Videos

The purpose of this video series is to provide school leaders, teachers, paraprofessionals, families and students information around Natural Peer Supports with the expertise of Dr. Erik Carter. These five video sessions will provide the essential information needed to develop the structures that promote inclusion, learning, and relationships between students with and without disabilities with special focus on students with complex instructional needs. Dr. Carter will describe the evidence base and the necessary components for developing an effective peer support program. These sessions are supported with video documentary of actual peer support programs occurring within Pennsylvania. Each session will guide schools in identifying crucial elements to launch new or continue current efforts in implementing natural peer support programs. This session along with session four focuses on peer support arrangements that lead to academic and social participation in inclusive classrooms.

The purpose of this video series is to provide school leaders, teachers, paraprofessionals, families and students information around Natural Peer Supports with the expertise of Dr. Erik Carter. These five video sessions will provide the essential information needed to develop the structures that promote inclusion, learning, and relationships between students with and without disabilities with special focus on students with complex instructional needs. Dr. Carter will describe the evidence base and the necessary components for developing an effective peer support program. These sessions are supported with video documentary of actual peer support programs occurring within Pennsylvania. Each session will guide schools in identifying crucial elements to launch new or continue current efforts in implementing natural peer support programs. In this session Dr. Carter focuses on the importance of fostering relationships along with rigorous, relevant learning opportunities for students with complex instructional needs.

The purpose of this video series is to provide school leaders, teachers, paraprofessionals, families and students information around Natural Peer Supports with the expertise of Dr. Erik Carter. These five video sessions will provide the essential information needed to develop the structures that promote inclusion, learning, and relationships between students with and without disabilities with special focus on students with complex instructional needs. Dr. Carter will describe the evidence base and the necessary components for developing an effective peer support program. These sessions are supported with video documentary of actual peer support programs occurring within Pennsylvania. Each session will guide schools in identifying crucial elements to launch new or continue current efforts in implementing natural peer support programs. This session focuses on peer partner programs which are one type of peer mediated approach for promoting inclusion, friendships and learning.

State Task Force meeting recorded on November 5, 2025

This presentation will introduce steps A and B of the standards-aligned unit planning process, which include learning targets.

This presentation introduces steps 2C and D of the standards-aligned unit planning process, which include the identification of prioritized vocabulary and ideas.

Executive skills refer to the cognitive processes required to plan and organize activities, including task initiation and follow through, planning/organization, working memory, performance monitoring, inhibition of impulses, and self-regulation. Executive skills involve the integration of information across brain regions, particularly the frontal lobes, and therefore any type of significant acquired brain injury is likely to negatively impact executive skills. These skills are at the heart of what is seen as independent problem solving, goal directed persistence, and motivation. Students with executive skill deficits have problems in all these domains, and they present tremendous challenges to both parents and teachers who often find themselves frustrated by children whose problems in school seem to have little to do with how smart they are or how easily they learn.

Executive skills refer to the cognitive processes required to plan and organize activities, including task initiation and follow through, planning/organization, working memory, performance monitoring, inhibition of impulses, and self-regulation. Executive skills involve the integration of information across brain regions, particularly the frontal lobes, and therefore any type of significant acquired brain injury is likely to negatively impact executive skills. These skills are at the heart of what is seen as independent problem solving, goal directed persistence, and motivation. Students with executive skill deficits have problems in all these domains, and they present tremendous challenges to both parents and teachers who often find themselves frustrated by children whose problems in school seem to have little to do with how smart they are or how easily they learn.

Youth from across Pennsylvania are describing what they are doing to “Make it Happen” during their time in quarantine. Tips are shared from students as young as two years old, to seniors in high school. Ideas around academics, behavior and social-emotional strategies are noted.