MASSENA — Massena Central School hosted a "Special Education Spectacular" Nov. 9, with over 500 attendees from 16 St. Lawrence County school districts.

The event was a showcase of special education professional development for staff, planned in conjunction with St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES.

This was the event’s first year, which was developed by St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES in response to a growing demand for special education-specific professional development. Massena hosted the event in an effort to take the lead in the county in bringing together special education professionals to attend high-quality informational sessions.

Typically, during staff development days, special education professionals tag along with other departments for training. School psychologists, speech pathologists, special education teachers, physical education teachers who provide Adaptive Physical Education services, school nurses who deal with severe and profound students and other special education populations, some regular education teachers, teacher aides, and teacher assistants all attended. There were over 500 participants, with 16 districts represented. In addition to district participation, around 12 outside agencies were represented to help bridge the gap between special education teachers and possible additional services offered to their students outside of school.

Training sessions included IEP (Individualized Education Plan) overview, mindfulness, ACCES-VR services, NARCAN training, Teaching Resilence in Children, and Trauma and Poverty. The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Jim Levine who spoke on the topic "Childhood Trauma: What Do We Know About Trauma?"