As part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the Learning Center for Child and Adolescent Trauma offers Free Online Education with:
- 300+ FREE CE certificates
- 50+ speakers
- 200+ online webinars
- 90,000+ members
In the US, an estimated one in six children has a developmental disorder, including intellectual disability, autism, and other genetic and brain-based conditions. Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience traumatic events at a rate that is at least equal to their typically developing peers and are at increased risk for some types of traumatic events, with serious negative impacts. This series provides clinicians with the foundational knowledge to adapt their practices and provide trauma-informed care to children with IDD.
This webinar will introduce the FOCUS Family Resiliency Program, a brief evidence-based intervention that is among the most widely disseminated family-based programs for military populations, and will discuss general issues in adapting it with families who have a child with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It will introduce overall considerations in working with families and children with IDD, as well as how they may apply to the administration of FOCUS. This will be illustrated with a case description in which the FOCUS Program was adapted for a military family with a teenage daughter diagnosed with autism. The intervention was conducted several years after father’s deployment and during a period in which the family reported high levels of distress. We will discuss ways in which the family benefitted from the protocol, as well as what adjustments to the FOCUS modules proved effective in working with a child on the spectrum.
In this webinar, speakers Daniel Hoover and Peter D’Amico discuss the tailoring of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for use with children and caregivers with significant limitations in cognitive, language, and other executive functions. The speakers will start by discussing the challenges assessing this population, such as the issue of bias and “diagnostic overshadowing,” then will present a structured process for tailoring the TF-CBT components while also allowing for flexibility and fidelity of the treatment. Speakers will offer helpful planning and implementation tools such as a “matrix” of suggested IDD strategies and resources specific to each of the TF-CBT components while illustrating their application through clinical case examples.
In this webinar, presenters provide an overview of the challenges and strengths these children often present as clients (and the benefits and challenges of working with them), types and causes of IDD, diagnostic and assessment issues, and practical suggestions for tailoring evidence-based treatments. The discussion also includes particular concerns about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on this population.