School Counselor and Learning Specialist Resources A to Z

General ADHD / Parenting Books

• A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults: Executive Function Impairments by Thomas E. Brown
• ADHD: What Every Parent Needs to Know by Mark L. Wolraich, MD by Joseph F. Hagan Jr, MD
• Driven to Distraction (Revised): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder by Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey
• Managing ADHD in School: The Best Evidence-Based Methods for Teachers by Dr. Russell Barkley, PhD
• Taking Charge of ADHD, Third Edition: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents by Russell A. Barkley, PhD
• What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life by Dr. Sharon Saline

Children’s Books

• Baxter Turns Down His Buzz: A Story for Little Kids About ADHD by James M. Foley
• Cory Stories: A Kid's Book about Living with ADHD by Jeanne R. Kraus
• Mindfulness Activities for Kids with ADHD: Engaging Stories and Exercises to Help You Learn And Thrive by Dr. Sharon Grand, PhD
• Mrs. Gorski I Think I Have the Wiggle Fidgets by Barbara Esham

Young Adult Books

• AD/HD and the College Student: The Everything Guide to Your Most Urgent Questions by Patricia O. Quinn MD
• Ready for Take-Off: Preparing Your Teen With ADHD or LD for College by Theresa E. Laurie Maitland and Patricia O. Quinn
• Survival Guide for College Students with ADHD or LD by Kathleen G. Nadeau

ADHD Organizations

• ADHD & Attention, Child Mind Institute
• ADHD Survive and Thrive - Journal of Jewish Day School Leadership issue, Consortium on Jewish Schools
• Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)
• Inside the ADHD Mind, Additude Magazine
• Learning Disorders Association
• Learning and the Brain
• Teacher’s Guide to ADHD, Child Mind Institute
• The Shefa School
• Understood.org has amazing simulations for disabilities and offers parents and teachers advice and suggestions.

Books

• Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents by Reid Wilson Ph.D. and Lynn Lyons, LICSW
• Beyond the Blues by Lisa M. Schab, LCSW
• Don’t Let Emotions Run Your Life for Teens by Sheri Van Dijk, MSW
• Mommy Can you Stop the Rain by Dr. Rona Novick. (picture book for children)
• The Anxiety Workbook for Teens by Lisa M. Schab, LCSW
• The Explosive Child by Ross Greene, Ph.D.
• The Whole Brain Child by Daniel Siegel, M.D
• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D

Apps and Other Resources

• 2021-2022 Independent School Health Check: Mental Health Among NAIS High School Students (full report)
• Calm App
• Child Mind Institute
• Families for Depression Awareness
• Headspace App
• Nancy Kislin, LCSW
• Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)
• WorryWiseKids

Test Taking Anxiety 

• Along
  • Free digital reflection tool is designed to deepen student-teacher SEL connections and set up a system for regular check-ins.
  • Teachers choose from a database of questions and resources to share with students, add their own response to a prompt, share it with students, and then students post their responses – in text, audio, or video.
• Confident and Curious: Helping Students Reduce Worry and Anxiety to Boost Learning!, special collaboration with Dr. Sharon Saline
• Pearson Assessments Mental Health Resource Center
   

• Autism Speaks
• Society Is Failing Visual Thinkers, and That Hurts Us All by Dr. Temple Grandin in The New York Times
• Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions by Dr. Temple Grandin

• 2021-2022 Independent School Health Check: Drug Use, Drinking, and Disordered Eating, NAIS Research (NAIS member only)
• 2021-2022 Independent School Health Check: Fitness, Weight, and Sleep Among NAIS High School Students, NAIS Research (NAIS member only)
• Fat Torah seeks to end weight stigma in Jewish communal life, trains Jewish professionals to confront fatphobia, and propagates a methodology of connecting with sacred text, tradition, and spirituality that fosters body liberation for people of all sizes.
• List of books and videos about eating disorders from Gurzebooks
• Multi-Service Eating Disorder Association
• National Eating Disorder Association 

• 2021-2022 Independent School Health Check: Family, Friends, and Social Media Use Among NAIS High School Students, NAIS Research (NAIS members only)
• Ability Awareness Activities
• Bullying: How Counselors Can Intervene, Counseling Today
• Bullying Prevention Strategies and Resources for K-12 Schools, (Schoolsafety.gov)
• Counselors Make a Positive Impact Combating America’s School Bullying Crisis by Wake Forest University
• Ethical Standards for School Counselors from the American School Counselor Association

• 101 Magically Calming Activities for Kids [That Work] from Simply Well Balanced
• 22 Ways to Calm Yourself Down from Healthline

• Addressing Depression in Schools, Children’s Hospital of Philadephia
• Depression: Supporting Students at School, National Association of School Psychologists
• School Accommodations for Children with Anxiety or Depression, Children's Health

The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach for addressing lagging skills and youth mental health.

• How Lagging Social Thinking Skills Can Influence Behavior
• Rethinking Our Approach to Youth Mental Health Care by Dr. J. Stuart Ablon
• The Benefits of Changing School Discipline

• A world of literacy solutions to help everyone understand and be understood. Text help products (some are free for teachers).
• International Dyslexia Association

General

• Executive Functioning in the Classroom
• Project Zero’s Thinking Routine Toolbox. Activities to help develop different aspects of EF and Critical Thinking Skills.
• Teaching Self Regulation in Young Children, Hidden Sparks

Books For Children 

• Learning to Slow Down and Pay Attention: A Book for Kids about ADHD by Ellen B. Dixon, PhD and Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD
• Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential by Peg Dawson, EdD and Richard Guare, PhD
• The Organized Child: An Effective Program to Maximize Your Kid's Potential--in School and in Life by Richard Gallagher, Elana G. Spira, and Jennifer L. Rosenblatt 

Books for Teens

• Focus and Thrive: Executive Functioning Strategies for Teens: Tools to Get Organized, Plan Ahead, and Achieve Your Goals by Laurie Chaikind McNulty
• Smart But Scattered Teens: The "Executive Skills" Program for Helping Teens Reach Their Potential by Richard Guare, Peg Dawson, and Colin Guare
• The Executive Functioning Workbook for Teens: Help for Unprepared, Late, and Scattered Teens by Sharon A. Hansen
• Thriving with ADHD Workbook for Teens: Improve Focus, Get Organized, and Succeed by Allison Tyler LCSW

• Books for Twice Exceptional Learners published by Prufrock Press- Prufrock Press offers teachers and parents exciting, research-based resources for helping gifted, advanced, and special needs learners succeed.
• Gifted Child Quarterly publishes original research and new and creative insights about giftedness and talent development in the context of the school, the home, and the wider society.
• National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) - This is the nation’s leading organization focused on the needs of gifted and talented children. Dedicated to uplifting and empowering those who support children with advanced abilities, NAGC provides energizing professional learning, impactful research, and inspiring advocacy to ensure all children have equitable opportunities and support to develop their gifts and talents. This is a good place to begin when you are searching for position papers or resources. The 2019 Gifted Programming Standards may be of particular interest in helping your school build a framework of how best to serve gifted (and 2E) students.The Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education and Talent Development advocates for a broadened conception of giftedness, and a focus on the development of potential in groups not ordinarily included in special programs for the gifted and talented. The center offers a wide variety of professional learning, webinar opportunities, resources and services.
• Teaching Twice Exceptional Learners in Today’s Classroom (published 2021) by Emily Kircher-Morris, M.A., M.Ed., LPC, podcast host of The Neurodiversity Podcast and 2E student herself. Emily has taught in gifted classrooms, has been a school counselor, and is now in private practice as a licensed professional counselor, where she specializes in helping gifted, twice-exceptional, and neurodivergent people.
• Twice Exceptional: Definition, Characteristics and Identification by Davidson Institute - This article explains what it means for a student to be twice exceptional. It also gives practical approaches towards identifying twice-exceptional students.

Experts

• Dr. Paula Olszewski-Kubilius - Director of the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University and a professor at the School of Education and Social Policy. Over the past 30 years, she has created programs for all kinds of gifted learners and written extensively on issues of talent development, particularly on programming for under-represented gifted students. Contact at [email protected] | 847/491-3782
• Lookbook from the 2021 twice exceptional conference in 2021 at William and Mary Center for Gifted Education. Check through to see which presenters you may want to contact depending on the issue you are facing.

• Eshel
• Keshet
• Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Sexual Activity Among NAIS High School Students, NAIS Research: 2021-2022 Independent School Health Check (NAIS member only)
• The Trevor Project CARE Training

• How to Successfully Support Mental Wellness at Work, Ted Talk by day school alum Matthew Ratz
• Jewish Mental Health Values, The Blue Dove Foundation
• Sefaria sources on mental health

• Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Organizations from Child Welfare Information Gateway
• Emotional Abuse, The Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness
• Orthodox Jewish Sexual Abuse Hotline at Mount Sinai
• What are the effects of emotional abuse?

Books for Adults to Understand Trauma

• Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce Perry
• Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal by Donna Jackson Nakazawa
• Revolutionizing Trauma Treatment: Stabilization, Safety, & Nervous System Balance by Babette Rothschild
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, MD
• What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey

Books for Children

• A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret Holmes
• Brave Bart: A Story for Traumatized and Grieving Children by Carolin Sheppard
• Becoming a Superhero: A Book for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma by Miri Bar-Halpern, Psy.D.
• Grief is Like a Snowflake by Julia Cook
• Healing Days: A Guide For Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma by Susan Farber Straus
• Once I Was Very Very Scared by Chandra Ghosh Ippen
• The Invisible String by Patrice Karst

General Resources

• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
• Trauma Resources for Schools and Families, The Turkish-Syrian Earthquake, Yeshiva University

Curriculum

• Here’s What a ‘Kindness Curriculum’ Looks Like, article from EducationWeek
• Navigating SEL From the Inside Out: Looking Inside & Across 18 Leading SEL Programs: A Practical Resource for Schools and OST Providers—Middle & High School Focus, Wallace Foundation
• The School Kindness Project article from EducationWeek

Whole Child Approach

• 2021-2022 Independent School Health Check: Academic Performance, Student-Teacher Relationships, and Safety Among NAIS High School Students, NAIS Research (NAIS members only)
• Examples of approaches that combine mental health and learning supports
  • Educating the Whole Child: Improving School Climate to Support Student Success by Linda Darling-Hammond and Channa M. Cook-Harvey
  • The ASCD Whole Child Approach to Education, Connect the Dots of Your Student's Success
• The End of Average: Unlocking Our Potential by Embracing What Makes Us Different by Todd Rose
• The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Sigel and Tina Payne Bryson

Universal Design for Learning

• The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines: Graphic Organizer
• The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines: Representation

Systems Designs for School

The following publications are all valuable for implementing a comprehensive systems-level tiered approach to addressing mental health in schools. The system was originally created for specialized learning support. While the models are similar, each of the publications has its advantages. The Dept. of Ed is the most informative with case studies etc., The JED Foundation is the simplest and most contemporary, and the SAMHSA publication presents a pathway for effective implementation.

• Realizing the Promise of the Whole-School Approach to Children’s Mental Health: A Practical Guide for Schools, SAMHSA
• Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Needs, US Department of Education
• The Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention for High Schools, JED Foundation

Building a Comprehensive School Mental Health System

The Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework has helped Jewish day schools in Massachusetts and beyond develop comprehensive systems of support integrating Social-Emotional Learning, Academic support and mental health interventions at the universal, supplemental, and intensive levels in order to promote success for all.

In this engaging session, experts from Gateways: Access to Jewish Education introduce the MTSS framework and lead you through an initial asset and gap analysis of your own schools’ infrastructure, supports, and interventions. This will enable school decision makers, learning specialists, counselors to discuss possible next steps toward comprehensive systems development in your school. Watch the recording here.

• Environment is Everything., David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality’s
• Providing a Registry of Experimentally Proven Programs, Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development
• Social and Emotional Learning Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, Rand Corporation
• The CASEL Program Guide

• Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons and Significant Others, The Jewish Board
• Jewish Communities Confronting Substance Use & Addiction (CCSA), Eliminate Stigma. Save Lives. Addiction is an illness that afflicts people of all ages and backgrounds, and the Jewish community is no exception. Unfortunately, many people who need help are afraid to come forward because of the stigma around substance use and addiction. CCSA tackles these issues by providing support and educational programming for Jewish communities, families, and our children. By eliminating stigma, we can break the cycle of addiction and save lives.