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Presentation Style: Animated and dynamic,
entertaining, exciting, hands-on demonstrations, anecdotes
from experience, humorous stories.
Dr. Terry Smith is Director of Special Education at the
Regional Educational Services Agency II in Huntington, West
Virginia. He is also the author of the recent book
De-Escalating the Physically Aggressive Student. He is
a 26-year education veteran and holds a Doctor of Special
Education degree from Virginia Polytechnical Institute and
State University (Virginia Tech).
Dr. Smith draws from a richly varied education background,
including regular education, special education, and mental
health. Leadership positions he has held over the last two and
a half decades, at local, regional, and state levels, include
such titles as Director of Special Education, Director of
Education, and Director of Interagency Collaboration and
Training Services.
Dr. Smith developed his unique approach to physical
intervention support techniques by combining a solid
foundation in educational training with a background in
martial arts, including karate, judo, jujitsu, grappling, kick
boxing, wrestling, boxing, and self-defense. Sessions in this
topic area provide participants with physical support
techniques for de-escalating the angry, aggressive and violent
student. These are support and release techniques rather than
counter self-defense maneuvers. Derived from established
public school wrestling methods and martial arts practices,
the techniques include body stance, forward/backward guiding,
finger releases, biting release, hair grab release, one/two
hand choke releases, and numerous others. These sessions
typically also include dramatic martial arts demonstrations,
including bare-hand breaking of boards and cinder blocks.
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