Webinar Description:
Assessing behavioral difficulties in a person with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be a challenge due to limitations in verbal self-report as well as multiple cognitive and physical disabilities. The purpose of this webinar is to introduce unique assessment approaches in two different areas. The first area concerns the national crisis in overuse of antipsychotic medications to treat challenging behavior and non-psychotic mental health conditions. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the issues and will learn about the use of the MEDS (Matson Evaluation of Drug Side-Effects) as a tool to not only identify possible side-effects, but to also engage family, disability professionals and mental health providers in a serious discussion of the efficacy, risks and benefits for each individual. The second presentation will address the assessment of trauma in this population. Due to the alarming rates of abuse and neglect of people with intellectual disabilities, as well as diagnostic overshadowing that often occurs when people with ID seek treatment, it is important that clinicians have the knowledge and tools to properly recognize signs of trauma and assess its impact on an individual.
Speakers: Anne Desnoyers Hurley, Ph.D. Dr. Hurley is the Clinical Director and Research Associate Professor at the Center for START Services, University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability-UCEDD. Brian D. Tallant, L.P.C. Brian Tallant is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Program Director at the Aurora Mental Health Center, in Aurora, Colorado.Association of University Centers on Disabilities
AUCD is a network of interdisciplinary centers advancing policy and practice for and with individuals with developmental and other disabilities, their families and communities.
To register and for more info. on the speakers' and AUCD, refer to:
AUCD - The Importance of Assessments in Helping People with Intellectual Disability and Mental Health and/or Behavioral Challenges: New Ways to Address Antipsychotic Medications and their Side Effects and Ways to Assess Trauma
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