NCED Lunch and Learn Sessions
(12:00-1:00 PM CST, 1:00-2:00 PM EST)
Wednesday, 9/30/2026
Family Voice Matters: Conducting Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Interviews in School Evaluations
Presenter(s): Jennifer Paz, Founder & Bilingual School Psychologist, Vital Abilities
Meaningful family interviews are essential to understanding the full picture of a student’s development, learning history, and cultural-linguistic context. This session focuses on how to conduct family interviews that build trust, improve information quality, and strengthen interpretation of assessment findings. Participants will explore practical strategies for gathering developmental, educational, and language history in ways that support both clinical accuracy and respectful partnership with families.
Jennifer Paz founded Vital Abilities to ensure students receive timely, culturally responsive evaluations that reflect their true language, culture, and lived experiences beyond standardized test scores. Based in Austin, Texas, Jennifer is a bilingual school psychologist with extensive experience partnering with school districts across Texas, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Georgia. She specializes in bilingual psychoeducational evaluations, complex case consultations, and comprehensive systems support.
Through actionable, research-grounded professional development, Jennifer equips school psychologists, educational diagnosticians, speech-language pathologists, and special education teams to confidently distinguish language differences from learning disabilities. Designed specifically for the realities of active caseloads, her training provides practical strategies that educators can implement immediately, keeping the student’s unique needs at the heart of every decision.
Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jONO1wXrSPCJra-ccdo5sg
Wednesday, 10/14/2026
Second Language Acquisition: Data Analysis of Emergent Bilingual Students
Presenter(s): Roxana Stanley, M.Ed
Understanding second language acquisition is essential for making informed evaluation decisions for emergent bilingual students. In this session, participants will explore how the stages of second language acquisition influence assessment results and learn how to analyze multiple sources of data to distinguish language difference from disability. Through practical examples and real-world scenarios, attendees will gain strategies for interpreting language proficiency data, academic performance, classroom observations, and evaluation results to develop defensible, data-driven conclusions. This presentation is designed to help all evaluators (both monolingual and bilingual) increase confidence in their decision-making while promoting equitable assessment practices for emergent bilingual students.
Roxana Stanley, M.Ed., earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas and her master’s degree in Special Education from Midwestern State University. She is a bilingual educational diagnostician, speaker, and founder of The Bilingual Diag, LLC. As a former emergent bilingual student herself, Roxana brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work, giving her a unique perspective on the importance of equitable, culturally and linguistically responsive evaluation practices. With more than a decade of experience evaluating emergent bilingual students, she is passionate about helping educators accurately distinguish language difference from disability through practical, research-based assessment practices. Roxana provides professional development across Texas and nationally, equipping educational diagnosticians, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and special education teams with strategies they can immediately apply in their evaluations. Her engaging, real-world approach makes complex assessment concepts accessible, practical, and relevant for today’s practitioners.
Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/MES1mMFuSm21t5AMYAyy-A
Wednesday, 12/09/2026
Exclusionary Factors without Guesswork
Presenter(s): Georgene W. Moon, M.Ed
As the numbers of referrals are increasing, sometimes exponentially; it is important that we remember that exclusionary factors must be considered, both in federal and state mandates. Ignoring these can lead to misdiagnosis of SLD and even other disabilities that can lead to a child being “labeled for life.” This session will discuss the continued impact of ignoring these factors on students and our education system, introduce you to worksheets you can use for documentation, and provide you with a case study for better understanding of application and impact of exclusionary factors. Whether you are a new evaluator or an experienced one, it is important that you understand the importance of exclusionary factors and how you will need to explain them to your IEP team when a child does not qualify for Special Education services.
Georgene has held various leadership positions on the Texas Educational Diagnosticians’ Association Board since 2004 and currently serves as an advisor to the Board. She is a Registered Professional Educational Diagnostician and previously served on the TPED Board. She is also a Nationally Certified Educational Diagnostician and currently serves as an advisor to the NCED Board. Additionally, she is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and several of its affiliates.
Throughout her career, Georgene has provided professional training on a variety of topics related to educational evaluation and assessment. She has presented in multiple states; at national, state, and local conferences; as part of the Beyond the Score webinar series; and for school districts throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth area.
Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7t8YnWncQK6jBJXb8ojKSA