Neurodiversity Affirming Goal Setting in Early Intervention Practice

In today's culture, it is critical that therapy practitioners provide interventions and supports for families that are inclusive of their specific needs. This includes setting goals that are neurodiversity affirming and sensitive to every child and family. It is highly important to set our families up for success and this includes creating goals with them thatreflect their needs as well as their child's needs encompassing who they are and not who we wish them to be. Studies which include reflective information from neurodiverse adults indicate interventions focused on "fixing" an individual result in a negative perspective andunderstanding of behavior whereas inclusionary andaccepting approaches lead to embracing their authentic selves. In order to do this, therapists can begin with developing goals, in collaboration with the family, that focus on strengths to help make progress and improve daily function. This course will describe components of strength based approaches to goal setting specific to the early intervention population and will provide opportunity for collaborative problem solving in creating goals that best meet our families' needs.

The content of this program is germane to children, students and clients birth-3 years old.

Highlights

• Immediately apply neurodiversity principles in goal development to provide better outcomes for the families you serve.
• Collaborative problem solving strategies and practice developing goals during the course
• Improve confidence in developing appropriate goals foryour clients and their families that are applicable to their daily lives.

Target Audience: Physical Therapists, Physical Therapist Assistants, Occupational Therapists, Occupational Therapy Assistants, Speech-Language Pathologists