Building Soft Skills: Collaboration and Culturally Responsive Practices
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Jenna Sage, with panelists Ronnie Detrich and Manya C. Ralkowski, examines how teams organize collaborative meetings and account for different perspectives. The recording connects shared goals, feedback and family context to the everyday work of supervisors, care teams and school staff.
Catalogue presenter credits: Jenna Sage, Manya C. Ralkowski, Ronnie Detrich.
The panel distinguishes collaborative discussion from meetings that only assign tasks. It examines meeting purpose, shared norms, stopping criteria and follow-up that shows participants what changed after their feedback.
The cultural discussion examines family values, language, jargon and prior experiences alongside square-counting and household-image reflection activities. This discussion-led recording does not include the role-play demonstrations requested in learner feedback.
What does this recording cover?
- The panel examines the National Association of Colleges and Employers competency framework in recruitment, onboarding and professional development.
- The meeting discussion covers shared norms, facilitation, clear objectives and stopping criteria.
- The feedback discussion covers debriefing and showing participants how their input changed the process.
- Culturally responsive practice includes attention to family values, language and differences in perspective.
- Reflection activities use square counting and a household image to examine initial assumptions.
Recording context: The recording date is not supplied. Research, professional requirements and examples reflect the discussion at the time of delivery.
Three selected learner comments
The six-item evaluation mean was 4.64/5 across 22 complete responses, from 113 recorded rating responses. This mean includes only complete six-score responses. Source: Special Learning's course evaluation records, snapshot October 11, 2026.
Three selected anonymous responses appear below, with the wording and spelling retained. They describe learners' experiences and requests; they are not a guarantee of results or a claim that these comments represent every learner.
I thought this was very informative. Maybe a few more examples of what others have done to help translate the concepts into real world practice.
Course evaluation response, 2024
I do not know if it is possible or not - all the presenters have relevant experiences to share. I wish they had more time to expand on those experiences.
Course evaluation response, 2023
More emphasis on the cultural would have been more specific to what I was personally looking for
Course evaluation response, 2023
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Continuing Education Credits
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Jenna Sage has worked in multiple capacities in the field of education for nearly 25 years. She earned her Ph.D. in Special Education focusing on systems change processes and supporting students with emotional behavioral disorders. Her primary work in the school system was Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Planning, Manifestation Determination, and Restorative Practices. She held positions from paraprofessional, to classroom teacher, behavior specialist and resolution specialist.
In her current professional role, she is Dean of Career Readiness and Workforce Solutions for a national nonprofit healthcare educational institution. In that position she supports the cross-departmental development of workforce and career engagement content, cultural and mental health initiatives, and authoring thought leadership communications.
As a practicing Behavior Analyst, Her professional focus is helping practitioners apply the science of behavior pragmatically, meaningfully and with sustainability. Her two current publications, Happy Class: The Practical Guide to Classroom Management and Happy Student: The Practical Guide to Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Planning emphasize her ability to make ABA more accessible for educators. Her most recent book, Manifesting Happy: How to Maintain Self-Care Amidst Challenging Behaviors and Challenging Times highlights how educators can use ABA to develop effective
self-care strategies.
Ms. Manya Ralkowski has been practicing in the field of applied behavior analysis for over 25 years. Her training began under direct education and training from consultants from the Lovaas Clinic in Los Angeles while completing her bachelor of arts in Communication Disorders with endorsements in special education and psychology at Western Washington University. Ms. Ralkowski continued her education and training with a master’s degree in Education from Lesley University and a graduate certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Washington while working as an assistant teacher on the Project DATA grant at the Haring Center-Professional Training Unit. She also possesses a doctorate degree in Instructional Leadership.
Ronnie Detrich, Ph.D., has been providing behavior analytic services for over 50 years. His work can be characterized as thorough-going behavior analysis drawing from the conceptual, experimental, and applied branches of our discipline.
In recent years, Ronnie’s work has focused on the challenges of achieving adequate levels of treatment integrity in large systems, the role of the evidence-based practice movement in behavior analysis, and the large-scale implementation of effective practices in public schools. He is a trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and is on the editorial boards of Perspectives in Behavior Science and Exceptional Children. He serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Positive Behavior Intervention. Ronnie has also served on the editorial board of Behavior Analysis in Practice and was the Coordinator of ABAI’s Practice Board.
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