Seminars
Seminars
Internationally known for his work with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger Syndrome, social communication deficits, and author of six books and an article on the subject.
Some organizations requesting his services have been:
• Associations: 50
• State Departments of Education/School Districts: 28
• Universities: 11
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
His presentations have been described in terms seldom heard for speakers:
“This was so entertaining and informative. I can hardly believe it’s a workshop. Mr. Kowalski is hands down the most dynamic presenter I have ever experienced. What a great day!”
“This was the most outstanding seminar I have ever taken on Asperger’s!” (Social Worker)"I am a speech-language pathologist and I recently attended your seminar on Proven Techniques to Achieve Social and Academic Success in Children and Adolescents. I must say it was probably the best and most useful conferences I ever attended. I have been utilizing many of the ideas regarding The Zone and it has been very effective with one student in particular. The information you provided regarding paralysis by analysis was truly eye opening and it made me have a completely different perspective on how this student was responding. Due to this, I was able to approach the student's responses in a different manner and this has helped me teach the student to not stand frozen, but to answer in an appropriate way. Your conference has really made a difference."
“You did a phenomenal job! I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and the way in which you presented information. Aside from learning a lot, I was also very entertained! I am sure I am not the first to tell you that your delivery is top notch!” “Very informative and enjoyable.”
“Your seminar was super. I look forward to including more of your materials into my classes.”
“A wonderfully informative and entertaining workshop.”
“The time passed so quickly.”
“Brilliant speaker. Remarkable.” (Special Education Teacher)
Upcoming Seminars:
Please click the locations below for seminar details and registration. Please note, locations are posted as they develop and an active link for registration may not yet be available.
Delaware: Wilmington (PESI) 12/4Florida: Orlando (ASHA) - 11/22-23Illinois: Chicago (ISHA) 2/6-8New Jersey: Cherry Hill (PESI) 12/6Pennsylvania: King of Prussia (PESI) 12/5South Carolina: Greenville (Piedmont Speech and Hearing Consortium) 11/8South Carolina: Laurens (Laurens School District) 10/28Recordings of Previous Seminars Available
Please click the topic below for details and to be redirected to the appropriate sponsor.
Autism & Asperger’s: Proven Techniques to Achieve Social and Academic Success in Children & Adolescents (6 hr. CD & DVD)Success for Students with High Functioning Autism (3.5 Hr., Streaming Video)High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (6 Hr. CD & DVD)Asperger’s Syndrome in Adulthood: Interventions to Teach Pro-Social Coping SkillsThe Emotional Intelligence of Asperger’s Syndrome: Interventions to Achieve Social and Personal SuccessThe Asperger’s Syndrome KitFlorida: FLASHA Fall Virtual Conference, 11/7The Child Development Online ConferenceSpeaking Topics
Requested to speak throughout the world, Tim's presentations have been described as entertaining, interesting, and insightful. Participants regularly state they leave with practical strategies that they can immediately implement. The following are some of the topics on which Tim has spoken. Each program can be tailored to meet your individual needs and can be offered as half-day, full-day, or 2-day formats. Please contact us at 407-245-1026 or mrtim@socialpragmatics.com to arrange for one or more of the following topics or discuss how we can tailor a program to meet your unique needs.
Asperger Syndrome and Academics
Ask any educator. Having a student with Asperger syndrome in the classroom presents serious challenges that many educators are not equipped to handle. This presentation will discuss the academic skills and deficits frequently associated with Asperger syndrome. Participants will learn a variety of behavioral supports designed to enhance the child’s ability to initiate work assignments, increase motivation, decrease distraction, compensate for gross and fine motor deficits, adapt the curriculum, modify academics, and increase cognitive processing. By employing these techniques, educators will learn how to defuse power struggles frequently seen in the academic environment and implement procedures shown to benefit all.
Understanding the Adult with Asperger Syndrome
This presentation will discuss the difficulties often found in adults having Asperger syndrome, many of which are not employed at a level commensurate with their cognitive ability. It will discuss the problems often seen in employment, dating, hygiene, marriage and relationships. Discussion will focus on individuals formally identified as having Asperger syndrome and those suspected of having AS. It will provide strategies to assist these individuals in establishing pro-social coping skills.
Assessing Social Communication
Individuals with Asperger syndrome have significant difficulty in the domain of social-pragmatic language. Their ability to effectively engage and communicate is hampered by deficits that standardized tools fail to target and sadly many speech-language pathologists have not been adequately trained to evaluate. This session will offer 11 tools to evaluate the social-communicative features of Asperger syndrome that neuro-typical individuals find odd, unusual, and downright offensive. This session will also instruct participants on developing measurable goals.
Enhancing Social Skills
Individuals with Asperger syndrome possess inadequate social skills. As a result, neuro-typical individuals perceive their behavior as odd, unusual, rude, and downright offensive. Speech-language pathologists are often called upon to address these issues and provide skills and strategies to produce positive change. Sadly many professionals are completely at a loss when confronted with individuals possessing this diagnosis and often resort to inappropriate intervention strategies. This session will help participants to identify and treat deficits related to the domains of social-interaction, social-communication, and social-emotional regulation thereby allowing for more appropriate service delivery to this difficult population.d
The Importance of Social Skills to Life Success
The concepts of Theory of Mind, Executive Functions, Central Coherence, and Emotional Intelligence can explain why many individuals with Asperger syndrome act as they do. Developing goals and interventions using this theory as a foundation for intervention enables practitioners to achieve better positive results. This presentation will describe how these theories relate to Asperger syndrome and will provide participants with an understanding of why many individuals with Asperger syndrome fail to perform at their potential academic and employable levels.
Reading, Writing, and Rage: The 3 Rs of AS
Reading comprehension and effective written expression are typically challenging areas for students diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. For many of these students, they express their frustration through rage. This session will detail practical strategies to enhance reading comprehension and offer alternatives to written output as well as appropriate techniques to manage emotional self-regulation.
The EQ of AS
Emotional intelligence is the innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize, remember, describe, identify, learn from, manage, understand and explain emotions. Individuals diagnosed as having Asperger syndrome present with significant deficits in EQ on both a personal and social level. This session will explain the various competencies of EQ and how they relate to Asperger syndrome. It will allow participants the ability to develop more appropriate goals.
How Does Theory of Mind Relate to AS?
Uta Frith’s concept “Theory of Mind” can explain why many individuals with Asperger syndrome act as they do. Developing goals and interventions using this theory as a foundation for intervention enables practitioners to achieve positive results more rapidly. This presentation will describe Theory of Mind as it relates to Asperger syndrome. It will provide participants with a greater understanding of perspective taking, why many individuals with Asperger syndrome evidence symptoms of paranoia, as well as describe the deficits associated with Theory of Mind.d
Managing the Emotional Roller Coaster of AS
Emotions are perhaps one of the most difficult features of Asperger syndrome. Few therapists know how to handle the chaos created by the emotional roller coaster in Asperger syndrome. This session will offer practical strategies to help in recognizing, reacting, and restraining impulsivity associated with the inability to “read” emotions.
Are You In The Zone?
Individuals with Asperger syndrome possess inadequate social skills. Many therapists are completely at a loss when confronted with this diagnosis and often resort to inappropriate intervention strategies. This session will help participants use their “mirror neurons” thereby allowing for more appropriate service delivery to this difficult population.
And Then There’s Pragmatics…Tomorrow We’ll Talk About Artic.
This seminar will help you understand pragmatics, the social component of language and acquire practical skills for effective assessment and intervention. Participants will be able to identify and obtain skills-based techniques designed to assist them in determining when things go wrong in social-pragmatic communication, how to assess this difficult area of language, and to understand why students with social-pragmatic deficits act the way they do. Extensive recommendations designed for specialists and classroom teachers to help these students succeed in the academic environment will be provided.
How Come No One Likes Me?
Individuals diagnosed with High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome have difficulty making and keeping friends. This presentation will detail techniques to help these individuals recognize, develop, use, and most importantly, transfer into any social environment, skills necessary for the development of friends. In short, they will help them make and keep friends.d
“Patience You Must Have, My Young Padawan.” How Yoda Can Help Students with AS Self Regulate
This session will emphasize how emotions impact social-pragmatic performance and why many students with Asperger syndrome experience emotional turmoil. It will address the reasons behind human emotions and discuss comorbid diagnoses that impact emotional regulation including anxiety and depression. Treatment techniques will also be discussed.
So You Want To Be A Video Game Programmer and You Don’t Think Social Skills Are Necessary?
Many students with Asperger syndrome care less about “fitting in” believing they will be employed as a video game designer without a clue as to what is required. This presentation will enhance your ability to help these students be more motivated to accomplish both academic and social goals.
He Chooses Not To Do It! Helping Students with AS Achieve Common Core
This presentation will discuss the underlying difficulty to analyze and synthesize information necessary to achieve academic success. It will provide a framework to understand the CCSS as to the difficulties unique to High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome. Techniques will be provided to help them develop strategies to compensate for these deficiencies.
Gender Dysphoria and Asperger Syndrome
What if the special interest of Asperger syndrome centers on gender identification? In the field of mental health this relationship is increasingly being discussed. Data seem to support this phenomenon. This presentation will discuss this relationship and the role speech-language pathologists may play in this issue.d
Speaking History
Associations
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Arkansas Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Autism Society of America • Behavioral Health Summit, Barrow County (GA) • Burrell Behavioral Health • California Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Capital (NY) Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Central New York Speech-Language-Hearing Association • City of Dunedin (FL) Parks and Recreation • College Internship Program-Melbourne, FL • Colorado Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Connecticut Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Council for Behavior Disorders • Dutchess-Ulster-Sullivan-Orange County (NY) Disability Consortium • Florida Association of School Psychologists • Florida Association of Social Workers • Florida Council for Behavior Disorders • Florida Mental Health Counselors Association • Florida Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Georgia Organization of School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists • Georgia Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Gulfcoast (MS) Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Hattiesburg (MS) ADHD Conference • HRFlorida Conference • Idaho Council for Exceptional Children • Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Indiana Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Inter-Mountain Area Speech-Language-Hearing Association.• Jacksonville Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) • Jacksonville Area Speech Pathology Association • Kentucky Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Long Island Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Lower Delaware Autism Foundation • Mental Health Resource and Education Network (Medford, OR) • Metro Speech-Language Network (Colorado) • Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Most at the Coast (DE)• Nevada Speech-Language Hearing Association • New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association • New Mexico Speech-Language-Hearing Association • North Carolina Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Northeast Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Ohio Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Small Boarding School Association • South Carolina Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association • University of Central Florida Centers for Autism and Related Disorders (UCF-CARD) • University of Florida Centers for Autism and Related Disorders (UF-CARD) • U.S. Department of Agriculture • Vermont Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Virginia Speech-Language-Hearing Association • Wayne County (MI) Speech-Language-Hearing Association
School Districts
Alabama Department of Education • Alaska Department of Education • Bishop Moore Catholic High School • Brevard County Public Schools (FL) • Clark County Public Schools (NV) • Cloudcroft Public Schools (NM) • Collier County Public Schools (FL) • Cut Bank Schools (MT) • DeKalb County Public Schools (FL) • Downey Christian School • Florida Dept. of Education (Working with the Experts) • Fort Bend Independent School District (TX) • Fulton County Public Schools (GA) • Galileo School for the Gifted (FL) • Grand Prairie School District (TX) • Hillsboro County Public Schools (FL) • Homewood Public Schools (AL) • Klein Independent School District (TX) • Los Angeles County School District • Los Angeles Unified School District • Mountain Brook Schools (AL) • Nashville Public Schools • New Mexico Dept.of Educ. Region IX Educational Cooperative • Palm Beach County Public Schools (FL) • Peel District Schools (Ontario, Canada) • Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PATTEN) • Pennsylvania Department of Education • Pinellas County School Board (FL) • Saint James Catholic School • Saint John Vianney Catholic School • Sarasota County Public Schools (FL) • Schaumburg Public Schools (IL) • Therapy Beat School (Brooksville, FL) • Ventura County (CA) Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA)
Universities
Beacon College • Eastern Illinois University • Governor's State University (IL) • Grand Valley State University (MI) • Idaho State University • Loma Linda University (CA) • Misericordia University (PA) • Ridgewater College (MN) • Southeast Louisiana State University • University of Arkansas • University of Wyoming
International
Canada • China • India
Professional Communication Services, Inc.
Timothy P. Kowalski, M.A.,C.C.C.
1401 Edgewater Dr., Suite A • Orlando, FL 32804 • 407-245-1026