric brain injury may change over time as developmental, academic, social, and executive-function demands increase, potentially revealing needs that were not apparent earlier in recovery.
Objectives
At the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Describe the full BrainSTEPS case lifecycle from referral through resolution or archive.
- Navigate ORBS to document a referral, consultation activity, and case status, and identify gaps in an incomplete or poorly documented case.
- Triage a new referral by identifying what is known, what is unknown, and what should not yet be concluded.
- Analyze a student's pre- and post-injury functioning across multiple domains and information sources, and identify where sources agree, disagree, or leave gaps.
- Distinguish academic performance from functional recovery, and connect a documented symptom to a specific, monitorable support using a clear chain of reasoning.
- Conduct a BrainSTEPS consultation that establishes baseline, current functioning, and next steps, and evaluate a consultation for what information was gathered or missed.
- Respond to ambiguous or difficult case situations as the responsible team leader, including situations where the injury's role in current difficulties is unclear.
- Manage a case longitudinally, recognizing when to continue monitoring, adjust supports, escalate, or close a case, and anticipate how developmental change can surface new needs over time.
Target Audience
NEW BrainSTEPS team leaders
Reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate individuals who have special needs as addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act and who need assistance at this event. Contact: Theresa Kraihanzel at
tkraihanzel@pattan.net