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7295
Multicultural Factors and ASD: Preparing for Today's Diversity [CRC Session]
Thursday, July 24, 2014: 2:30 PM-3:45 PM
210 (Indiana Convention Center)
Multicultural factors profoundly impact our interactions with clients and their families. In today's society, multicultural competence is expected of anyone in a service profession. This presentation utilizes innovative strategies and techniques to develop the multicultural competence you need to meet ethical standards and to maximize personal and professional effectiveness.
Individuals on the autism spectrum and their families who participate in school, seek professional services, and enter programs in community based settings mirror society's diversity. Therefore, teachers, occupational therapists, counselors, mental health workers, early intervention specialists, medical professionals, and others must be prepared to deliver services and support families in ways that are culturally sensitive. Without training in multicultural competence, professionals are at risk of inadvertently providing ineffective services or worse, marginalizing families who may be facing multiple vulnerabilities including autism.
This workshop first defines multicultural factors. How do these factors intersect with and inform service provision and professional moments with clients? Audience members participate in activities designed to foster conscious awareness of multicultural factors in themselves, which also influence client interactions. How do expectations, norms, values, and worldviews from our own cultural backgrounds influence our perceptions of our clients and their families, client outcomes, and service goals?
Next, participants learn how to apply awareness of multicultural realities to their practices. What does it feel like to look deeply at one's inner attitudes and perhaps biases? What does it feel like to work with clients who may have values, religious beliefs, family systems, political views, or lifestyles very different - or even radically opposed to - our own? Through experiential activities, mock practice sessions, and group discussions, professionals increase their ability to respond to and to cope with unique cultural factors in their clients and in themselves. Audience members will also discuss how to balance personal boundaries against the ethical mandate to serve others.
Lastly, having had the safe space necessary to become more comfortable with multicultural awareness, participants will learn how to bring this sense of a trusting atmosphere back to their practices as part of larger systems change. Resources, techniques, and strategies will help participants develop into multicultural awareness leaders in their home communities, carrying forward the sensitivity now required in today's diverse world.
Learning Objectives:
- 1. Participants will be able to define what multicultural awareness is, what multicultural factors are, and how multicultural factors impact interactions with clients with autism spectrum spectrum disorder (ASD) of all ages and their families.
- 3. Participants will be able to discuss with clients and their families about their multicultural sensitivity, meeting professional standards and ethical expectations for multicultural competence.
- 2. Participants will be able to list three of their own multicultural factors and will be able to describe how factors in themselves and in their clients influence professional perceptions; shape clinical responses; and impact practice effectiveness and outcomes.
Content Area: Education
Presenter:
Zosia Zaks, M.Ed., C.R.C.
Manager of Programs and Education, Hussman Center for Adults with Autism
Hussman Center for Adults with Autism at Towson University
Zosia Zaks, M.Ed., C.R.C., has worked with adults and teens on the autism spectrum for 14 years. Currently he develops and manages programs at Towson University's Hussman Center for Adults with Autism, where he also teaches courses on autism and disability issues. In addition to his work at Towson University, Zaks speaks and writes on disability issues; trains professionals; and serves on the boards of several local and national autism organizations. Zaks has specific expertise in understanding and navigating the adult disability system. He councils families on the important changes that take place, both within the family and in the world, during this unique time of life when children grow up.