Grief and Loss Symposium 13th July 2016

You are invited to attend the Grief and Loss Symposium bing held on Wednesday 13th July 2016 at Novotel Parramatta, NSW. The theme for the symposium is The Grief and Loss Experience of People with Intellectual Disability. Grief is a natural response to loss. It may be the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a home or even a way of life. The more significant the loss, the more intense the grief is likely to be. Many people do not know how to offer support, or what to say when trying to acknowledge a loss, it is difficult to know what you can do to comfort someone with an intellectual disability that is grieving. To find out more download the flyer here.

Have your say about a program to treat anxiety for children with a mild intellectual disability

Northcott and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed a new program to treat anxiety in children with mild intellectual disability. They are looking for feedback on the program and welcome input from the following groups of people:

-　Professionals (e.g. teachers, speech patholog​ists, psychologists, psychiatrists) who work with children with mild intellectual disability​​

-　Parents of children with mild intellectual disability

Participants will be asked to participate in a focus group that should take no more than 1-2 hours. Participants have the option of attending a group at Ultimo or Parramatta.

Please see the attached flyer for more information about this exciting development for children with a mild intellectual disability.

Free Seminars for Parents of Children with a Disability in NSW

Stepping Stones Triple P Seminars are being delivered free throughout NSW. At this three part seminar you will hear about the following topics:
     -Positive Parenting for Children with a Disability
     -Helping your Child reach their Potential
     -Changing Problem Behaviour into Positive Behaviour

To find a Stepping Stones Triple P Parenting seminar near you click on this link.

What is Stepping Stones Triple P?

For parents of children with a disability, everyday issues come with extra challenges. But there is help. Stepping Stones Triple P is a parenting program that supports families of children with special needs (aged 2-12 years of age).

Stepping Stones gives you the skills you need to manage misbehaviour and developmental issues common in children with disabilities, and prevent problems from happening in the first place.

From mealtime tantrums to supermarket meltdowns, from bedtime dramas to outright disobedience, Stepping Stones helps you sort through the issues that affect families of children with a disability.

And you can be confident that Stepping Stones can really work. It’s part of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, which has more than 30 years’ ongoing scientific research to back it up and is now used in more than 24 countries around the world.

Online course to improve healthcare for people with intellectual disability

More than 100 international experts from 17 countries have contributed to a world-first online course designed to improve healthcare for people with intellectual disability.

The ABLE XSeries, developed by a team of online learning specialists from The University of Queensland’s UQx and The Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability (QCIDD), was launched on World Down Syndrome Day, Monday 21 March.

The series of three Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) courses are designed to help those in the healthcare industry understand best practice for people with intellectual disability, and the impact for their families, disability organisations and health professionals.

The depth and breadth of the course provides new knowledge on interpersonal communication, physical health needs, health promotion, mental health and legal and ethical complexities, to name a few.

For more information or to register visit https://www.edx.org/xseries/intellectual-disability-healthcare

Adapted from UQ. Read the full press release here:https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2016/03/free-course-improve-healthcare-people-intellectual-disability

Latest Journal Now Available

The latest Mental Health of Children and Young People with developmental and Intellectual Disabilities is now available. Highlights include:

*Violence in children and adolescents with an intellectual disability and the importance of safety by David Dossetor.
*Matthews’ story by Janine and Leonard.
*Responding to sexual behaviours of children and young people with an intellectual disability by Deborah Corfield and Lesley Whatson.
*Knowledge is light: an interview with Sue Foley.
*The medicine cabinet: Anxiety treatment when SSRI's fail by Judy Longworth.
*Current models of health service delivery for people with intellectual disability by Gianfranco Giuntoli, BJ Newton and Karen R. Fisher.