Glenbard Parent Series webinars designed to reduce defiance, enhance students’ coping skills

The Glenbard Parent Series: Navigating Healthy Families will present “Practical Strategies for Reducing Anxiety and Challenging Behavior in Students” with Jessica Minahan. There will be two webinars – one from noon to 2 p.m. and one from 7 to 9 p.m. March 14 via Zoom.

With anxiety and challenging behaviors on the rise, adults need effective and easy-to-implement strategies to help young people process critical thoughts and interrupt negative behavior patterns, according to a news release.

Using case studies, humorous stories and examples of common challenging situations, Minahan will deliver a systematic approach to enhancing adolescent coping skills and providing tools and interventions for reducing students’ anxiety and increasing their self-regulation and flexible thinking.

Minahan is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst, special educator and internationally known school consultant. She works with students who struggle with emotional and behavioral disabilities, anxiety disorders, high-functioning autism or mental health issues.

She is the author of “The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students” and “The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools and Interventions for Supporting Students With Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behavior.”

Go to glenbardgps.org for information and the link to the webinar. To be placed on a reminder list for GPS events or to submit a question in advance, email Gilda Ross, the Glenbard District 87 student and community projects coordinator, at gilda_ross@glenbard.org.