Have you heard the term “secondary losses”? As I was researching grief in individuals with disabilities, this term came up a lot. A “primary loss”, is the actual loss that occurred (e.g. your brother dying, your favorite roommate moving out) and it can be painful. “Secondary losses” are the losses that come because of the…
When we talk about death, many of us use softened language like “passed away,” “moved on,” or “in a better place.” This is natural—we want to be gentle. I used these phrases myself until I began researching how individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities understand grief and loss. What I found was this: using euphemisms…
Many professionals working with individuals with disabilities are familiar with discrimination training. This type of training helps individuals distinguish between different stimuli. For example, teaching someone to recognize letters in their name or identify animals involves discrimination training. This concept can also be applied to more complex areas, such as recognizing age groups (e.g., baby…
Losing someone is difficult, but it can be even harder for people with disabilities. This is because, the research shows that we do not often prepare people with intellectual disabilities to handle grief and loss. In fact, in worse case scenarios there is a tendency to assume that the grief/loss won’t impact them at all….
While there is debate about the actual prevalence, people with disabilities are more likely to be abused than their nondisabled peers. There are a few reasons why and this is by no means an exhaustive list: In the minor reading I have done, I have found abuse prevention programs that focus on using behavioral skills…
These were the amazing graduate students that I got to work with from Mahidol University in Thailand. In my last post I talked about doing some ACT exercises with the Thai staff at rural orphanage in Kanchanaburi. In this post I want to talk about buffers to trauma and how absolutely amazing the Thai people…
I recently came back from a trip to Thailand where I was providing information to staff at an orphanage/school on how to be trauma informed. I have done international volunteer work in the past and have learned what to do and what not to do. Volunteer trips where you are focused on just hanging out…
Photo Credit: letstalk.mentalhealth I have mentioned that I use principles of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) when teaching social media safety skills. There are six core principles of ACT- present moment, values, committed action, defusion, self as context and acceptance. This blog post is going to focus on defusion. References: If your are looking for…
For almost a year now, I have been teaching Social Media Safety classes to Neurodivergent individuals. I have learned some things on the way that I want to share in these next couple posts. The first, and perhaps most important thing, is that it is so important to be trauma informed when you are teaching…
How the need for social belonging can cause teens to engage in unsafe behaviors. I have been leading some groups that teach social media safety skills to neurodivergent teens. (If you are interested in these groups go to the “Online Groups” page). At the beginning of groups individuals did not know what types of red…