The Program Schedule CE Credits Travel Registration

Cost is $2,195 per person through May 22, 2026 and $2,395 per person after May 22, 2026. Save $200 per person when registering a group of 3 or more.

Join Us This Summer in Santa Barbara for a Hands-on Workshop

From July 20 - 24, 2026, Learning & the Brain is offering a Summer Institute on the oceanside campus of UCSB.

How do executive functions impact student success in reading, writing, and math? This institute will provide practical strategies and interventions to help educators support students struggling with executive function challenges that affect academic performance.

You will gain a deep understanding of how executive functions influence learning and classroom productivity, with a special focus on their role in reading comprehension, written expression, and math proficiency. The institute will also explore the critical link between motivation and skill development, helping you better engage students in the learning process.

Through interactive discussions and hands-on strategies, you’ll learn how to identify executive function difficulties and implement targeted interventions to help students strengthen these essential skills. Special emphasis will be placed on helping struggling learners develop self-regulation strategies that enhance their academic independence and success.

Join us for this practical, research-informed institute and leave with actionable tools to improve student learning and engagement in your classroom! This institute is hands-on and is limited to 45 participants.

At This Institute, You Will:

Explain the role of executive functions in reading, writing, and math

Identify the impact of executive function challenges on student performance in literacy and math

Use assessment techniques to evaluate how executive function difficulties affect academic proficiency

Implement targeted instructional techniques to support students struggling with executive function-related learning challenges

The Summer Institute Is for:

All Teachers, Special Educators, School Administrators

School Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists

Learning Specialists, Counselors, Academic Support Staff

Other Professionals who work with children and adolescents in grades PreK-12

About the Institute

This Learning & the Brain Summer Institute will be led by Dr. George McCloskey and assisted by Laurie McCloskey. This program is designed to help individuals and school teams develop knowledge about executive function research and applications to the classroom and/or clinical practice. The program offers participants an intensive professional development experience, drawing on the most up-to-date findings in research on executive functions and how to use these findings to improve the teaching of reading, writing, and math.

Active participation is expected throughout this Institute. Class sessions will begin Monday afternoon after a lunch with the other participants. On subsequent days, classes will be held in the morning with afternoons free to explore Santa Barbara.

Attendees will be housed and all sessions will take place at the Sierra Madre complex on the Goleta, CA side of the UC Santa Barbara campus. Lodging, some meals, and course materials are provided. See the online schedule for meals provided.

Professional Development Credit

Earn up to 20 hours toward professional development credit for various professionals. For details on credit offered, visit our CE credit page or call our office at 857-444-1500 ext. 1. Note: credits are not provided by the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Accommodations and Meals

Interaction between faculty and participants outside the classroom is an integral part of the Institute. To foster this total immersion learning environment, participants are housed in undergraduate dormitory accommodations on the UC Santa Barbara campus. The dormitory rooms are located in the recently opened Sierra Madre complex located on the Goleta side of the UC Santa Barbara campus. Participants are assigned to their own bedroom in a shared two-bedroom apartment with each participant having their own bathroom. Linens are provided. All facilities are ADA compliant. The Institute provides four nights lodging with an arrival date of July 20 and a departure date of July 24. If you would like to arrange for an early arrival and stay over on the night of Sunday, July 19, the extra cost would be $125. If you are interested in making your own accommodations off-campus, please call us at 857-444-1500 x1. Please check the online schedule for information on the meals provided. Note: The UCSB campus is a smoke-free campus.

George McCloskey, PhD

A professor and Director of School Psychology Research in the School of Applied and Professional Psychology of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and holds Diplomate status with the American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology. Dr. McCloskey has amassed 40 years of experience in test development, teaching, research, and assessment and intervention work. The workshop's content is based on the past 25 years of his research and experience working specifically with children, adolescents, and adults exhibiting executive function difficulties. He frequently presents at international, national, and state conferences on cognitive and neuropsychological assessment and intervention topics. He consults with many school districts and private schools nationwide on improving students' executive functions.

Dr. McCloskey is the lead author of Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties and Essentials of Executive Functions Assessment and co-author with his wife, Laurie McCloskey, of the children's book titled The Day Frankie Left His Frontal Lobes at Home. He also is the author of the McCloskey Executive Functions Scales (MEFS) Teacher and Parent Forms that have been standardized and published with Schoolhouse Educational Services.

Laurie McCloskey

A classroom teacher certified in special and general education with experience in curriculum development. She is trained in using Orton-Gillingham approaches to reading instruction and has taught reading and study skills to elementary, middle, and high school students. She is the co-author of the children's book The Day Frankie Left His Frontal Lobes at Home and co-author of the Silas/McCloskey Executive Functions Curriculum published by CentralReach..